Dear Mr Xxxxxxxxxxx,
Thank you for your Comments Form received 19 January about the overcrowding you have experienced while travelling from Stratford to Braintree. I am sorry for the delay in this response, which is due to a backlog of correspondence. [Still dealing with that pesky backlog eh? Judging by how long you took to reply to me, it's getting longer. Must all those
When we plan a timetable, it is an absolute priority that the new service will meet the needs of the majority of our customers overall. [Well it hasn't has it? I think I've heard more complaints about this new "improved" timetable than I ever heard about the old one. In reality, it appears to have been designed to finally stop the complaints coming from travellers to and from Colchester but without the added inconvenience and more importantly expense of bringing in more rolling stock so the existing services could continue while the Colchester ones were improved. Instead existing rolling stock has simply been re-deployed from services where passengers weren't complaining to services where they were.] On this occasion, the December 2010 changes also incorporated our commitment to significantly increase the seating capacity on many routes. [But the Liverpool St/Stratford route wasn't one of them was it? It's where you got the extra capacity from! By the way, I note you seem not to have "improved" the Southend route by removing trains from their timetable like you did for Chelmsford and Braintree. Why is that?]
However, I am sorry if you have seen changes which have inconvenienced you [not nearly as sorry as me and the rest of the poor sods who've had their trains yanked from the timetable sunshine. Why should I now have to stand all the way to Witham just so someone else travelling to Colchester or Ipswich can now travel sitting down? It's robbing Peter to pay Paul and it's unacceptable.] in respect of your particular travelling needs between Stratford and Braintree. [So what do you intend doing to fix it then? And, for your information, it's not just me, there are hundreds of very pissed off people daily forced to use your newly reduced services.] We will continue to monitor the performance of our new timetable and any further minor alterations can be made when we next have the opportunity later in 2011. [Minor alterations? You will NEVER fix this in a million years with a few minor tweaks. The entire timetable is a massive cluster-f*ck! While you may have "improved" some routes, a major part of your network has been trashed and is no longer fit for purpose.]
We endeavoured to keep customers informed about the timetable development through our website, station posters and latterly via face to face customer surgeries at our key stations while this was taking place. [You made sure you didn't spell out just how massive a shambles it would be though did you? Not a bloody peep about removing trains from the timetable so you could make some trains to Ipswich and Colchester longer. The reality is, NXEA have increased the length and seating on some trains at the expense of other travellers going to places like Braintree (who NXEA appear to regard as expendable in any case) by completely withdrawing trains from those destinations. Not by importing additional rolling stock available like they should have. Although I suspect another reason for this cock-up is that there is no-one at NXEA with the experience and intelligence to be able to plan a timetable change as radical as this one and still be able to see how big a balls-up it would turn into.]
Nevertheless, I am sorry that you are frustrated with the changes made. [This is his patronising way of saying "tough sh*t".]
Customer feedback is an important source of information so once again, thank you for [
Yours sincerely,
John Nelson
Customer Relations Advisor
National Express
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