Corona Virus - Railway reopening poll

I voted 'happy to wear a mask' but what I really meant was 'willing to wear a mask if I have to'.
Same applies with 'happy to pre-book'.

 

I know what you mean. I have finally been issued with a pack of masks to wear if necessary on my bus.

I have so far only once worn one, it was only for 25minutes but even in that time I was getting overheated. I am therefore grateful that for a bus driver the instructions say 'only consider wearing a mask if you are unable to socially distance'.
There is no way that I could work a spell of up to five and a half hours solid wearing one.

Even more grateful that the bus companies are in the process of improving the sealing off of the cab from the passenger saloons, as this will allow a resumption of front door boarding. The resumption of front door boarding will mean that passengers will again be able to tap in to pay their fare, this will discourage the freeloaders who have been unnecessarily using buses for non-essential journeys.

 

Was looking for the 'happy to volunteer' option!

 

I think it's unlikely that heritage railways will be opening anytime soon. Lots of children running amongst 'older' enthusiasts may not be a good combination. Until/if a vaccine is found the problem will not just go away.

Keeping infrastructure and rolling stock in good order by volunteers is perfectly possible but ultimately I hate to say that some railways will cease trading. It still costs lots of cash to pay utilities, insurances and essential salaries.

 

I think that social distancing measures will detract from the experience of a heritage train ride, and I'm not sure I would enjoy it. However, if any railways are operating I will be happy to buy a ticket and then take photographs. In fact I would be keen to join photo charters rather than travel on the trains.

 

I'm inclined to think 'Footex' will start up again much sooner than travel for the general public.

Those railways with high numbers of paid staff will be hoping the government's furlough scheme continues, otherwise I can imagine there will be redundancies especially for things like catering which rely on large volumes of people coming through the doors. Ironically, the smaller railways with lower overheads and more-or-less wholly run by volunteers might find it easier to adapt to these strange circumstances.

 

I would be happy to visit a steam railway, as long as everyone else is remembering to social distance if possible, if I had to sit closer than 2m from someone, I would wear a mask, and expect them to also, Allowing bored little Johnny to run up and down the corridor is a no no, things like on train catering, limited to say pre packed sandwiches etc and drinks, should not be a problem either if there is a clear screen between the buffet car attendant and the public, with a opening hatch, they can slide your food through, and a contactless terminal, to avoid handling cash, stations should be able to segregate passengers via a one way system . in one way, out another

 

Good luck getting signal I suspect for many railways!

 

It will be difficult to mitigate the risk to the footplate crew or maintain anything like social distancing.

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I would be willing to go back to volunteer as signalman or crossing keeper. Not so sure about guard though, impossible to remain completely socially distanced while doing the job effectively. I no longer have any footplate role.

 

Vouchers could be purchased online / at the ticket office, either for a particular item or a credit amount, to allow less cash being used. Contactless isn't going to be an option for many railways simply due to cost.

Either that or items are prebooked and delivered to prebooked seats.

I think railways might have to get a bit inventive, because a big feature is being able to hop on/off as you please for many of them.

 

Would have thought it would help recreate the heritage "experience", - empty trains dawdling through the country side, calling at empty stations, with nothing to eat or drink apart from week old sandwiches.

On a more serious note, maybe getting more money out of photographers might be the way to go, even though it will not fill more than part of the hole.

 

You are assuming of course photographers may want to stand adjacent to a bunch of people they do not know. After all we all seem to gravitate to the same places.
Mind you after 10 weeks of our total lockdown I am now so unfit that I am unsure I could actually walk back up the hill from my favourite Swanage location anyway.

 

Some of us will be desperate for a fix, and happy to pay a decent amount for a photo charter. Even something as simple as a diesel pickup freight would be attractive. Shouldn't cost much to run, and could raise a decent sum for the railway's survival fund.

Social distancing will be easier on the lineside. Bring your own refreshments. Make your own way to photo locations. Railways to provide bushes as needed.

 

A lazy analysis of a snapshot of a self-selected sample of about 107 railway enthusiasts seems to be a 64/36 split between 'a form of yes' and 'no'.

All other things being equal, if a railway had a break even point of 100 passengers and was normally attracting 156 (making a surplus to carry it throgh non-trading months), it could now expect only 100 and not make the necessary profit.

This doesn't mean too much as it's the family and non-enthusiast market that's the baseload demand - but it illustrates the concerns. It will be interesting to see the SVR's survey results, if it shares them.

Patrick

 

I appreciate it's a moving target, but currently (11:23) there are a total of 201 votes cast: There are 4 'yes' options that have attracted 162 votes and 2 'no' options that have attracted a combined 39 votes. By my maths that's 80.6% towards a 'yes' option and 19.4% towards a 'no' option. How the hell the percentages on the poll are calculated is anyone's guess, they total well over 100% when combined!

On a practical level, it's easy to click a tick box on a forum when bored. Translating that into customers for leisure attractions is another matter...