North Yorkshire Moors Railway General Discussion

....along with increased fire risk, presumably - less of a problem just to New Bridge, though. Is the S160 available for traffic now?

 

Any news on how busy the Thomas event has been?

 

Yes, it's been out on the Moorlander.

 

well, there are a theoretical 2365 seats available each day. According to the booking site just now there are still a total of 2024 seats available tomorrow. On Saturday there are currently 1860 seats available. Make your own interpretation.

 

That's not encouraging news.

 

Just been on the NYMR web site. Clicked on the Thomas Event. Page came up with Thomas on it. Right above Thomas are the words KIDS GO FREE. I know that is not correct, but how many potential visitors see this, go to book and see the actual prices. That is very poor marketing.

 

If those figures are correct, the railway would've made more money, by a factor of 3 or 4, running the standard timetable from Pickering to Whitby.

How much income has been foregone due to Thomas, £100,000?

 

You couldn’t make it up, could you?

 

Maybe it can be misinterpreted but if you look closely it is talking about the Day Rover offer from June 1. It is a banner that shows up on various pages.

 

The unfortunate fact is that you don't need to.

 

I may have observed this before, but quite a few of the communications from the railway seem to have an air of “I don’t know why people misunderstand, I knew what I meant”. That banner is a bit of a rookie error to be honest.

 

But hard to excuse when you have so many people working in marketing, and that they “won” an “award”

 

When I'm posting things, or emailing to a large list, before I hit 'go', I always re-read what I wrote, asking myself 'how could a reader possibly misinterpret this', and edit it to make them all impossible (e.g. by replacing pronouns - which might be attached to the wrong previously-mentioned person - with the actual name(s) intended). A habit I recommend to everyone.

Noel

 

I know that, you know that. A potential visitor does not know that.

 

And, as important, if I see that banner and am then charged for what it says is free, I am left feeling like I’ve been hoodwinked. That’s not good for reputation

 

I agree. There should be both enough expertise and sufficient resource in the team to spot this, and it is telling that this is not the first hiccup. It suggests to me that there is an issue with culture as much as anything.

 

This is the key issue.

 

Somewhat ironic given the purported fastidious adherence to consumer protection rules regularly cited by a certain official of the railway as reason for policy decisions.

 

On a visit to Scarborough sea front earlier this year there was a lamp post banner with "diesel" spelt incorrectly on it. It has since been replaced with one with the correct spelling. The promotion of the railway in such a prominent location cannot be faulted and the banner was eyecatching and attractive.

Sadly proofreading is a dying art and it's demise is being accelerated by AI in my opinion. The first rule in anything going on public display, whether it is a website or a banner, should be check twice (at least) and print once. To do otherwise is both sloppy and unprofessional. You should never fall into the trap of "I know what I thought I wrote"

 

At least as it's advance bookings only (to control numbers?) the pricing reality should become apparent when booking rather than when arriving at the gate.

Jon