Seating Arrangements
I Just took the train from Galway to Dublin. Due to the fact that there were three carriages instead of five the train was over-subscribed. Of course this served to highlight the problems with Iarnroid Eireann's booking policy.
I booked my ticket online the day before. An idea full of win, I thought. Cheaper than station tickets, and you get a seat booked for you if you pay two euro extra. You even get to pick which seat you sit in.
That is until you arrive and find that the train is smaller than usual, and suddenly you realise that Iarnroid Eireann have only implemented part of the system.
You see, if you allow people to book seats, certain other provisions must be made. You must know how many seats are on the train. From this, you figure out how many seats are taken 30 minutes before departure, and from this you know how many more tickets you can sell for that train. Unfortunately, this didn't happen today, so there were way more occupants than seats when leaving Galway. It's like using the train in 1999.
Another thing you do 30 minutes before the train leaves is print out the reservation cards for the seats. Iarnroid Eireann won't print a card for you if you booked less than 24 hours before the train leaves. Why? For that matter, why use cards at all, when the much-vaunted new rolling stock have digital reservation displays. They sit there, empty and dark. What a waste.
Any time I've booked a train seat abroad - Italy, Germany, Japan... they have pre-booked carriages. Imagine! A whole carriage where the seats are guaranteed for people booking. Then they have carriages with open seating. If you haven't pre-booked, then you sit in the open seating carriage. You can sit in the booked carriage if a seat is free, but you are prepared to give it up if the person who booked came along.
This of course doesn't happen in Ireland. There are two pre-booked carriages, and one non-booking carriage, and there seems to be twice as many non-bookers as pre-bookers. Where do they go? The pre-booked seats of course! One wonders if Iarnroid Eireann keep any metrics, or, if they do, do they use them for any intelligent purpose.
Finally, and this is very serious, I don't think there's anywhere else in the world where you are permitted to book a priority seat. These seats are specifically for people of limited mobility to sit near exits and facilities, as making you way to the middle of the carriage can be difficult for very many people. On the other hand though, if you pay extra for a seat, you should be entitled to a seat, or your money back. There is no mention on the website what sort of seat you're booking, priority or not. Basically, if you have priority seating at all, it should be a non-booking seat - so that if an able bodied person sits in an unoccupied priority seat then they are already resigned to the idea of moving. Or in our wonderful country, not having a seat at all. Of course, the person with challenged mobility could have booked the ticket, but that presupposes that they're inclined to use the internet in the first place. Many older people would shudder at the thought.
Maybe if they had somewhere to go, they mightn't cause such a fuss. Maybe, just maybe, if our only rail company decides to conduct itself like that of any other developed company in the world, then we might begin to rectify the attitudes of the Irish people, who have not had an adequate seat booking system since the foundation of the state. Maybe then, if someone sits in a pre-booked seat that they didn't book, they will recognise that the person who booked it has more right to it than they do, instead of acting surly & obstinate, moving only with a baleful glare or even refusing to move outright. Maybe if it was clearly indicated that seats were booked, they might think twice about where they sat on that carriage. Maybe if it was clear that Carriage C was pre-booked seats only, they might even start looking in Carriage D. And Maybe, if there was a Carriage D, they might get adequate seating. Who knows? Iarnroid Eireann don't because they're not even looking.
I booked my ticket online the day before. An idea full of win, I thought. Cheaper than station tickets, and you get a seat booked for you if you pay two euro extra. You even get to pick which seat you sit in.
That is until you arrive and find that the train is smaller than usual, and suddenly you realise that Iarnroid Eireann have only implemented part of the system.
You see, if you allow people to book seats, certain other provisions must be made. You must know how many seats are on the train. From this, you figure out how many seats are taken 30 minutes before departure, and from this you know how many more tickets you can sell for that train. Unfortunately, this didn't happen today, so there were way more occupants than seats when leaving Galway. It's like using the train in 1999.
Another thing you do 30 minutes before the train leaves is print out the reservation cards for the seats. Iarnroid Eireann won't print a card for you if you booked less than 24 hours before the train leaves. Why? For that matter, why use cards at all, when the much-vaunted new rolling stock have digital reservation displays. They sit there, empty and dark. What a waste.
Any time I've booked a train seat abroad - Italy, Germany, Japan... they have pre-booked carriages. Imagine! A whole carriage where the seats are guaranteed for people booking. Then they have carriages with open seating. If you haven't pre-booked, then you sit in the open seating carriage. You can sit in the booked carriage if a seat is free, but you are prepared to give it up if the person who booked came along.
This of course doesn't happen in Ireland. There are two pre-booked carriages, and one non-booking carriage, and there seems to be twice as many non-bookers as pre-bookers. Where do they go? The pre-booked seats of course! One wonders if Iarnroid Eireann keep any metrics, or, if they do, do they use them for any intelligent purpose.
Finally, and this is very serious, I don't think there's anywhere else in the world where you are permitted to book a priority seat. These seats are specifically for people of limited mobility to sit near exits and facilities, as making you way to the middle of the carriage can be difficult for very many people. On the other hand though, if you pay extra for a seat, you should be entitled to a seat, or your money back. There is no mention on the website what sort of seat you're booking, priority or not. Basically, if you have priority seating at all, it should be a non-booking seat - so that if an able bodied person sits in an unoccupied priority seat then they are already resigned to the idea of moving. Or in our wonderful country, not having a seat at all. Of course, the person with challenged mobility could have booked the ticket, but that presupposes that they're inclined to use the internet in the first place. Many older people would shudder at the thought.
Maybe if they had somewhere to go, they mightn't cause such a fuss. Maybe, just maybe, if our only rail company decides to conduct itself like that of any other developed company in the world, then we might begin to rectify the attitudes of the Irish people, who have not had an adequate seat booking system since the foundation of the state. Maybe then, if someone sits in a pre-booked seat that they didn't book, they will recognise that the person who booked it has more right to it than they do, instead of acting surly & obstinate, moving only with a baleful glare or even refusing to move outright. Maybe if it was clearly indicated that seats were booked, they might think twice about where they sat on that carriage. Maybe if it was clear that Carriage C was pre-booked seats only, they might even start looking in Carriage D. And Maybe, if there was a Carriage D, they might get adequate seating. Who knows? Iarnroid Eireann don't because they're not even looking.