A week of sub-standard public transport experiences exposed areas where the public transport sector has failed to evolve
The industry is in denial if it thinks, as some do, that Uber isn’t more attractive and represents far better value for money
As regular readers of this column will attest, I frequently extol the benefits of public transport and highlight great practice, whilst also not holding back when improvements could be made. For this reason, and despite some positive experiences recently, last week was an absolute shocker, which made me question whether the sector will ever adapt to the times and remain competitive. It was a real mix of classic ‘old school’ transport irritations – the kind that a business in another part of the service sector, a hotel or restaurant, for instance, would struggle to serve up and get away with in terms of a loss of customers.
On Sunday, my daughter was moving some bags to her new university accommodation at Waterloo, and we chose an Uber, despite living next to Shepperton station, because the train journey for a 16-mile trip was – get this – one hour and 22 minutes and an hourly frequency! Shepperton is now part of the Transport for London contactless network, but it might as well be in another country on Sundays.
On Monday, meanwhile, I made an early evening trip to Manchester, and I had forgotten there was a Tube strike. It was a bus across London instead. Ordinarily, you would think that services between the London terminals would be strengthened, but no – a long wait for the 68, followed by three buses in quick succession, all terminating short at Russell Square, with a procession of customers with luggage struggling to complete their ‘connection’ on foot to Euston. I know extra buses are laid on during strike days, but it feels at times like customers are just left to fend for themselves. It’s also interesting that during industrial action, there doesn’t appear to be any effort at the key termini stations to advise on bus alternatives for those making cross-London ‘connections’.
The next day, I was off to meet an industry leader in Holmfirth and then needed to get to Burnley for the night. I’d never been to Holmfirth before, and having caught the train to Glossop, I hadn’t noticed that the bus to my destination only ran on Fridays. It was an Uber, once again – a lovely, stunning, scenic journey. Even though the driver charged me double the price, it was literally two presses on my phone, and the fare was instantly, quibble-free, readjusted back to the original ridiculously cheap £14.
It was a real mix of classic ‘old school’ transport irritations
After my meeting in delightful Holmfirth, the plan was to get a bus to Huddersfield and then a train to Leeds. Still, midweek rail replacement made a mockery of this idea and deducing that it would probably now be a three- hour trip to end up in Burnley and a lot of hassle, it was Uber, once more and a driver arrived immediately, was hugely personable – as they all are – and whisked me in style to Halifax for a trip on First’s 591 alongside the River Calder to Burnley.
Back on the bus, the difference in experience was noticeable. The bus station at Halifax was heaving with shouting, vaping and wolf-whistling teenagers. The bus arrived, and the driver was monosyllabic in every ‘interaction’ with customers and didn’t once break into even half a smile. Upstairs, the vehicle was slightly grubby, and I had to listen to one customer playing a video from his phone loudly and another singing. I have long been a fan of First Bus; however, this was an experience that felt removed from the gloss of its ‘Love the Bus’ campaign.
In between these journeys, I’ve made numerous trips on buses during the week, across the North and Midlands, and although I’ve been impressed with punctuality – I can’t recall a late bus – there are still too many vehicles with empty notice cases and buses that haven’t been washed for several days or worse.
Another irritation that again highlights the difference between an Uber and a bus is the drawn-out way in which drivers board the bus and prepare for their journey. It almost feels archaic, the bus arriving at a bus station, the outgoing driver waffling pointlessly with his or her replacement and with the doors then shut whilst the new driver belligerently faffs around with their duty card, makes countless presses on the ticket machine screen as though they are programming an aircraft for take-off, then they fidget with their chair to get it the right level and feel, before checking their card again and eventually customers are grudging to board – more often than not without a smile. The optics of these kinds of processes are generally really poor – customers standing in the cold, the driver gesticulating at them (almost tauntingly so) to wait or shutting the doors to enforce this, until they are ready – there’s a real ‘them and us’ feel. It’s so different to an Uber turning up, sans fuss, and you get inside and you’re off.
My week on public transport got worse, a late train with a subterranean level of information between Accrington and Preston (I genuinely cannot recall when I last boarded an on time Northern service), preceded delays on GTR when I tried to get across London from Euston to Waterloo (from Kings Cross to Blackfriars) in the absence of the Tube on my way home. Then, when trying to get from Balham to Selhurst to see Crystal Palace on Saturday, major delays meant that we decamped the platform onto an Uber, which was the only way we’d get to the game on time, despite having tapped in and out to get onto the station (how do we get our dosh back?). Afterwards, chaotic, lengthy queues and much overcrowding ensued due to the line from East Croydon to London via Norwood Junction being closed for engineering work.
The industry needs to be bolder and more honest with itself about its shortcomings
Where is my narrative going with all this? None of my experiences by rail or bus was so bad that it caused me major discomfort, mainly because I made early, instinctive decisions to choose an Uber and also because my bus journeys were adequate. However, the shortcomings were irritations – and just that which, if repeated more regularly, may persuade me that some journeys are not worth the hassle by public transport. Indeed, to an extent, this happened as early as Friday, when two colleagues and I were travelling to a meeting in an industrial estate in Lye, on the outskirts of Stourbridge. Despite the bus and rail operators being generally good, I genuinely couldn’t be bothered to work out how we’d get to the meeting, and so it was an Uber door-to-door, both ways from Birmingham New Street to our meeting venue – for £25 return, which was probably cheaper than had we all paid to go by train.
I don’t think we are too far off public transport standing still in the eyes of young people, such that they will literally vote with their feet and, in doing so, force the industry to consider radical change for it to have any appeal to them as consumers. Today’s and probably tomorrow’s generation are impatient and maybe, in the case of a bus, for instance, ‘on demand/turn-up-and-go’ is the only concept they will consider. Meanwhile, I’ve been conducting research that will be released in a few weeks, which provides a strong indication that the concept of rail replacement services in their current format is becoming unpalatable to youngsters. They don’t understand how it can ensue so often, and the product can be, in the main, so antiquated and unattractive.
In terms of young people, the Tube strike has, for me, shown a complete contempt towards drivers. Whereas my generation, nurtured in an environment where technology was less advanced, could relate to the safety-critical role of a driver, the youth of today don’t get this. I overheard a lengthy debate among a group in their early twenties at the weekend, where they explained how they would laugh themselves silly when driverless Tube trains are genuinely the norm and there isn’t a requirement for a driver. It’s as though they want to ‘get even’ and see these overpaid drivers get their comeuppance.
There is genuinely a view that the relatively low speed, stop, start, ‘all stations’ nature of Tube travel, has less need for a driver than any other form of public transport and does not even remotely justify a salary touching £75,000. So too, it’s nonsensical that a bus driver, who has to interact with hordes of customers, check tickets, deal with queries, manage anti-social behaviour on board, verify that the bus isn’t overloaded and then deal with the unpredictable vagaries of other road users, is paid a fraction of a Tube driver. My lack of sympathy is heightened by seeing at first-hand how hard my 19-year-old trainee midwife daughter works as a student in hospitals – 60 hours a week, shift work, for nothing. Even when she graduates, she’s earning a pittance by comparison to those at the front of a Tube train, and yet delivering babies is as safety-critical as it gets, without the level of automation and technology that makes the role of a London Underground driver easier.
The stranglehold of the trade unions in the rail sector is deep-seated and long-standing, but the current cossetting government, with its ridiculously generous pay deals, has just made the situation far worse. In December 2024, it was reported that work undertaken by the Department for Transport, with technical input from TfL, concluded that driverless trains would cost billions of pounds on each line and that plans would not be developed. It’s hard to disagree that the costs, particularly in installing platform-edge doors, would be extortionate; though, at some point, probably not in my lifetime, I suspect that something has to give.
So where do we go from here? Addressing some of the issues I’ve raised is no mean feat, but first the industry needs to be bolder and more honest with itself about its shortcomings. It’s in denial if it thinks, as some do, that Uber isn’t more attractive and represents far better value for money, particularly if more than one person is travelling. However, that doesn’t mean it needs to view Uber as a competitor; indeed, there’s an opportunity for it to be part of an integrated, multi-modal transport proposition. Selling rail tickets is admittedly a step in that direction.
In terms of the transport product itself, a proper customer journey mapping exercise is needed to outline all touchpoints for different customer types, and to have a thorough discussion about how the industry can provide a genuinely better experience at each stage. This sounds a bit ‘old hat’ – consultants have been doing this for years – but much of the time, the operator or transport authority just nods insipidly in agreement, they put the mapping chart onto a PowerPoint presentation to look good to their superiors, but never then turn this into an action plan. Nor are they ever held accountable for delivering it.
I want to see a customer journey mapping exercise that genuinely makes the boarding process for customers on buses slicker, inclusive and welcoming or for the two words ‘rail replacement’ not to instinctively cause customers either not to travel or to get in a car or Uber instead. You would like to think that Great British Railways (GBR) is doing this, but to undertake the exercise correctly, a joined-up approach needs to be taken with the bus and coach sector. I’m less sure that the transport industry, per se, has the ‘get up and go’ or even the ability to organise itself to do this, sadly, let alone the ambition and capability to transform the experience at many of its customer touchpoints boldly. Last week was a salutary reminder to me of the reality of a transport experience, Uber aside, that on every single day was still stuck in a time warp and at times barely functional. You won’t see industry, self-congratulatory, bigwigs shouting about that on LinkedIn.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of transport technology business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
A sector failing to move with the times
by Passenger Transport on Sep 19, 2025 • 9:29 am No CommentsA week of sub-standard public transport experiences exposed areas where the public transport sector has failed to evolve
As regular readers of this column will attest, I frequently extol the benefits of public transport and highlight great practice, whilst also not holding back when improvements could be made. For this reason, and despite some positive experiences recently, last week was an absolute shocker, which made me question whether the sector will ever adapt to the times and remain competitive. It was a real mix of classic ‘old school’ transport irritations – the kind that a business in another part of the service sector, a hotel or restaurant, for instance, would struggle to serve up and get away with in terms of a loss of customers.
On Sunday, my daughter was moving some bags to her new university accommodation at Waterloo, and we chose an Uber, despite living next to Shepperton station, because the train journey for a 16-mile trip was – get this – one hour and 22 minutes and an hourly frequency! Shepperton is now part of the Transport for London contactless network, but it might as well be in another country on Sundays.
On Monday, meanwhile, I made an early evening trip to Manchester, and I had forgotten there was a Tube strike. It was a bus across London instead. Ordinarily, you would think that services between the London terminals would be strengthened, but no – a long wait for the 68, followed by three buses in quick succession, all terminating short at Russell Square, with a procession of customers with luggage struggling to complete their ‘connection’ on foot to Euston. I know extra buses are laid on during strike days, but it feels at times like customers are just left to fend for themselves. It’s also interesting that during industrial action, there doesn’t appear to be any effort at the key termini stations to advise on bus alternatives for those making cross-London ‘connections’.
The next day, I was off to meet an industry leader in Holmfirth and then needed to get to Burnley for the night. I’d never been to Holmfirth before, and having caught the train to Glossop, I hadn’t noticed that the bus to my destination only ran on Fridays. It was an Uber, once again – a lovely, stunning, scenic journey. Even though the driver charged me double the price, it was literally two presses on my phone, and the fare was instantly, quibble-free, readjusted back to the original ridiculously cheap £14.
After my meeting in delightful Holmfirth, the plan was to get a bus to Huddersfield and then a train to Leeds. Still, midweek rail replacement made a mockery of this idea and deducing that it would probably now be a three- hour trip to end up in Burnley and a lot of hassle, it was Uber, once more and a driver arrived immediately, was hugely personable – as they all are – and whisked me in style to Halifax for a trip on First’s 591 alongside the River Calder to Burnley.
Back on the bus, the difference in experience was noticeable. The bus station at Halifax was heaving with shouting, vaping and wolf-whistling teenagers. The bus arrived, and the driver was monosyllabic in every ‘interaction’ with customers and didn’t once break into even half a smile. Upstairs, the vehicle was slightly grubby, and I had to listen to one customer playing a video from his phone loudly and another singing. I have long been a fan of First Bus; however, this was an experience that felt removed from the gloss of its ‘Love the Bus’ campaign.
In between these journeys, I’ve made numerous trips on buses during the week, across the North and Midlands, and although I’ve been impressed with punctuality – I can’t recall a late bus – there are still too many vehicles with empty notice cases and buses that haven’t been washed for several days or worse.
Another irritation that again highlights the difference between an Uber and a bus is the drawn-out way in which drivers board the bus and prepare for their journey. It almost feels archaic, the bus arriving at a bus station, the outgoing driver waffling pointlessly with his or her replacement and with the doors then shut whilst the new driver belligerently faffs around with their duty card, makes countless presses on the ticket machine screen as though they are programming an aircraft for take-off, then they fidget with their chair to get it the right level and feel, before checking their card again and eventually customers are grudging to board – more often than not without a smile. The optics of these kinds of processes are generally really poor – customers standing in the cold, the driver gesticulating at them (almost tauntingly so) to wait or shutting the doors to enforce this, until they are ready – there’s a real ‘them and us’ feel. It’s so different to an Uber turning up, sans fuss, and you get inside and you’re off.
My week on public transport got worse, a late train with a subterranean level of information between Accrington and Preston (I genuinely cannot recall when I last boarded an on time Northern service), preceded delays on GTR when I tried to get across London from Euston to Waterloo (from Kings Cross to Blackfriars) in the absence of the Tube on my way home. Then, when trying to get from Balham to Selhurst to see Crystal Palace on Saturday, major delays meant that we decamped the platform onto an Uber, which was the only way we’d get to the game on time, despite having tapped in and out to get onto the station (how do we get our dosh back?). Afterwards, chaotic, lengthy queues and much overcrowding ensued due to the line from East Croydon to London via Norwood Junction being closed for engineering work.
Where is my narrative going with all this? None of my experiences by rail or bus was so bad that it caused me major discomfort, mainly because I made early, instinctive decisions to choose an Uber and also because my bus journeys were adequate. However, the shortcomings were irritations – and just that which, if repeated more regularly, may persuade me that some journeys are not worth the hassle by public transport. Indeed, to an extent, this happened as early as Friday, when two colleagues and I were travelling to a meeting in an industrial estate in Lye, on the outskirts of Stourbridge. Despite the bus and rail operators being generally good, I genuinely couldn’t be bothered to work out how we’d get to the meeting, and so it was an Uber door-to-door, both ways from Birmingham New Street to our meeting venue – for £25 return, which was probably cheaper than had we all paid to go by train.
I don’t think we are too far off public transport standing still in the eyes of young people, such that they will literally vote with their feet and, in doing so, force the industry to consider radical change for it to have any appeal to them as consumers. Today’s and probably tomorrow’s generation are impatient and maybe, in the case of a bus, for instance, ‘on demand/turn-up-and-go’ is the only concept they will consider. Meanwhile, I’ve been conducting research that will be released in a few weeks, which provides a strong indication that the concept of rail replacement services in their current format is becoming unpalatable to youngsters. They don’t understand how it can ensue so often, and the product can be, in the main, so antiquated and unattractive.
In terms of young people, the Tube strike has, for me, shown a complete contempt towards drivers. Whereas my generation, nurtured in an environment where technology was less advanced, could relate to the safety-critical role of a driver, the youth of today don’t get this. I overheard a lengthy debate among a group in their early twenties at the weekend, where they explained how they would laugh themselves silly when driverless Tube trains are genuinely the norm and there isn’t a requirement for a driver. It’s as though they want to ‘get even’ and see these overpaid drivers get their comeuppance.
There is genuinely a view that the relatively low speed, stop, start, ‘all stations’ nature of Tube travel, has less need for a driver than any other form of public transport and does not even remotely justify a salary touching £75,000. So too, it’s nonsensical that a bus driver, who has to interact with hordes of customers, check tickets, deal with queries, manage anti-social behaviour on board, verify that the bus isn’t overloaded and then deal with the unpredictable vagaries of other road users, is paid a fraction of a Tube driver. My lack of sympathy is heightened by seeing at first-hand how hard my 19-year-old trainee midwife daughter works as a student in hospitals – 60 hours a week, shift work, for nothing. Even when she graduates, she’s earning a pittance by comparison to those at the front of a Tube train, and yet delivering babies is as safety-critical as it gets, without the level of automation and technology that makes the role of a London Underground driver easier.
The stranglehold of the trade unions in the rail sector is deep-seated and long-standing, but the current cossetting government, with its ridiculously generous pay deals, has just made the situation far worse. In December 2024, it was reported that work undertaken by the Department for Transport, with technical input from TfL, concluded that driverless trains would cost billions of pounds on each line and that plans would not be developed. It’s hard to disagree that the costs, particularly in installing platform-edge doors, would be extortionate; though, at some point, probably not in my lifetime, I suspect that something has to give.
So where do we go from here? Addressing some of the issues I’ve raised is no mean feat, but first the industry needs to be bolder and more honest with itself about its shortcomings. It’s in denial if it thinks, as some do, that Uber isn’t more attractive and represents far better value for money, particularly if more than one person is travelling. However, that doesn’t mean it needs to view Uber as a competitor; indeed, there’s an opportunity for it to be part of an integrated, multi-modal transport proposition. Selling rail tickets is admittedly a step in that direction.
In terms of the transport product itself, a proper customer journey mapping exercise is needed to outline all touchpoints for different customer types, and to have a thorough discussion about how the industry can provide a genuinely better experience at each stage. This sounds a bit ‘old hat’ – consultants have been doing this for years – but much of the time, the operator or transport authority just nods insipidly in agreement, they put the mapping chart onto a PowerPoint presentation to look good to their superiors, but never then turn this into an action plan. Nor are they ever held accountable for delivering it.
I want to see a customer journey mapping exercise that genuinely makes the boarding process for customers on buses slicker, inclusive and welcoming or for the two words ‘rail replacement’ not to instinctively cause customers either not to travel or to get in a car or Uber instead. You would like to think that Great British Railways (GBR) is doing this, but to undertake the exercise correctly, a joined-up approach needs to be taken with the bus and coach sector. I’m less sure that the transport industry, per se, has the ‘get up and go’ or even the ability to organise itself to do this, sadly, let alone the ambition and capability to transform the experience at many of its customer touchpoints boldly. Last week was a salutary reminder to me of the reality of a transport experience, Uber aside, that on every single day was still stuck in a time warp and at times barely functional. You won’t see industry, self-congratulatory, bigwigs shouting about that on LinkedIn.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Alex Warner has over 30 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector. He is co-founder of transport technology business Lost Group and transport consultancy AJW Experience Group (which includes Great Scenic Journeys). He is also chair of West Midlands Grand Rail Collaboration.
This story appears inside the latest issue of Passenger Transport.
DON’T MISS OUT – GET YOUR COPY! – click here to subscribe!