Now, I know things go wrong and railways are complicated things to run but they should remember that customers who use the service are using it for reason. We need to get from point A to point B with as little hassle as possible. So, when a part of the infrastructure fails you would expect an annoucement, a customer service agent with information and a viable alternative.
Not so today.
I got on the train at Town Green station. The electronic departures board stated the train was travelling to Liverpool Central, the front of the train said it was going to Liverpool Central, even the announcements on the train said it was going to Liverpool Central. So I kind of assumed that the final destination of the train was in fact Liverpool Central.
The train pulled away, stopped at the next stop, where more people boarded to go the Central. The announcement said Central, but one lady asked me if the train was going to Central as the station destination board said it was only going to Sandhills (which if you are not familiar with Merseyrail is some two stops further down the line). I assured her it was going to Central station, which was confirmed by the announcement on the train. Again the train pulled away and for the next two stops we were all fairly certain that the train was going to the destination we wanted.
Then, the announcement changed. The train was stopping at Sandhills. No explanation, no apology. There were some confused looking faces on the train. Was it stopping early or was it going to Central. The train arrived at Kirkdale were the guard announced that passengers should change here for services to Kirkby. The doors closed and the train pulled away as the guard announced that due to engineering work the train was terminating at the next station, Sandhills, were passengers should leave the train. A rail replacement service was in operation.
Quite rightly there was a lot of groaning and the odd expletive but we only needed to get the bus for two stops. A lot of people were annoyed that the announcement wasn't made earlier as they could have gotten off the train at earlier stops where it was easier to catch a bus into town.
What greeted us at Sandhills? A customer service agent? An apology? A notice board?
No. This.....
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| Passsengers for Liverpool.... a wheel barrow will arrive shortly. |
After 20 minutes of waiting and no sign of the bus I fought my way through the crowds and started walking the last 4 miles to work. Many other people had a similar idea.
One thing I did notice was the complete lack of anyone from Merseyrail with any information or an apology. That is absolutely appalling customer service. At the very least I would expect a company that I was purchasing a service from to have an explanation of why the service wasn't what was expected.
Even someone in a fluorescent jacket directing people to the bus would have been useful. At least then I could have asked how long the bus would take to arrive.
As I sit here typing this blog I am watching the Twitter feed of other disgruntled customers of the "urban network of vital importance to the transport infrastructure of Liverpool and Merseyside" venting their spleen and I notice that Merseyrail have only posted one reply.
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| Oh well, thats okay then... |
What's that? You're sorry for the inconvenience? Your engineers are working to restore the service? You are putting on more than one 32 seater rail replacement bus?
Sorry, my mistake, I just assumed thats what you'd be saying to your customers.
A brave new world
Congratulations to my collegues back in Salford who succesfully launched Breakfast from studio SQ2 at MediaCityUK today.
It hasn't been easy getting Breakfast up and running from the north. New technology, new working practices and new staff all need time to bed in.
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| The gallery in SQ2 during the pilots |
As a cameraman I should be outraged that technology is taking over 'my' job. Yes, it is a bit annoying that every camera doesn't have a cameraman stood behind them, but as the presenters don't move from the sofa and the majority of the shots are either mid shots or wides I don't see the problem. The two cameras that do all the creative moves are operated by studio cameramen who use their skills to combine the track, zoom, focus and tilt. A good use of their time and skills in my opinion but not really justified for a camera that holds the same shot for three hours.
In the right hands a robotic camera system is virtually indistinguishable to the viewer from a traditional crew. Take a look at the output of Al Jazeera English (where I was the Head of Cameras & Lighting for a couple of years). They have 8 cameras in the news studio and four in the talks studio. Only one of them has an operator on the end of it. The other cameras are controlled by a cameraman sat in the gallery with the controls in front of him/her.
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| and they're off... Bill Turnbull and Susannah Reid with Breakfasts' first TX from Salford |
In fact it's not the future at all. BBC News have nearly always used robotic cameras - even back in the days when the national news came from Lime Grove (where they used bloody awful Bosch/Fernseh cameras and Marconi MkVII's before that).
The thing is, that if something amazingly complicated came into the studio then all the cameras would have an operator with them. But how often would you have a 12 piece band followed by a breakdancing elephant followed by Oasis playing live?
You've paid how much...?
Kodak: value for solving every photo flaw in history.... $0.
Instagram: value for re-introducing those flaws back into your photos... $1 Billion.
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