Viewpoint

Elevating the station experience

Whoosh CEO, Edmund Caldecott explains how to get travellers back on trains, both for leisure and business

There can be little doubt that the last couple of years have been truly transformative. The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the way people think about work, their leisure time, their relationships… pretty much everything can now be viewed through the prism of ‘what’s really important to me?’

But who would have imagined such change was going to come if you look back to that first summer of lockdown? Long, sunny days with no work, furlough pay for many of us, lots of free time to just kick back with the family. Bliss!

Of course, once you’d watched everything on Netflix, got sick of the kids and walked around every local street the novelty quickly wore off and work was back on the agenda. But at least we all had time for some valuable reflection about how to do things better in the future. I’m thankful that the rail industry seems to have taken this to heart. Train companies have endured an existential threat and, rightly, understand they need to accelerate the pace of change to cater for a more demanding and more discerning customer.

The most pressing challenge now comes from the ‘new normal’ of hybrid working. The typical commute is no more, yet travellers – freed from the shackles of a traditional 9-to-5 – are far more likely to expect a seamless, modern service that delivers on their terms. That’s great, of course, and probably matches the aspirations of every rail operator. If only it was all so simple.

The dichotomy here is that it’s impossible to plan and provide a brilliant train service when you don’t know how many people are going to rock up each day. Organisations such as Transport Focus and London Travel Watch have already highlighted in recent months how difficult it will be to ‘let the train take the strain’ given that many UK workers now don’t keep regular hours, and that the rush back to the office is patchy, to say the least.

Technology has a major part to play going forward, and at Whoosh we’re getting involved by participating in a trial of our ground-breaking Real-Time Journey Dashboard at Birmingham New Street, London Euston, Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street, with the aim of rolling them out to stations across the country in the coming months. Our QR codes open up a world of departure information, station info and maps, retail options and passenger assistance, and are aimed at taking the anxiety out of every journey.

Keeping passenger confidence high is an essential part of the rail industry’s future journey. Everyone understands that TOCs cannot run the sort of timetables they used to pre-pandemic given the decline in passenger numbers, but the WilliamsShapps review had already highlighted how punctuality hadn’t improved much in the five years before lockdown. If operators are going to cut services, they need to build in flexibility to up train numbers when required. Being able to get where you want – and not be packed into the Covid-risk of a crowded carriage – becomes even more important.

It's where we believe having the best travel information on your smartphone comes into its own. Being able to see, in real time, the latest timetabling information is a huge stress reliever. If you’ve got an interactive map of the facilities of your station, it’s easy to nip to the loo or grab a coffee with time to spare. And click on the details of one of the nearby retail outlets and you might find a money-off voucher too. As well as all the live information of every platform for every train in the UK, the system delivers live, real time information for every bus, taxi, cycle and scooter hire, water taxi, tube and tram – every UK city is at travellers’ finger tips. Even better, train operators can instantly address service negatives such as delays by using the tech to interact with passengers on board to reestablish that feel-good factor.

What’s undeniable is that people love using the train, and despite all the gloomy stories of its supposed demise over the last two years, rail has a vital role to play in the country’s economic recovery and green ambitions. Getting travellers back on trains, both for leisure and business, is about providing a clean, reliable and relaxing experience – and the good news is the solution is quite literally in the palm of our hands.