Reduce the cost and strain of traveling
Posted 30 January 2008 at 10:39AM by Ian Betteridge in Email and communications
If you went to work on a First Great Western train on Monday, you might have been greeted by a strange sight: passengers handing over tickets which were all being rejected by inspectors. The fake tickets, marked "Fare Strike" were distributed by an organised protest group, protesting about what it claims are overcrowded and unreliable services.
Crowded trains and high fare prices might not seem to have a connection with business, unless your business involves a lot of travel on trains. However in major cities like London, where commuting is essential rather than optional, a reasonably-priced and reliable train service is vital if your employees are going to get into work on time. Cheap, reliable public transport increases the catchment area for your company, making it easier for employees to come from greater distances, which in turn means they can live in areas which may have cheaper housing.
What's more as transport soaks up a large chunk of employee's salaries, above-inflation rises in rail prices are likely to lead to demand for higher wages, which is both directly bad for businesses and an inflationary pressure on the economy as a whole. Coupled with increased cost of housing - which forces more and more lower-paid workers out of cities and into long-distance commuter territory - increased transport costs are likely to be bad for business as a whole.
Why is the rail system under such stress? Partly, this is simply down to increased passenger numbers, which have been going up steadily for many years as more and more people commute further and further. And that's not something which is likely to change, with the Department of Transport reported to be planning for a rail system capable of carrying double the present numbers by 2030.
There are some things which businesses can do to help reduce the cost and strain of traveling for employees, most notably encouraging staff to work at home whenever feasible. Employees can also avoid having to travel to meetings by using voice or video conferencing, which can also be a great way of ensuring that meetings don't drag on longer than they need to. These might not compensate someone who's been trapped on a crowded train for hours - but they do, at least, help to avoid them having to get on the crowded train in the first place.
Tags: bt, bt broadband office, flexible working, mobile working
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Comments
2. At January 30, 2008 4:57 PM, CATHERINE wrote:
I travelled from Ayr to Glasgow (1 hr) every weekday for 5 years. Train was always crowded mainly dirty and expensive. Had to eventually give up working in the city and get lower paid job locally. The train ran every 30min would have a rethink about working back in Glasgow if they ran every 15min, Sure lots of people working in any City have same problem
3. At January 31, 2008 8:53 AM, Gary Stephen wrote:
I find it interesting Catherine found the cost of trains from Ayr to Glasgow expensive. I live on the opposite side of Scotland and when I have to visit the west coast I find the train costs to be very cheap compared to what I'm used to.
But then I don't have to travel every weekday so I suppose it mounts up.
4. At January 31, 2008 1:40 PM, James Phillips wrote:
The problem with the rail system is that there was little or no investment in its infrastructure or development for over 3 decades - the 70s, 80s and 90s and now we're all paying the price for that.
Also, many of the executives running rail companies are just not real railway people. They don't really have a love of the railways and their ambition seems to go only as far as making as much money as possible and to hell with the customer. This carries all the way down the line (pun intended) to a lot of the staff who just don't have the natural skills to deal with customers. Hence the dissatisfaction nationwide.
5. At January 31, 2008 3:19 PM, Jim Duggan wrote:
I agree with James. When you phone asking for train times and get diverted to India who refuse to even acknowledge that a place exsists even if you are there!
Get some of the anarakok wearing train geeks who know about business and put them in charge!
6. At January 31, 2008 3:35 PM, Ian Betteridge wrote:
I've got to confess that, coming from a railway family (dad did 44 years working for BR), I'm very pro-rail in general. But from a business perspective, you have to wonder why any business person would want to use the railways regularly - unless they can afford first class.
7. At January 31, 2008 3:55 PM, Carl Lotter wrote:
Coming from Cape Town in South Africa I can assure you that the rail system here is far better then people think. The prices may be dear but little or no development over 3 decades alone is enough for anyone to understand why it is in the situation it is faced with. I do belive there is room for improvement in all aspects of its trade though.
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1. At January 30, 2008 12:09 PM, Jim Duggan wrote: