Miseryrail (Merseyrail)

Member Name: Andwynn

Product:	Merseyrail
Date:	04/07/00 (204 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: frequent, good network

Disadvantages: can be unreliable

That would be the Private Eye nickname for my local railway service,
Merseyrail. And not without some justification - the service ranges
from satisfactory to downright unreliable, the prices are so-so and
the staff can be unhelpful (ok, I admit, my dad works for Merseyrail,
and this doesn't help their cause).

But on the plus side, I don't know another county in the UK outside
of London that has such a useful public transport system. It may be
coincidence, but whilst I have lived on Merseyside, I have never
lived further than walking distance from a station. Ignoring staff
strikes and engineering work, the trains don't run any less frequently
than one every half hour. And in the run up to Christmas you can
travel the length of the network (on a Thurs or Sunday for Christmas
shopping) for as little as 50p.

So the staff shortages and strikes are a little more frequent than
you might like - but after all, this is Liverpool, our public would
be disappointed if anyone was actually doing any work. And the eng- ineering work tends to be every single weekend - that'll be someone nicking the sleepers. Disruptions to the services are typically well advertised in advance, and a reasonable bus service run in its place,
meaning an increase in journey time of no more than 15-20 mins,
usually - if the length of track that is closed is high, they usually
run 2 bus services, 1 to stop at each stop, and 1 that goes from the
start of the closed section to the end, which is nice.

All in all, I like my railway service. And if it wasn't there, what
would we have to complain about?

Summary: