"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 4 Feb 2004, Kippo Oppik wrote:

What is the rational behind passengers asking staff "how long are the
delays?" after hearing a public address announcement stating that the
train service is delayed.

Er, could it perhaps be because they'd like to know how long the delays
are? And they think that LU staff might know? I generally ask station
staff if there are notices of delays, and often get a useful answer.

I mean, if you think about it, the question just doesn't make any sense.

It makes perfect sense.

The amount of times I have been sarcastically informed by a passenger
that I am 'very helpful' because I can't tell them how long they are
likely to be "delayed" just beggars belief.

I'm sorry to hear that; that's just rude.

I agree with Tom: it's a perfectly reasonable question to ask, because
passengers want to know when they'll get home etc. Now the answer may be
"indefinitely" if the line is blocked and nothing's getting through, or it
may be "half an hour" if traffic is still getting through but is delayed by
speed restrictions or because they've lost their proper path. And the
information should ideally be updated every few minutes over the PA. The
supplementary question which staff should anticipate for very long delays is
"what alternative travel arrangements (eg buses, taxis) will you be
organising?" The only time that I suffered a very long delay was at
Guildford after arriving back from Portsmouth and each half-hourly service
to Reading was cancelled, but only five minutes before it was supposed to
depart. After 90 minutes of this, people were getting a bit ****ed-off. The
staff were very helpful and offered to arrange taxis to local places (eg
Bracknell in my case) if either the next Reading train or the next Ascot via
Aldershot train were to be cancelled. Fortunately, an ageing DMU turned up
to form the next Reading service.