I mentioned the sad demise of the Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone Railway company a couple of days ago.
Coincidentally, the Rail Passenger Satisfaction survey arrived yesterday. At the top, with 96% of passengers satisfied with the service: the unsubsidised Wrexham, Shropshire and Marylebone.
Capitalist monopolies lead to worse services. They cut choice, they cut corners, they charge more. The W+S is owned by the same company as Chiltern Railways: Deutsche Bahn, the German state operator. So although the Germans made the trains run on time, they couldn't defeat the vested interests of our crony capitalists.
Caught some of it on Radio 4 yesterday, A very sad story.Strangely I've just done a post myself discussing how in the private sector customer service is more often than not sacrificed in the name profitability.
ReplyDeleteA lesson which needs to be taken on board with the governments current appetite for sell-offs and privitisation.