Woman asked to move from pre-booked seat calls Gardai

Fred Swanson

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end of the road

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

in the uk on certain parts its ding ding, then ding, and away. if the gard is changed to a revenue collection and customer roll then the doors can be left to the driver. that is what should have happened here rather then the system of only the driver, and a revenue check the odd time.

Wichita Lineman

Well after contributing earlier to this thread would you believe last Friday on the Connolly-Sligo service I sat down on a packed train only to find to my horror when I looked above my head that I was sitting in a pre-booked seat :eek::eek::eek::eek:

Before anyone panics I immediately asked the person who had just let me sit on the inside to move again so I could go and take an unreserved seat. She told me I shouldn't bother as in her experience half of the time the reservees? don't show up anyway!

Nonetheless I decided it really wasn't worth the aggravation and went and found a free seat. Seconds before the train departed the seat I was previously in was taken. I don't know if that man was the prebooker or not.

Just goes to show, you can never take these threads for granted, they do impact on real life

Hilly Bill

Some let the system pick seats for them as they are only interested in booking online and wouldnt sit in the seat allocated.

BeardySi

I honestly don't even know why they bother with seat booking by default. Seems to cause more aggro and bother than anything else...

Provide it as an optional, or even chargeable service for those who want it for some reason and leave it off for everyone else.

n97 mini

Hilly Bill wrote: »

Some let the system pick seats for them as they are only interested in booking online and wouldnt sit in the seat allocated.

I don't if there's a better free seat available at departure time. It's an unfortunate side effect of IR only allowing seats in one or two carriages to be reserved, resulting in a cram.

end of the road

TINA1984 wrote: »

If you take this line of thought to its logical conclusion then surely all reserved seats can be dismissed with a simple ''sorry, no name above the seat when I sat here, it's my seat now''

Btw commuters the world over aren't entitled to a seat, I see no reason why Ireland should be an exception.

because irish rail says so. seeing as they allow seats to be reserved. and also, not everyone who uses the trains in this country is a commuter. many are, others not.

Cuddlesworth

Wichita Lineman wrote: »

Before anyone panics I immediately asked the person who had just let me sit on the inside to move again so I could go and take an unreserved seat. She told me I shouldn't bother as in her experience half of the time the reservees? don't show up anyway!

Or that they do show up, see here there and go sit somewhere else.

Fair play on moving though.

Calina

Treadhead wrote: »

I honestly don't even know why they bother with seat booking by default. Seems to cause more aggro and bother than anything else...

Provide it as an optional, or even chargeable service for those who want it for some reason and leave it off for everyone else.

It is only causing aggro because people who haven't booked are whinging.

Every single seat in a TGV in France is assigned. I'd prefer to see that happening so that if you have a ticket, you have a seat.

SpaceTime

I guess the reason the don't is that a high % of tickets are probably open returns without any particular train time assigned to them.

They could just require you to stick your ticket into a TVM and pick a seat before you board I guess but, most railways operate a bit of a mix.

People just need to cop on and 1. Not occupy seats that are reserved and 2. Not just decide to sit somewhere else after reserving.

Irish rail should make the direction of travel much more obvious. I don't use the train that often and a couple of times I thought I reserved my seat facing forward only to discover I got it the wrong way around.

BeardySi

Calina wrote: »

It is only causing aggro because people who haven't booked are whinging.

It's a reasonably rare event that I take a train that isn't the Enterprise - usually when I do it's as a treat. I always book in advance and reserve a seat (and usually sit in it).

Out of approx 8 trips I can recall over the last few years, I can think of two where the system wasn't operational at all, one which had the wrong name and one where the entire carriage had been allocated to a Railtours group despite my (and others') reservation.

That's what causes aggro - all of which could be avoided if seat reservations weren't bothered with.

cmore123

I would use the railways a great deal, and I have to say that's its exceptionally rare in my own experience for someone to kick up when asked to vacate a reserved seat.

There will always be some smart-ass or lazy inconsiderate person who thinks they are above the rules, but most are decent.

Where I have seen issues with someone in a reserved seat is largely the railway's fault, as the digital displays above the seats are small, and not obvious; announcements are made after trains leave, rather than beforehand or on the platform, to the effect that you can't sit in someone else's seat, and above all in many cases (Mallow, where people change for Tralee being a repeat offender), the digital displays don't even come on until the train is well on its way. In such cases, it will seem unreasonable to someone occupying a seat to be asked to move, as there was no sign to that effect whatsoever when they get on!

In many mainland European countries, seat reservation notices are very clear indeed, either on account of cards attached to the seats, or lit-up larger signs in prominent places.

cmore123

I should add that it's quite reasonable to expect large tour groups or parties to be able to sit together, for example the railtours ones (who I have also seen). So there does need to be some sensibly-effected form of doing this. Other countries can with zero problems... and it's nothing new - the concept has existed since railways were invented.

Pinch Flat

And others will book seats if they're travelling with children or as a family. When I travel with my son I'll always pre book - mainly to get seats at a table so he can do his thing like colouring etc. if I'm on my own probably no big deal what seat I sit in.

cmore123

I'm the same - I'd rarely book for myself. But I'd like to think that if I did, the railway will (a) mark it adequately, thus avoiding (b) me being put in an embarrassing and unacceptable position of having to politely request someone to move, and (c) put in place a proper way of having personnel ready to deal with any misunderstandings, finally (d) make the general public well aware of what the rules of travel are - airlines manage this with no bother.

end of the road

cmore123 wrote: »

I'm the same - I'd rarely book for myself. But I'd like to think that if I did, the railway will (a) mark it adequately, thus avoiding (b) me being put in an embarrassing and unacceptable position of having to politely request someone to move, and (c) put in place a proper way of having personnel ready to deal with any misunderstandings, finally (d) make the general public well aware of what the rules of travel are - airlines manage this with no bother.

completely agree all though i wouldn't hold your breath for any of that to happen.