Privatised Public Services - You Know It Works - N O T.

[Canary42]

Privatised public services - you know it works - NOT.

Bloody Lefty BBC, exposing these flaws again.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35293307

[youngmafbog]

I suppose you would get Stalin back in. Trains always ran well then.

And in some cases privatized services do work, take telecoms for instance so you post heading is not totally correct.

[Togo]

The answer is driverless trains. Modern systems can easily handle the trains. London underground wanted to introduce just such systems. We have no issues with pilotless drone aircraft, being remotely controlled. The fly in the ointment is, as ever, the unions.

[Svejk]

Sounds like a problem getting your 'bloody lefty' mates to do a bit of work.

[Svejk]

Sounds like a problem getting your 'bloody lefty' mates to do a bit of work.

[Svejk]

^See, I have to do twice as much.

[bazwillrun]

"The answer is driverless trains"

DLR works just fine...

[naomi24]

How would you run it, Canary?

[mikey4444]

Bring the railways back into public ownership....after all we are halfway there already with Network Rail.

Railtrack just didn't work, despite eye-wateringly large amounts of public subsidy going into paying the dividends for all the shareholders, so Network Rail was formed instead.

[anotheoldgit]

mikey4444

/// Bring the railways back into public ownership ///

Yes and some of us well remember how efficient British Rail was.

[jno]

yes, London Transport is basically back in public ownership and generally works well (I dont' say perfectly). Communters are always pleased when TfL takes over their suburban lines because they know service will improve.

[Togo]

http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/rail-news/london-underground-maintenance-worker-strikes-cancelled

Same old story. Strikes to block progress and to prevent new ideas and technology. Driverless trains are the answer.

[Old_Geezer]

"DLR works just fine... "
Wow ! They must have improved markedly since the days I had to use it. Most of the time it was quicker to get the bus.

[Gromit]

London Transport was never deregulated, like the rest of the country and has always been publicly run.

The problem with the private train network is not the operators, but the stupid way the routes are allocated. The Routes are auctioned out to the highest bidder, who then have to pay the treasury an annual fee. The problem is that in order to make a profit and pay the franchise fee, the operators have to cut costs by not employing enough staff, resulting in a poor service.

So only the treasury is happy with that system. Train operators are paying an high fee, and train users are getting a poor service.