Covid: 5 years on

 Covid: 5 years on

The first weeks of lockdown

Continuing on from last week’s post, I arrived at work on the 24th of March in time for my booked 6am start and headed to the station manager to get instructions for myself and my colleagues operating the ticket gates. I was told ticket gates will be operated however we should not make physical ticket checks and should remotely open a ticket gates whenever the customer’s ticket didn’t work. I was also told at the time that a normal pre lockdown train service was operating, but that last minute cancellations were likely due to staff sickness and an emergency timetable will be implemented within the next few days. My colleagues were both calling me at this time to find out what the manager said, and I passed on this advice as well as informing them what precautions were being put in place to protect us. 

The first day of work during covid felt very strange. Usually, the station would be quiet at 6am but it would gradually get busier until the peak time between 7:45 and 9am, which was busy with children heading to the nearby schools as well as commuters who worked in the area. However, this morning I had only seen a handful of customers the entire morning, and was beginning to wonder if we would be sent home with pay for the duration of lockdown if passenger numbers stayed so low. However, one positive thing was that the coffee shop next door cooked and gave us free food before it expired, and then the next day a local pizza shop did the same. Fortunately as well we did not get sent home with pay at all in lockdown either, instead we stayed in work and worked however we could given the circumstances. 

Free travel for NHS staff on trains

It’s well known that many bus companies and the NHS had a formal agreement that NHS staff could travel for free on buses (subject to available space), however there was no such agreement with the train companies. However one day I was approached by a nurse heading to work in a local hospital who asked if it was true they could travel for free by train, but I wasn’t informed of any formal agreement. However, not wanting to cause them any more trouble than they were already facing at work, I allowed them to travel for free, but I did inform them there’s no formal agreement and that they can’t be guaranteed free travel every time. Later that day, I asked the manager if there was any formal agreement in place and he said although there was no formal agreement, if we wanted to allow them free travel then given the circumstances he doesn’t see why it would be a problem provided they show staff ID. I had been asked by a colleague about this too and informed both of my teammates that management didn’t have a problem with allowing NHS staff free travel. 

Emergency timetable 

A few days after going into lockdown, we were informed that an emergency timetable had been finalised and was waiting approval from Network Rail. This got approved the same day and was implemented the following day with the aim to improve service reliability by requiring less staff to operate trains, therefore reducing the likelihood of cancellation due to staff sickness and also reducing operational costs. The services that were reduced were the less used services so that a core service was still operational. The usage of each individual service and station was monitored (I had to count how many customers passed through my gateline during my shift), which meant that regular adjustments were made to the timetable in order to ensure the most efficient service was being provided. 

The impact for onward public transport connections 

By onward connections, I mean things such as taxis and buses. There’s a taxi rank outside the station and bus stops are just around the corner. All of those means of onward transport were severely affected too, with one taxi driver saying to me he would regularly wait for 3-4 hours to get a job, and during a 12 hour day he could make less than £30. Bus drivers would often tell me as well it took them time to adjust to not always having to stop at the bus stop, as pre lockdown the bus stops by the station were heavily used, and as a result they would often run early. 

Next week, we will be looking at personal life during lockdown and how the entire world changed away from the workplace. Stay tuned, I’ll be back with more next weekend :-D