I think I have posted before about the difficulties of doing business with NSI -the international branch of the Dutch railways. Their diligence in attracting customers through such means as: having a web site in English, a wide range of destinations available on that web site, a phone line which call centre staff answer or sufficient staff to serve physical customers at one of their ten or so offices scattered across the country must be a text book example of how not to generate any unwanted customers.
In fact they are so customer unfriendly that last year I decided to fly to Grenoble rather than take the train. I couldn't book my ticket online - Grenoble is not one of the stations they list (it has to be on the TGV line), I couldn't get through to their phone line and in the run up to Christmas I couldn't afford the two and a half hours I calculated it would take me to travel to Arnhem or Utrecht and back and queue for 45 minutes - the average time I have waited before for international tickets. It was easier to do book a flight with a click of a few buttons. Sorry planet.
Next week I am off to Bonn. Its less than three hour's journey from here (with two changes) and quite a well known German city. But do they have on it listed in their selection of destinations? No. It is possible to check the journey times and connections - but to book a ticket - no way, it's not on the main high speed line. And the phone lines are engaged (all afternoon). And I don't have time to take off to go and queue for a ticket. So instead I book a ticket through to Koln (Cologne). It costs 31 Euro return. That is probably less than the cost of the petrol to drive one way. Koln through to Bonn is half an hour on the regional train and I can buy a ticket at Koln Hbf. So I am a happy bunny at having for once short circuited NSI's inaccesible ticketing system and having got me the bargain of the month. I would be happier if NSI were a bit more user friendly. But at prices like those perhaps they don't actually want to sell too many tickets. There are ticket agencies who charge more than this for processing applications.
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3 comments:
Sounds like NSI is about as useless as British Rail, which gets a constant stream of bitter complaints. I couldn't speak for NI railways, I've never used them in eight years because (a) they never take me where I want to go (e.g. the Mourne Mountains) and (b) the nearest station is 20 minutes walk away. Governments in so many countries seem to think good public transport is an unnecessary luxury rather than an everyday essential.
Well done for beating the system. Proud of you :-
Actually travelling on Dutch (and most other N. European) railways is usually a great pleasure. The trains usually run on time - (getting worse though) - are clean - they have a great bilingual website for journey planning. The connections connect (ah memories of three and a half hour Sunday waits at Shrewsbury for a link onto the Cambrian line) - they offer a sms service for delays if you have booked a journey. Oh and not to forget that anybody can buy a discount card that gives you 40% of all off-peak travel. Shall I repeat that? No more buying drinks for officers in the student's union to get a stamp on a student rail card application form (not that I ever considered that). Its just that the NSI doesn't seem to have a marketing budget and I guesss it doesn't make enough from selling travel on other countries' networks.
Did I ever mention travelling in a Danish inter-city and thinking I was in the first class compartement? I wasn't
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