Number of cancellations
The high number of cancellations at the beginning coincides with the May 2018 timetable which fell apart on day 1 and never recovered.
In December 2018, the splitting of the Manchester to Leeds stopping service at Huddersfield and transfer of Slaithwaite to that stopping service led to a reduction in the number of cancellations from an average of 32 to an average of 3.
The May 2019 timetable changes initially saw little change. The spike in the number of cancellations coincided with weather events, but in the Autumn there has been a significant increase in the number of cancellations. Whilst it’s normal for performance to deteriorate in Autumn, this appears to be largely down to driver shortages, which is something which is within TPEs control and ought not to happen.
Whilst there is a trade-off between staff training on new routes and new rolling stock, the trade off is being made at our expense (and at the expense of Scarborough passengers who have been seeing up to half of their services cancelled on a regular basis), it’s a trade off at the expense of passengers and not acceptable.
Whilst the restoration of a half-hourly peak service from the December 2019 timetable change has to be a good thing, it depends on TPEs ability to actually operate that timetable. Their recent past record does not inspire confidence.
But at least if one is cancelled during the peak period it should only be a half-hour wait until the next one, a comment which perhaps reflects TPEs success in lowering passenger expectations.