Arriva blog: Building customer confidence will be key to our recovery

It’s a situation which comes with pros and cons. Not being a franchise means we have a lot more freedom than many train operators. Provided we can find space on the network we can plan our own routes, open new services to suit demand and serve some of the communities overlooked by the big operators. It also means we can take a longer-term view and plan for recovery when things are tough.

However, it also means we don’t have a state safety net when things go COVID-shaped. We do have the next best thing though – the support of our parent company Arriva and the faith of our customers, some of whom I was able to greet as they disembarked at York on Sunday.

Train travel now, like wider society, comes with social distancing, face coverings and hand sanitizer so it was particularly encouraging to see our customers taking it all in their stride on Sunday. And that is exactly how our economy as a whole can start to recover - by being safe, sensible and carrying on.

At Grand Central we consider ourselves a vital cog in driving local economies as a service provider  and an employer – something which is going to be essential as the country eases itself out of lockdown. As a business we face the same challenges as sectors like retail, accommodation and hospitality where we’re having to work even harder than before to meet the expectations of our customers.

Building customer confidence is key and that’s why we’ve introduced extra measures to ensure our carriages are clean with on-board distancing and plenty of guidance for passengers.

With the school holidays upon us we want to play our part in getting our customers to some of the fantastic attractions along our West Riding and North East routes. Some of them desperately need support after months without visitors. They too have worked hard during lockdown to ensure customers can visit with confidence.

It’s been great to see our own customers respecting our anti-COVID measures. It was also wonderful to start welcoming back our operational colleagues who have been on furlough while lock-down played out. They have shouldered a huge burden personally but to see their enthusiastic and warm welcome to all our passengers was heart-warming – who knew you can “see” a smile through a face covering?

I feel confident society can adjust. And when the time comes, Open Access operators like us, and our friends over at the fantastic Hull Trains, can continue to evolve, grow and open up the world to more communities.