I’m just wondering what people think about public transport issues post-Covid and what problems people have had in the past with public transport? Some people with physical disabilities including wheelchair users have had huge problems with train travel travelling alone when dealing with train companies where they have been regarded by train staff as an “annoyance” and as “troublemakers” for needing assistance and this lack of customer service is totally unacceptable - after my own travel disaster when returning from Ireland during the U.K. train strike in early October 2022 that saw me stranded in Holyhead for 2 days, I’m now very reluctant to travel any long distances (over 20 miles) without a chaperone despite doing so with only minor issues before Covid and post-diagnosis in 2021, I’ve even questioned if I should even be living alone without a live in carer at age 52 - with the Irish governments plans under EU climate change laws to restrict and even ban short-haul flights between Ireland and the U.K. and even with designating Dublin and Manchester as 15 min cities, this is a huge concern for me living alone in Manchester and with all of my extended family in Ireland near Dublin, as my family are against the idea of my being permitted to travel alone since my diagnosis and my travel disaster at Holyhead - for me, “what good looks like” is having direct trains from Manchester Victoria to Holyhead without having to change trains at Chester (a real pain) and especially if connecting from Metrolink Trams, Platform 14 at Manchester Piccadilly is a real hassle with a heavy suitcase, getting tickets and information, then at Chester, only 6 mins to change trains at opposite ends of the station for Holyhead - frankly, I’d rather sail from Liverpool old port in the city centre (not Birkenhead) despite the 8 hour crossing and into Dun Laoire as Dublin North Wall does not even have LUAS trams on arrival into the Irish Ferries/Stena Terminals let alone the DART trains into Dublin (I’m nearer to Manchester Victoria/Liverpool anyway)
