Uses | Readers report bad behavior in the VR extra class: “I couldn’t listen anymore”

When enters the extra class, you should shut your mouth and sit quietly.

VR has been around for a year and a half now marketed its premium train car as a quiet areawhere the passenger can work undisturbed or take a nap in complete peace.

Still, VR does not demand completely noiseless silence from those traveling in the carriage. Short conversations are allowed. Passengers are expected to have longer conversations and business calls elsewhere, for example in phone booths.

However, according to HS readers, the quiet area is not quiet in practice. Even though in extra class you can even see signs reminding of silence, not all passengers seem to care about the silence rule. Readers shared their experiences of their noisy train journeys in HS’s survey.

The survey was published in Turku Scythe Thomas from the train journey in connection with the story told. The person sitting next to Thomas in the extra class had started a Zoom meeting, and despite Thomas’ requests, he had not left to talk in the phone booth.

In the survey, readers highlighted several similar experiences from their train journeys.

One the reader says that he always reserves a seat in extra class for long journeys. He writes that he has come across passengers there several times who do not observe silence.

If you can’t avoid talking on the train, you should go somewhere else to chat or book a seat elsewhere on the train. There have also been people in the extra class who feel they have the right to make phone calls without going to a phone booth. I pay for silence and that’s what I hope to get. VR could handle the situation better and remind, for example, during the ticket inspection that conversations and calls should be handled elsewhere. Male, 33 years

Another reader also complains that Ekstraluokka doesn’t seem to give value for the higher ticket price in terms of silence.

It’s not nice to listen to long explanations about someone’s work, especially when I’ve paid extra to be able to concentrate on my own in a quiet department. On trains, it would be understandable not to talk on the phone for long periods anyway. Female, 49 years

One according to the reader, in the extra class you regularly encounter people who fight. He would like VR to train its conductors to intervene more actively. The reader says that he complained to the conductor about the slurred speech, but to no avail.

Several other readers who answered the survey also hope for a more active approach.

I would hope that passengers on trains would be more clearly reminded to respect the peace of others, and that conductors would actively urge passengers to move to phone booths. Female, 49 years

I appreciate conductors who, during the ticket inspection, clearly instruct fellow travelers on how to behave in the section. Female, 44 years

In the survey, many readers also found it amazing how openly it is possible to talk about private and even non-disclosure matters on the train.

One supervisor spoke very openly about his employee’s work burnout and problems. In the end, I knew the employee’s first name and the problems quite accurately. I told this person in charge about it when I couldn’t listen anymore. Female, 56 years

of VR manager responsible for customer experience and service development Marika Schugk says that the aim of VR is to further increase awareness of the quiet area of ​​the extra class.

“Nowadays, for example, there is a sticker in front of every seat that reminds the passenger of the quiet space. Customers are also told at the ticket purchase stage that traveling in extra class means traveling in a quiet space.”

However, in HS’s survey, the reader’s stories convey the impression that some people think of the extra class primarily as a working space. For them, silence probably means that you are not allowed to play music from the speakers in the carriage or talk loudly with the person next to you. Holding remote meetings and talking on work calls, on the other hand, seems to fall outside the silence rule.

“We hope that meetings and loud calls would also be handled in phone booths. If you know in advance that there will be a mandatory business meeting on the train journey, you can book a cabin and sit there to hold the meeting,” says Schugk.

Part readers would like conductors to intervene more actively in situations where the peace of the extra class is broken due to a loud meeting or business call.

So would it be possible for the conductors to warn the passenger separately if he disturbs others sitting in a quiet space?

“VR has an official instruction that conductors must remind extra class passengers of the quiet space. Of course, the conductors can’t be present in the extra class the entire journey, but you can reach them from the other carriages of the train and you can go and tell them if it’s too loud in the extra class,” says Schugk.

According to Schugki, based on the feedback given through VR’s feedback channels, train passengers’ experiences of the quiet extra class have been mostly positive.

“The concept of quiet extra class has been developed based on the wishes of the customers. We strive to make this concept work in accordance with the wishes of the customers.”

There were also responses to HS’s survey, in which VR was praised for opening a quiet space to an extra class with an extra charge.

I have been using the train for work trips for decades. I think the silent carriage is the best that VR has developed over the years. Female, 66 years

The quotes used in the story are from those readers who responded to HS’s survey, whose contact information is known to the editor.