Regiojet Train in Praha-Smichov, Smichov, Prague, CZ, 2012

In 2011, some intercity services were outsourced to Regiojet, a TOC owned and operated by the Student Agency, who had for a number of years run a bus service from Brno to London via Prague. I'm waiting to see what I really think of this, but I find it irritating that, supposedly, they don't take regular CD tickets, thus tying up train paths while offering a service (with their tickets) only a few times a day. It's the worst of both worlds in that regard. One of my colleagues praised this arrangement for encouraging competition, but this is a bit like praising competition between your doctor and your dentist in the same office, not in that their roles are the same, but in that if you see one you can't see the other, and if you need one you don't need the other. Competition in that case only makes it more difficult to get an appointment. Actually, the train is worse because you need it far more often.