Petition Introduce public consultation into rail franchising

We have recently seen the controversy over the now cancelled decision to award First group the West Coast Mainline franchise.

A previous e-petition on matter of the West Coast Mainline generated signatures against this decision at an astonishing rate. It became quite clear the vast majority of the public were against the decision, quite fiercely so.

However, should the public views not been taken into consideration before the decision was made - after all, they are the ones using the railways? It is also to be considered that if the railways are not run as the public want, that this will discourage rail use? Something that would inevitably end with a fairly negative impact on taxpayers.

On this basis can we not conclude that public consultation should form a key component of rail franchising decisions?