Great Western Coffee Shop

At the moment, if I make 10 commuter journeys from Chippenham to London over a 2 week period, I pay 466.20.  But if I only work 1 day a week and so my 10 commuter journeys are over 2 months, I'll pay 1460.00

The Campaign for Better Transport are seeking a better deal for part time workers - they write:

"At the moment, part-time workers who commute by train must either buy a season ticket and lose money on the days they don't use it, or buy individual peak-time tickets. Part timers are losing hundreds of pounds a year."

see - http://www.bettertransport.org.uk/part-time

fgw have part time 3 day season tickets available on my route in cornwall, is there not a similar available in your area

That's a new one on me and - judging by their web site - a new one on Better Transport.   Can't see it on the main season ticket page for FGW either (http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Train-times-and-tickets/Ticket-types/Season-tickets) - do you have a link / can anyone point to details?

Leaflet explaining the part-time season tickets in Devon & Cornwall:

http://www.plymouth.gov.uk/fgwticketoffers.pdf

Forum topic on the subject from last year:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=8804.0

I had a similar issue to grahame when I needed to travel from Portsmouth to Bristol for 2/3 days every week.  In the end, I travelled off-peak (on a rover) and booked cheap hotel rooms overnight as this was considerably cheaper than anytime returns.

The solution would be a carnet style of season ticket.  I believe FGW have these available on some routes, but they aren't very attractive compared to a season ticket.

FGW do the booklet type carnets on the Gunnislake and Barnstaple lines (on the latter it is only available from some intermediete stations and not the whole line), and also carnets that are on std ticket stock which are basically 10 day returns for the price of 9 which are only available to/from gated stations in order to reduce the risk of fraudulent use, however, they are valid to Digby which isn't gated! Also only available in Devon and Cornwall.

FGW did at one time offer a carnet of tickets in the Oxford area, something like 10, which were offered at a discount to the total of individual prices and had a validity of something like a month. I don't know if they are still available but they were never very well publicised at the time. Of course FGW does not publicise hardly anything of its special offers, apart from the occasional poster at stations or well hidden on its web site so that non railusers, the ones they need to reach, do not know about them.
How many people know about FGW's Somerset Explorer - ^136 per person for a 2 day tour with all travel from London, DB & B. It looks first class value to me.

http://www.fgwtickets.co.uk/season/requirements/st_qtt.asp?selectedzones=&T2ID=6656_2012218183511
type for Hayle to Truro, and there are all sorts of combinations of which days each are available. you need to tick the renewal box and i typed truro as original station to get the resulta up

and lets face it, FGW's west of England fares are dirt cheap anyway when compared with driving or catching a bus!

Indeed, probably why most in devon and cornwall think so highly of fgw, compared to the people using the rest of the fgw network. Friends down here always comment favourably of fgw, yet friends in bristol, and London don't have a good thing to say about fgw.

If fares on the aold Wessex trains franchise are cheap and fares on the old Thames Trains franchise are at least modest, why is it that those of who have to live with fares set by the old Great Western Trains franchise have to pay through the nose? Or is it to subsidise the rest?

As the market will bare a higher price on that route.  For example from Swindon to Paddington there are no real alternative ways of travelling so people will pay regardless.

Another way of saying it would be that it is an abuse of a monoply position.