Great Western Coffee Shop

Hi everyone

I am looking closely at the way we provide disruption information on Twitter and would love some feedback from those of you that use it.

Are you usually able to get the information you need from the Twitter feed?
What could we do better?
Is there anything that other TOCs do that you think would be great on the FGW feed?

Any suggestion welcome. It would be great to get some real views from real customers.

Thanks for your time

Jo

Jo, I havent been able to fault the twitter feed. Perhaps having front line staff being able to view your tweets, as 9/10 times there is more info on your twitter feed than the staff know about an incident.  I regularly hear passengers telling the staff whats happened from Twitter/ Facebook/ local news bulletins mentioning a incident, and the staff werent aware of whats happening other than they're delayed.

I think generally the customer service you offer via Twitter is fantastic!

As you know Jo, I despise First Capital Connect (FC), but I must admit their delay/service related tweeting is probably amongst the best...
When there are delays they use '#FCCDelay' which in the case of a full feed means it's quicker to find delay related information. It also catches the eye more than just a tweet from @First_CC
Probably FC's best feature is their use of DMs. If I send a DM with 'luton, sevenoaks, 0900, 1800' they will send updates (by DM) relevant to my journey; every day.

All of firstgreatwestern.co.uk's pages have "Follow Us on Twitter", however, most operators have a dedicated page explaining in slightly more details the service they offer. Perhaps this is something you (or the web team) could look in to?
Chiltern Railways (http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/tweet-us) for example.

Nothing else immediately comes to mind; as I said, very good!

Hello, Jo!  ;D

I don't use Twitter myself at the moment, but I do read the First Great Western updates online, just to see what's happening.  Obviously, the chirpy cheeriness hasn't been quite the same since you handed it over, but young Ollie does do an excellent job, nevertheless ...  ;)

My only suggestion would perhaps be to ask whether you could get the same amount of accurate and timely detail that is offered on your Twitter updates to be similarly available on JourneyCheck?

One of our members from Maidenhead, for example, often experiences problems with the lack of accurate cancellation / delay / revised formation information being made available by First Great Western on JourneyCheck.  See http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11318.0 for example.  ::)

Hope this helps!

Regards, CfN.  :D

I've already discussed that with Jo at the time..and she was already actively trying to get as much info as possible on Journey check.. As I am sure she'll say too on here..

I tend to use the Facebook FGW page..  I only use the Twitter infrequently.. I don't think twitter gives anymore information than journey check though?..Unless someone would like to correct me on that?

I too am a more regular viewer of the FGW Facebook page than I am of the twitter feed.

It is an excellent service, and I have recommended it. EBrown's idea of a hashtag is good, though. Your 21,000 followers shows how useful it is.

Like others before, I am more a fan of the Facebook page than twitter but appreciate the effort that goes into maintaining both. Keep it up!

Thanks guys. All helpful stuff.

Feel free to feedback about Facebook page too.

Jo

...

I reluctantly unfollowed the FGW Twitter feed the other day as the amount of information on marginal disruptions was getting overwhelming.

If Paddington-Reading is fouled up then the tweets are really welcome and appreciated. But "Ticket Veding Machine at Par is currently out of use. Ticket office will be open until 14.15, after that customers advised to buy on board" is, really, not of much import to 99% of followers. Perhaps having separate @FGW_West, @FGW_ThamesValley, @FGW_S_Wales etc. for such information might be better? (Shouldn't be any additional burden with software such as TweetDeck.)

But on the other hand Paddington-Reading being fouled up isnt important to me, but knowing I can buy on board from Par is. So yes perhaps a regional twitter as you suggest,