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Title: GWR to cease involvement with easitNETWORK, 31.3.2020 Post by: grahame on January 24, 2020, 09:46:47 From the Reading Chronicle (https://www.readingchronicle.co.uk/news/18182774.great-western-railway-stops-involvement-easitnetwork-travel-scheme/)
Quote GREAT Western Railway (GWR) will soon cease to be a part of a sustainable travel scheme, potentially forcing thousands of commuters in the Thames Valley area back into their cars. From the end of March this year, GWR will stop involvement with easitNETWORK after 10 years. For 15 years, the company has worked with train, bus and other travel providers across the south and south east, signing up major employers such as the University of Oxford, Virgin Atlantic, GSK and Hastings Direct – plus many local councils and hospitals – to save money for their teams and encourage sustainable commuting by providing discounted travel fares to their employees. Quote Dr Mel Mehmet, CEO and founder of easitNETWORK, said: "We have worked successfully with GWR for 10 years to get commuters out of their cars and onto the train, removing around 24,000 tonnes of CO2 each year from the atmosphere and reducing congestion. "At this moment of climate crisis, we are bitterly disappointed that GWR no longer wants to be part of such a successful sustainable travel scheme." Quote According to a GWR spokesman, the train company's membership of the Easit scheme was designed to help encourage shifts from road to GWR services in the Thames Valley. He added: "From December many of the services we were targeting with this offer transferred to TfL Rail, and we reassessed our involvement on that basis. "We want Easit customers to continue to travel with us. "We also want to see more shift to rail travel. "To do that we have to focus our investment on what works - for example the mobile assistance service we launched a few weeks ago." EasitNETWORK is at https://www.easit.org.uk Title: Re: GWR to cease involvement with easitNETWORK, 31.3.2020 Post by: ray951 on January 24, 2020, 10:01:33 Not sure what a launching a mobile assistance service has with withdrawing the Easit card.
Wouldn't it have been more honest for the spokesman to have said 'we are withdrawing this discount as First Group and GWR need as much money as they can get as some of our sister companies are bleeding cash.' Title: Re: GWR to cease involvement with easitNETWORK, 31.3.2020 Post by: bobm on January 24, 2020, 10:09:52 I think all companies exist to maximise their income where possible, although it looks like this may be an increased priority for GWR at present. This may possibly explain the changes to fare validities over the timetable change and the decision not to withdraw peak hour restrictions over the Christmas/New Year period.
Title: Re: GWR to cease involvement with easitNETWORK, 31.3.2020 Post by: ray951 on January 24, 2020, 13:20:52 I wonder if GWR will also end the discounts offered to some employers.
Title: Re: GWR to cease involvement with easitNETWORK, 31.3.2020 Post by: ChrisB on January 24, 2020, 15:50:09 Not sure what a launching a mobile assistance service has with withdrawing the Easit card. The money 'saved' from not offering discounts can be spent on the mobile assistance team? I wonder if GWR will also end the discounts offered to some employers. That is this scheme. So yes. This page is printed from the "Coffee Shop" forum at http://gwr.passenger.chat which is provided by a customer of Great Western Railway. Views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that content provided contravenes our posting rules ( see http://railcustomer.info/1761 ). The forum is hosted by Well House Consultants - http://www.wellho.net |