Great Western Coffee Shop

I have been invited to participate (and have) in GWR's 2022 Stakeholder Survey:



I have spent far longer than the estimated 10 minutes on this, and it was in parts thought provoking; some of those thought ay be shared on the forum at some point.   The invite does not, sadly, make any commitment or even express a desire for GWR to do more than listen - no promise to pick up or even consider an inputs / suggestions and if I were cynical it could be just a tick-box exercise as far as the are concerned.  Never the less, food for good through for the "Stakeholder".

Question 1 ...


I would be very invested to learn what Coffee Shop members might have said

Not sure I entirely understand the question but I would say ‘Actions for train services’ being the most important thing for a train operating company to focus on.

I would have refused to respond unless they put it in plain English.

The survey appeared designed in this section to give an opening for "free input" to informed technical individuals who will typically be within organisations such as rail user groups including CRPs and friends, local councils, charitable and other groups supporting local people with an interest in travel, businesses with customers or staff who make use of rail, etc.    And whilst I did scratch my head, I found this question provided a good way to make categorised inputs.

Totally agreed, Timmer, that services are the most important thing certainly at present and in the short term.  Business structure - "how we are organised" is important long and medium term.  But in both of these arenas, GWR are like a ship sailing on a stormy sea at present - they can help steer the ship and the passengers on board, but the seas of government and various regulation make it very difficult for them to provide a comfortable ride.   Many of my inputs to the survey were less than saying that the service to customers is great, but at the same time I complemented GWR on being a darned sight better than others we do or have dealt with.

The survey is being done by a third party and described as "anonymous" so that respondents can say anything.  I would be very surprised, though, if certain people at GWR reading my responses would not have a pretty good idea.  And I am happy with that - delighted to take up the invite to give them a view, thoughts and ideas and I would be happy to further inform them should it be useful and lead to them being better informed as they make decisions that effect passengers.

Grahame,surprised you were not invited to the large managers GWR pow-pow at St Michaels church on tuesday 1st November 2022

I presume "the recent changes in the economy" refers to the growth in working from home, but it could equally refer to inflation, recession and shortages. Or it could refer to Brexit specifically. Probably it has been left deliberately open to respondents can understand it as they want, which might lead to ambiguity interpreting the answers.