Great Western Coffee Shop

From FOSBR :

Noting that we had a cancellation this morning, I looked at the live departure board a moment ago, out of interest, and found that it read as at the bottom of this message.

You will see that the 20 41 in bound Sea Mills is already shown as cancelled at Temple Meads, even though it is not the next train on the branch. It is currently 1901, the train concerned would have been due to leave TM at 1908, but the train actually has 37 minutes at Severn Beach.

Giving passengers information in good time is one thing, accepting so far in advance that they cannot find a train for a simple branch line journey direct from their main depot, on a Saturday, when presumably they have spare trains coming out of their ears, and given the enormous turn around margin does suggest that we are dealing with a complete shower.

Also suggests that there famous multimillion refurbishment programme is a long way off target.

I also came back on an inbound train earlier this afternoon on which there was no sign of fare collection activity between SB and Sea Mills, the guard emerging from the rear cab only to operate the doors. That is presumably about 20 fares missing from the records and the coffers, probably mostly in the 'sparsely used' outer portion. Alternatively if there is a free travel promotion, it should be more widely advertised.

DESTINATION

TIMETABLE

EXPECTED

OPERATOR

TRAIN
DETAILS
Bristol Temple Meads

19:41 No report First Great Western Details Bristol Temple Meads cancelled at Bristol Temple Meads

20:41 Cancelled First Great Western Details

You may also be interested in Pages 195 & 196 of the link below.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/foi/responses/2006/september06/swindonwestburytrainsservice/greaterwesternoutlinebusines1103

Also from FOSBR :

GOOD LUCK CAT FOSBR OUTING TO SEVERN BEACH ON SAT 19 MAY 2007

Who? Everyone on FOSBR Yahoo list, Transport for Greater Bristol Alliance email list, Bristol Environment list, ASLEF / RMT email list, Bristol Cycling Campaign and FOSBR supporters who can be contacted by word of mouth.

Why? To celebrate the Half Hour Train Campaign (devised, directed and delivered by Cat with help from 561 people who sent yellow post cards to Bristol City Council budget consultation) and to wish her luck with her job at Transport 2000 in London.

And to meet and greet Severn Beach commuters such as Matt Wilson, local resident crippled by monitoring the non arrival of the Beach train and exhausted by finding alternative travel arrangements for sel and aforesaid commuters.

When?  Saturday 19 May  on arrival of 11.08 from Temple Meads Station at the Beach

Where? on the grass strip behind the Fun Fair ^ under the motorway if wet.

What?  Activities - Rounders with big bat and with teams from stations

Rail awards to campaigners plus any fun activities ^ Award designer needed.

Stranded at the Beach and other poems.  Prize winning dancer has been invited.

Bring food to share.  Donations so far ^15.  Suggest we spend money on drinks at SB cafes.                                                     

RSVP with offers of help  j.boston@unisonfree

Also from FOSBR :

^The Severn Beach service is great when it^s running on time. It provides us with an easy connection to the centre of Bristol. And for someone who works in Clifton and commutes from Severn Beach it only costs ^6.40 for a week^s unlimited travel. Using a car for this run costs me nearly ^20 per week on petrol and parking is a nightmare^, says regular user Matt Wilson.  But unreliability is so bad that he has recorded problems below and on a spread sheet.

All weekday trains from the 06.45 to the 17.35 from Temple Meads have been monitored for the period 1st-30th April.

11 trains were cancelled (5%), equivalent to 3 cancelled trains every 5 days.

04/04/07 14.35
05/04/07 06.45 (SB only)
10/04/07 11.35
12/04/07 14.35
16/04/07 13.35
17/04/07 14.35, 15.35
20/04/07 06.45 (SB only), 08.05(SB only), 15.35
25/04/07 06.45 (SB only)

14% were late, by an average of 9 minutes.

Altogether 19% of trains were either late or cancelled.

The most unreliable train (and most important for commuters) was the 06.45 from TM. This train is scheduled to leave Severn Beach at 07.23. 18% of theses trains were cancelled over the 6 week period 19th March to 30th April. The majority of these cancellations only affect Severn Beach passengers because the train operator, First Great Western, decide to cut short the service at Avonmouth when the train is running sufficiently late. This means that the train can commence its journey back to TM on time, but leaves Seven Beach passengers stranded.

Severn Beach passengers haven^t got it easy coming home either. The 16.35 and the 17.35 from TM are the most delayed trains on the route by far. Both trains are late one third of the time by an average of 13 minutes.

We recommend passengers to write a letter or an email directly to the managing director of First Great Western, Alison Forster (Alison.Forster@firstgroup.com) for compensation.