Great Western Coffee Shop

Do you travel from within walking distance of one station to within walking distance of another, or is your most common journey one where your FGW services connect in to / out of other trains / tubes / buses / cars / cycles / taxis / ferries?

Please answer for your most common journey ... and please treat a train that's operated by someone who's not FGW as an ongoing connection.

Car to and from station.

Bus to and from station Monday to Saturday daytime, taxi in the evening and on Sundays when the bus does not run.

Car at this end

Either FGW or SWT at the other

I don't have a regular commute on FGW - I actually use bus + walking, or occasionally the car.  I use FGW mainly for business travel to clients in the west.  I will use First Capital Connect + Underground to get to Paddington at this end.  At the other end, it depends on the location of the client office.  If it's within a mile or so of the station, I am happy to walk.  Otherwise it might be a bus (if convenient) or a taxi.  So I'm probably a floating voter as far as the poll is concerned.

I usually walk to Redland from here which takes me nicely into Temple Meads.

At the other end, I usually get picked up by someone or take a taxi.  Very rarely do I take the bus at and it is a little too far to walk.  If I'm travelling in the evening, then I have to change at Southampton to a Southern service to complete my journey.

I can't really answer as it honestly depends on why I'm travelling, lugagge etc. Usually I will walk to or from Temple Meads for example but if I'm carrying a large amount of baggage then I will catch the bus. And at the other end it depends on the time of day as to whether I catch a bus, get a lift or a mixture of an onwards connection with ATW and walk the rest. I have to be akward don't I  ;D

Car to Twyford or Wargrave (depending on time of travel- Wargrave if I'm travelling in the peaks, Twyford off peak), then walk from Paddington.

Many thanks for the 'votes' (or rather mini-survey responses) so far.  I'm looking to gauge and learn what sort of proportion of our members' journeys are purely on FGW's train network, and what proportion connect in and out of other transports. Please do post details (as some of you have already been doing); I'm very interested in this too, but I kept the question straightforward rather than trying to come up with all possible combinations.

Details.......

If travelling a normal commute it is FGW all the way 90% of the time if you don't count my cycle/walk at the other end.  If I miss the connection, the SWT service leaves a few minutes later so its usually easier to get that than wait.  Then I get a cab at the other end.

If travelling off peak then normally I go arriva to newport then connect with FGW and vice versa.

Only if I have the time to spare do I use W&S or if I have to go to birmingham I use XC - both of these are FROM work to home

Its a car at this end to the station in all cases

My commute: 10 minute walk, 10 minute FGW journey (NLS / BRI), 10 minute walk.

Back in the old days once a week or so it used to be Oxford Bus Co (Headington to Oxford station) - FGW - Wessex Connect/South Glos Bus and Coach/Buglers/whatever company had the council contract that week onward from Keynsham. Unless that happened to be on a Sunday, in which case it was a 25-min walk from Keynsham International.

Travel hither and thither, but my most frequent trip over the last twelve months has been Bristol to Bracknell:

25 minute walk to Shirehampton, then FGW to Bristol Temple Meads, then FGW to Reading, then SWT to Bracknell, then First buses (or Courtney Coaches eve/wkend) to my final destination.

OR

5 min walk to bus stop. Wessex Connect bus to Bristol Parkway then as above.

Walk to the station (West Drayton), train to Paddington, then bus or tube onwards to Victoria. Which depends on the weather (bus more pleasant when hot), time I get to Paddington (normally only get the tube if I get to Paddington Before 8:00) or day of the week (I collect a Shortlist from outside the station on a Thursday, so get the bus).

Then reverse in the evening.

I live by Parson Street in Bristol but when going anywhere I normally tend to walk/jog/run to Temple Meads, which takes me about 20-25 minutes as it means:
a) I can leave when I want and I don't have to hang around waiting for a connection (only 1tph offpeak, which is when I tend to use the railways).
b) If I've booked tickets from Temple Meads to wherever I'm going I don't have to deal with barrier issues to get to the ticket machines
c) I can find out what's happened to my train as I'm not aware of any train running information at Parson Street

I'd never bother using a bus to Temple Meads as it's slower and generally more expensive than the train.

That's OK, but if you want the service at Parson St to increase then maybe use it now and again to encourage the provision of more stops. After all, if everyone adopted your approach then it would likely become another Pilning.

There is a help point, at the top of the stairs to the platforms.

The question of how long you'll wait at your local station / how much inconvenience you'll put up with when there's another option is another interesting one (and one we have some experience of in our parts).  There's a whole thread in there  ;)

If it was working... I've reported a few times in this recent spell of no information to no avail.

It's a fair point, but we all have our individual circumstances. I'm quite happy walking or jogging 2 miles or so to Temple Meads; some people wouldn't be. I do use Parson Street occasionally, usually either when the rain's hammering down (quite a frequent event of a Bristolian summer) or when I need to be in the city centre urgently. It's not quite the same as Pilning since Pilning appears to be in the middle of nowhere (even though Severn Beach is nearby) whereas Parson Street is very much in Bristol, even if it is the outskirts.

Another issue that raises itself is how busy the station would be if there was a regular half-hourly service all day. I used to live in Exeter and I noticed that Digby and Sowton has a half-hourly service which is well used more or less all day. I'd guess Parson Street has at least as many if not more people living nearby, so if there was a regular half hourly service would it be well used? I'd certainly be more tempted to use it regularly.

It's half hourly in the rush hour, so a better service than Yate. But Yate has 7 times as many passengers. Hourly off peak is all you're going to get for a station that has 100 passengers a day, ie 50 return journeys.

Even in the rush hour there are surprisingly few passengers per train (maybe 10 max) for such a built up location. Maybe they're all jogging into the centre.  :D

It was less than 10 passengers a day a few years ago so things are improving!  For relatively short journeys at low frequency, rail probably completes poorly with bus journeys, which can go right into the city centre, for which Temple Meads is not particularly well located.  The solution?  I think we're back to the still-born and still lamented Avon Metro.

Indeed, the number of entrances and exits has risen from 7000 to 32000 in 3 years, so a very healthy growth. Whether any of the growth is down to improved revenue protection remains to be seen, though TM has been gated throughout that period. There is also a possibility that some tickets recorded as from Parson St are actually those purchased at the barrier at TM from those travelling from further afield.   

Wouldn't Lawrence Hill or Stapleton Road be better choices, as the fare is cheaper?

I've arrived from Redland/Clifton Down/Bedminster on a number of occassions without a ticket.  It is very easy to make up the origin station to something cheaper than the one you arrived from, especially if Penalty Fares apply at the station where you actually started your journey.  Just another reason why some sort of ticket machine/PERTIS machine is required at all local Bristol stations.

I suppose it's very unfair for me to have voted as I live in York. But I choose to go to Falmouth via Pad as I like FGW 125s.
Off again tomorrow...EC to KGX (125), then hopefully 12.06 to Truro, marvellous...son at UC Falmouth so great excuse for a visit.
Perhaps try the new Rick Stein place (plaice!) sorry! 8)

Depends where I'm going.

If I'm going to work then it's 10 minute walk to Acton Main Line then seven minutes to Paddington followed by a 20 minute journey on the Underground to Liverpool Street.

If I'm going to our abode in Devon from AML it's the same to Paddington, then an HST service to Tiverton Parkway and then either two Stagecoach bus services (the 1 and the 155!) or a half hour car journey.

Many thanks for all your votes on this.

Over four out of five journeys on an FGW train involve some sort of onward travel / transport at the start and/or end of the trip, rather than FGW providing the total solution.  I think that confirms the true importance of looking at total journeys, including integration and connection to other transports.