Great Western Coffee Shop

After reading Grahame's post on demographics I thought it would be interesting to ask people which regular journeys / commutes they undertake on the railway. It would also be pretty good if you could post your ages again so it forms a larger picture of which people of which ages are using the railways and for what!

I'll start:-

I'm 21, I live in Bristol but spend about 50% of the time at my girlfriend's in Burnham-on-Sea. I tend to travel between Highbridge and Bristol Parkway commuting in on Mondays (7:40 to Paddington, Change at Temple Meads onto the 8:29 XC to Edinburgh, Get off at Parkway). I also travel back to Highbridge mid week (16:51 direct stopper service with the stupidly long layover at Temple Meads). I will also get the 16:51 to Highbridge on Fridays depending on whether I'm going to her place or she's coming to mine.  I tend to make the other journeys by lift-sharing regularly as it's cheaper and easier than messing about with trains.

I'm 31.

I regularly do WOS - PAD.  Usually at least 3 times a week, mostly 5 times a week.  Occasionally I have to work or travel at weekends.

Normally:

0552 or 0632 to london.
1822 or 1922 home.

If I travel at weekends - I go ludlow-paddington via newport due to the poor service on the cotswold line at weekend.  Costs me ^36 more than my ^1090 a month season ticket every time I do this.

I'll be next.. I'm 41 (dead old it seems!)

I usually get the 8.51 Maidenhead to Paddington...
And the 17.44 or 18.18 Paddington to Maidenhead..

Usually between 3 and 5 days a week..

I'm 19 =]

I use 3 alternatives

1) Wokingham - Reading and Reading - Paddington    Usually 14:10 from Wokingham and 14:24 from Reading
2) Twyford - Reading and Reading - Paddington        Do not have a normal service for this, I just turn up and get what comes next.
3) Reading - Paddington                                       Again whatever is available.

Going home from Paddington 22:15, 22:22 or 22:45

I'm old enough to have to calculate it cos the birthdays come just too quickly - let's see ... 2007 -1954 ... so I'm towards the aged minority here.

Regular journey? Here's an admisssion - I don't actually have one.  I live in Melksham, I work here for 60% of the time, and the other 40% I can be anywhere.   Those work "anywhere"s can be by road, rail or air ... most common FGW journeys are to Oxford, or to London.   But also car-less journeys to many other places on occasional basis - via Heathrow, via Bristol Airport, to East Anglia, to Wales.

Does it strike you that I'm a surveryor's nightmare?  I travelled to Exeter to speak at the enquiry in public into the Regional Spatial Stratgey a few months ago.  The idea was to catch the train from Gillingham, but the station car park was packed and I didn't have the time to look for somewhere off siet, get back to the station with my Dad (who's as you would expect even older than me) and make the train.   So we drove all the way to Exeter ... to be met by a traffic survery student.

"Driving for Business or Pleasure" she asked.  Neither - it's not part of my business, and it's certainly not for pleasure.  "Where will you be parking" she asked. "I don't know - can you recommend somewhere to me please ....."

But I will tell you about a regular journey that I'm involve in nearly every week. It's from London to Melksham and the journey is made by my customers.   Three checkins this (Sunday) evening so far - I'm just back from a station pickup run from Chippenham, meeting a 15 minutes delayed train; the other two taxi-ed from Chippenham a couple of hours earlier.  Such a pain - last year we had a train connection right through to Melksham

Returns - often done by lift / taxi / bus to Chippenham at the moment as the 19:50 train off Melksham is far too late - the old 17:05 that used to run (more seats taken than not!) last year was ideal.

I being 15  get all over the place! I recently have done most often:
Trowbridge-Westbury
Trowbridge-Exeter
Trowbridge-Cardiff
Trowbridge-Swindon

I bet you do!!! I really sympathise with you living there of all places! I had to live in Wiltshire's amazing county town between 8 and 19. My advice is to learn to drive ASAP and escape!