"In 2007, First Great Western did not increase its fares,"

I don't think this is strictly true.  Standard and Cheap Day returns from Salisbury to Southampton for example went up by about 17% (though I don't have the exact figure) in Jan 2007.  I remember querying this increase with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) at the time who said the increases at that time were to pay for the refurbishment of trains and stations.

I find myself disappointed and pleased to have to write this but here it is.

There is absolutely no reason, no reason at all to berate Lee Fletcher for his efforts to restore to the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) a more appropriate rail service fit for the 21st century and beyond.  Without Lee's vision many of us would have floundered, thinking our issues 'close to home' were mere trifles that others don't care about or were somehow irrelevant.  However through this forum and the Save the Train forum so much camaraderie has been created that it encourages all of us to keep up the fight, so to speak. 

All our local campaigns are connected.  We all want a better country and a better world to live, work and travel in.  If some of us don't take the global perspective, showing where our struggles coincide, then what hope do we have?  People like Lee enable so many of us to feel assured that we are doing the right thing, the concept of improving our railways is no mere marginal issue, albeit that we still have to win the struggle to prove it is so much more than just an irritation for those companies involved in running and making profit from it or to the politicians who continue to bury their heads in the sand about it.

So much of what Lee has achieved has been done completely off his own back, at his own expense and without thought for personal gain.  Anyone who seeks to criticise this in a negative fashion really ought to examine their own convictions and question the lack of courage with which they examine them.

I for one (and I know there are many) salute Lee and others like him for restoring my own faith in my small but not insignificant efforts to keep rail and public transport on the lips of my local representatives.

Let me also add my hearty congratulations to Lee and his fiancee and wish them the best for May 2008 and beyond! 

I am slightly disturbed at the lack of services on the Newquay-Par line and the timings.  Hmm.

A bit tardy to respond to this thread but musing still on the idea of train operators running as 'mutuals', I wonder if people would be willing to 'subscribe' to certain service networks to start an initial investment?  I think I would be.

I agree with the previous post.  In addition I would say that those who blanketly argue for nationalisation are mistaken unless we get a radical-enough government in power (not likely in the next decade).  The road lobby still control transport issues in this country and that's an impossible wall to overcome at the moment.

I would advocate train operators running like mutual building societies in the that interest (stakeholders if you like) in them are the people who use the trains - passengers.  All profits are immediately re-invested in the line and the stock.  I would also advocate that train operators should have responsibility for maintaining the portions of track and signaling in their area with cross-country operators contributing financially to this.  Currently, the mis-match between regional operators run by transport groups that actually have interests across the country (like First) and nationally-based Network Rail who sub-contract so much no one knows what's going in, simply does not and cannot work no matter how much fiddling is done.  And it's wasting money.  Last week the British Medical Authority stated that they wanted to remove political interference in the running of the NHS, perhaps we as rail users should advocate the same?

I don't think even the Green Party have thought through their rail policy properly.  Perhaps it's up to those of us who use and believe in a rail future to do so?  It's certainly something I will be spending the next few years researching.

They are indeed interesting questions and ones with obvious (to us) answers.  In my opposition to Wiltshire CC's bid to become a unitary authority I stated clearly that one major reason why Wiltshire does not function as a unit is because it's so difficult to get from one end to another on public transport.  I also pointed out the obvious economic benefits to the small towns and villages of the country if public transport infrastructure, particularly by rail was improved. 

The County Council don't seem to have shown a great deal of support for better transport initiatives in their Unitary Bid.

I travel the (relatively) short stretch from Salisbury to Southampton and back.  From a generally ok service which was almost two-an-hour, always well-used, we now have an hourly service for most of the day.  The frustration is that it is precisely the peak times that we want trains (also serving the well-used run from Southampton to Romsey and v-v) they have cut them.  So while there were three trains between 1700 and 1800 from Southampton back towards Salisbury and up to Westbury (with one running through to Cardiff) there is now only one, always crowded, sometimes hard to get my folding bike on.  This used to be three carriages, now only two.  Particularly bad on Fridays when people want to go away for the weekend.  Last thursday the 17.10 from Southampton to Cardiff actually became the 18.10.

The fare has gone up by almost double the 'average' quoted and I am convinced this has had an impact on driving people away from this journey and into their cars.  The A36 is so terrible a road that were it not for this fact, I too may have succumbed and bought a car again (I sold it some years back to commit to public transport).