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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: PM Enters Future Of FGW Franchise Debate
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on: April 03, 2008, 19:45:25
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But FGW▸ can't be judged by the whole region for cutting a service to one station.
Swindon. Transwilts service reduced by 60%, remainder uselessly timed Chippenham. Transwilts service reduced by 60%, remainder uselessly timed Trowbridge. Transwilts service reduced by 60%, remainder uselessly timed Westbury. Transwilts service reduced by 60%, remainder uselessly timed Dilton Marsh. No services remaining at all to Swindon. From Swindon reduced by 50% Warminster. No services remaining at all to Swindon. From Swindon reduced by 50% Salisbury. No services remaining at all to Swindon. From Swindon reduced by 50% Frome. Service to Swindon withdrawn. Let's try a few more. Romsey to Chippenham. Wesssex - 4, First - 0 Swindon to Southampton. Wessex - 4, First - 2 Southampton to Chippenham. Wessex - 3, First - 0 Which of these stations was the one you were referring to? It is all to easy to be taken in by the propaganda that says only one station/town is effected! I was referring to Melksham, as all of the other stations you mention still have plenty of services to the main commuter towns of Bristol and Bath, yes it is wrong that the transwilts service is dire but there are hundreds of other stations and lines in the FGW area. Bristol and Bath might be the main commuter towns for other stations on that line but there are a fair number of us from Frome trying to get to Chippenham and Swindon as well. Since FGW took over the transwilts route, I know several people who have given up trying to catch the train from here, Warminster and Dilton Marsh, who now drive by car either all the way, or to Westbury and Trowbridge where you have more options. The rest of us in Frome are frustrated by early starts 6.43 a.m. connecting at Westbury, when in the days of Wessex we used to have a straight through train leaving at 7.20 a.m. In addition connecting at Bath in the evening is stressful to say the least with either a connecting time of 7 minutes, which if you miss means you have an hour wait for the next Weymouth train, or you can get a much earlier train from Swindon and hang around at Bath for 40 minutes, unfortunately this in not much of an option when you're trying to work your contracted 7 or 8 hours a day.  |
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All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Discrepancy in season ticket discount?
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on: January 27, 2008, 10:15:43
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Does anyone know why I get more discount at Westbury than Frome Station for a monthly season ticket travelling between Frome-Swindon? Prior to double discounts, Frome Station discounted by 5% and Westbury by 10%, this is now 10% and 20% respectively.  Hi, Ruth ... looks like that might be one for Customer Service, or to any of our staff here have a clue? Are they not in different "performance" areas, so discount is different? I did wonder that, I heard the words "that's mainline" mentioned by the ticket seller at Westbury. As for asking customer service, I haven't, as I was afraid of losing the generous discount in case it was a loophole they might close.  |
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Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / 07:02 Westbury-Cheltenham Spa
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on: January 18, 2008, 21:00:29
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Trying to get the 07:02 Westbury-Cheltenham Spa from Westbury every morning is always interesting.
Passengers and staff rarely know what platform it's going to go from, it's usually late and more recently confusion has been increased by having 3 separate trains all on the one platform. Take this morning, we all got on one at the front which said Cheltenham Spa on it, but after 5 minutes we were asked to get off as it was actually going into sidings and not to C Spa after all. Then we had to wait for a conductor coming from Gloucester who had been asked to do the return journey - now that's really annoying because it means we couldn't be anything over than late as the Gloucester-Westbury train is timetabled to get in after we've left.
One has to ask why do they bother to advertise it as the 7:02 when it plainly isn't. Even if extra time is built in to the timetabling to enable it to get to it's destination on time, twice this week we've arrived in Swindon over 25 minutes late.
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: MTLS Fare Strike Confirmed
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on: January 18, 2008, 20:35:11
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Well lets hope FGW▸ take a tough line and bring in the Revenue Potection Staff,
That would only get FGW even more bad press. As I have said before (and this isn't a personal comment on you, Dogbox, I have no idea of your union affiliation and views), I think it slightly hypocrytical of rail staff to condemn MTLS▸ 's strike as if it was the worst crime in the world when they work in an industry that must be one of the most militant and strike-prone in the country. RMT▸ members have a contract to work but when they feel treated badly they consider it justified to break that contract and strike. FGW passengers have a contract with FGW to pay for their travel but when they feel that they have been treated badly (and by any measure they are treated badly) they consider it justified to break that contract for a day. I know this is a gross simplification and there are legal and factual differences between the two situations but I do think that their is some kind of moral equivalence. From a personal point of view, anti-MTLS comments from rail staff (and I would include Dogbox in this - sorry) gives me a negative impression of you all. It makes me and perhaps others less sypathetic of your own battles with FGW, less likely to view your mistakes sympathetcially, more likely to moan about you and complain to FGW and less likely to give praise where it is due. Basically, it gives me the impression that you are all heartless jobsworths. I know that that isn't true, but it is the impression you give when I read the "I hope they all get caught and sent down" comments on this forum. I know that lots of FGW staff feel that they don't get the respect that they deserve from the public (and they would be correct in such a view) but they must realise that respect goes both ways and lack of sympathy for the long suffering passenger will only rebound as lack of sympathy for the long suffering staff. BTW▸ , I won't be taking part in the strike myself but I do admire the MTLS folk who sacrifice their own time to organise it and who run the risk of prosecution to make a political point. Sorry mate but i cannot really see how not supporting a group who intend ON breaking the law is going to make me a heartless jobsworth. Put it like this if i worked for Tescos and the price of milk went up to ^1 a pint and i was on the check out would i say to the shopper who complained yeah i totally agree with you and you take it on for nothing. The bottom line is if you think the price of milk is too expensive you wont buy it ,everything is going up at the moment Utility bills, council tax { do you get a better service from them every year?}. I do realise Rail travel is prehaps the only option for some people, but overcrowding and fare increases are not just something thats limited to fgw land. As i have said on another post if the energy and passion put into moaning complaining and organising fare strikes was chanelled into working together to improve our local rail services prehaps we may be able to move forward . Other regions seem to be able to do it and get results because if we dont shout loud enough now precious few of the governments 1300 new carriages will be comming our way!! As for the price of milk, perhaps you remember the milk price fixing scandal at the end of last year for which the big supermarkets have been fined ^116 million by the Office of Fair Trading. Just because prices are going up everywhere it doesn't make it right, fair, or on this occasion lawful. I'm just glad there are people out there willing to make a noise about it rather than rolling over and just accepting whatever these companies throw at us. |
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Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: A 125 to stop at Melksham ... but just a plan, not a reallity!
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on: January 16, 2008, 09:38:29
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Having read on the internet at 18:25 that I could get the London-Frome train from Swindon I set out for the station. Just 10 minutes later on arrival there, I discovered this was no longer the case and in addition that the 18:45 to Southampton Central via Melksham was also cancelled with no alternative supplied, you can imagine my dismay. I eventually got home 3 hours later due to further delays brought on by flooding at Wootton Bassett. |
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: Ambrose Challenges Chancellor To "Try Our Trains"
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on: January 10, 2008, 19:14:22
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If it's the 06:32 from Weymouth which I frequently get, then it's standing room only from Trowbridge and also sometimes from Westbury, giving passengers 40-50 minutes of standing in seriously cramped conditions. On more than one occasion last year people were unable to board at Bradford-on-Avon, Avoncliff and Freshford because there was no room!
The passenger charter copied from FGW▸ site - "5.2 Getting a seat Whilst the purchase of a ticket does not guarantee a seat, we plan services so that customers boarding trains should be able to obtain a seat in normal circumstances. You should not have to stand on our trains during off peak times, and during peak times you should not normally have to stand for more than 20 minutes (or more than one station stop if this is longer)." So even FGW think it's unreasonable to stand more than 20 mins, how ironic. |
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: Ambrose Challenges Chancellor To "Try Our Trains"
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on: January 09, 2008, 19:15:29
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A few questions folks what actual journey does Mr Ambrose take every day??...was under the impression that it was Oldfield Park to BTM▸ at peak times.
If it is does he actually expect it to be empty and get a seat for such a short journey?.......well people you all need to get about a bit and you can guarantee that every train going into a big city in peak times in this country when close to its destination is going to be loaded like the Bangalore Express!!!
i know that the cardiff portsmouths need extra capacity but the commuter trains are the same everywhere
If it's the 06:32 from Weymouth which I frequently get, then it's standing room only from Trowbridge and also sometimes from Westbury, giving passengers 40-50 minutes of standing in seriously cramped conditions. On more than one occasion last year people were unable to board at Bradford-on-Avon, Avoncliff and Freshford because there was no room! |
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All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Passengers fight back over rail fare rises
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on: January 02, 2008, 15:43:49
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Last year, the vast majority of people I knew who had fare strike tickets also had valid tickets and therefore were not breaking the law.
The point of this campaign is to raise publicity and that's what it's doing quite successfully with all the media interest it has been receiving! Their tactics may not be to your liking but if letter writing etc. has got them nowhere, you can't blame them for using the media in this way to draw attention to the awful service and extortionate fares.
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Journey by Journey / Heart of Wessex / Re: Frome Commuters Condemn New FGW Timetable
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on: December 10, 2007, 21:52:59
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They've also made the evening connections at Bath Spa even tighter than they used to be. At peak times trying to connect with the Weymouth train from the direction of Swindon/Chippenham, we now have an advertised connection time of just 7 minutes (previously 10 minutes). Therefore, the only sensible thing to do now is catch an earlier train to Bath leaving you with a connection time of 35-40 minutes which is all well and good but not very convenient for those of us trying to work our contracted hours and get home at a sensible time.
People living in Frome do want to work in Chippenham and Swindon but unfortunately the changes to the timetable over the last 2 years have caused at least 2 people I know to drive and at least 1 other person now drives to Trowbridge to get the train from there rather than Frome.
Outward journey: Tuesday 11 December 2007 Station Arr Dep Travel by Service Provider
SWINDON 16:31 Train FIRST GREAT WESTERN
BATH SPA 17:00 17:07 Train FIRST GREAT WESTERN
FROME 17:47
Outward journey: Tuesday 11 December 2007 Station Arr Dep Travel by Service Provider
SWINDON 17:31 Train FIRST GREAT WESTERN
BATH SPA 18:00 18:07 Train FIRST GREAT WESTERN
FROME 18:45
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