GWR to cease involvement with easitNETWORK, 31.3.2020

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the Reading Chronicle

GREAT Western Railway (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) will soon cease to be a part of a sustainable travel scheme, potentially forcing thousands of commuters in the Thames Valley area back into their cars.

From the end of March this year, GWR will stop involvement with easitNETWORK after 10 years.

For 15 years, the company has worked with train, bus and other travel providers across the south and south east, signing up major employers such as the University of Oxford, Virgin Atlantic, GSK and Hastings Direct – plus many local councils and hospitals – to save money for their teams and encourage sustainable commuting by providing discounted travel fares to their employees.

Dr Mel Mehmet, CEO^▸ (Chief Executive Officer) and founder of easitNETWORK, said: "We have worked successfully with GWR for 10 years to get commuters out of their cars and onto the train, removing around 24,000 tonnes of CO2 each year from the atmosphere and reducing congestion.

"At this moment of climate crisis, we are bitterly disappointed that GWR no longer wants to be part of such a successful sustainable travel scheme."

According to a GWR spokesman, the train company's membership of the Easit scheme was designed to help encourage shifts from road to GWR services in the Thames Valley.

He added: "From December many of the services we were targeting with this offer transferred to TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Rail, and we reassessed our involvement on that basis.

"We want Easit customers to continue to travel with us.

"We also want to see more shift to rail travel.

"To do that we have to focus our investment on what works - for example the mobile assistance service we launched a few weeks ago."

EasitNETWORK is at https://www.easit.org.uk

[ray951]

Not sure what a launching a mobile assistance service has with withdrawing the Easit card.

Wouldn't it have been more honest for the spokesman to have said 'we are withdrawing this discount as First Group and GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) need as much money as they can get as some of our sister companies are bleeding cash.'

[bobm]

I think all companies exist to maximise their income where possible, although it looks like this may be an increased priority for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) at present.  This may possibly explain the changes to fare validities over the timetable change and the decision not to withdraw peak hour restrictions over the Christmas/New Year period. 

[ray951]

I wonder if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will also end the discounts offered to some employers.

[ChrisB]

Not sure what a launching a mobile assistance service has with withdrawing the Easit card.

The money 'saved' from not offering discounts can be spent on the mobile assistance team?

I wonder if GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will also end the discounts offered to some employers.

That is this scheme. So yes.