Ox Rail Action passenger group - merged topics

[whole diary]

[SusanW]

Ox Rail Action is a campaign group set up by Oxford passengers - for Oxford passengers - fighting for passengers before profits. In short, we want:
* An adequate supply of seats and services to and from Oxford in peak hours.
* Proper passenger consultation and representation.

You can find out more about our group, how to sign up to our e-mail distribution list, and see our progress at our website: http://oxrailaction.wordpress.com. We also need you help - please get invovled! Monitor delays, tell us about incidents and problems. Also if you have any questions or comments please e-mail us at saveourtrains@googlemail.com

At present, we are putting together a monitoring report on Oxford morning trains, based on a sample two weeks in Jan/Feb. We asked members and volunteers to take notes on the number of free seats, the number of people standing and delays for all morning peak trains (6-8am). We then used this data to put together a report, showing the level of service post the slight timetable alterations on 15th Jan. I'll post a link to this report as soon as it is up on our website so you can see what we've been doing.

Anyway, no need to write more here about Ox Rail Action as all updates and past updates are on our website for you to browse!

Susan
Ox Rail Action

[grahame]

Sensible objectives there, and I've heard / read some of the press stuff.   Question - have they got the evening peak rather more correct?  I note you're talking "morning" both in this post and on your site and Google Group.

[Jim]

Whats wrong with the service Oxford gets! A 180 what every 30 mins calling at Reading only in some cases, Melksham is lucky if it sees 4 trains!

[grahame]

The service that Oxford gets is not something I'm (personally) well suited to comment on, but I do have a couple of points to raise.

a) I have noted a very high proportion of bus travel spoken of from Oxford to London, which indicates to me that *something* is there which tip the balance away from rail. Price? Frequency? Timing? Overcrowding? People want to get to Victoria not Paddington?  I don't know BUT ...

b) You can't look to improve a service starting just with the worst case first - you need to look at options across the board and ENCOURAGE them all.   Let's say they Oxford scores 17 points on some scale, and Melksham just 3 points.  Then - YES improve Oxford up to 22 points but at the same time do not brush Melksham under the carpet - improve it by more that 5 points at the same time.  The strength of other services in different parts of the regions cannot but encourage other improvements.

I live in Melksham and I would love to have an 8 point service.  In fact, I would love to get up to 15 points ...

[SusanW]

Hi there,

Thanks for your comments. Yes - we have focused just on the morning services at the moment. This is not to say that the afternoon peak services are adequate, just that these didn't really change on the 10th December. I for one catch the same train now in the evenings as I have always done, and it hasn't changed in terms of chances of getting a seat etc. Not half so many people have complained to us about the afternoon changes as the morning ones.

The bus is an alternative. However, it does have an average journey time of 100mins, rather than the train times of roughly 60mins - that's quite a difference twice a day. I think that's the main reason people don't use it for regular commuting. Like me, I'm sure they are tempted by the price difference, but it would mean giving up your entire weekdays to work and travelling.

What's wrong with our service? The fact that we have only have four fast trains to London (by fast I mean those that stop only at Didcot and Reading - all the trains stop at Reading I'm afraid) between 6-8am. Two of these trains begin before Oxford and so are at least half or two-thirds full. Two are turbos (one a three-carriage), one is a High Speed Train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train)) and one is an Adelante. Add that to the fact that there must be 500+ people travelling every day and you can see why we're overcrowded and frustrated!

Susan

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying acronym

[Lee]

An update from Ox Rail Action :

You may have heard in the press at the end of this week that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have made some changes to our timetables. The changes will not affect Oxford commuters that much, but if you look here you can see them in full (I have substituted links below - Lee.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/03/oxford_commuters_get_extra_sea.html#more

http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/03/fgw_timetable_changed_after_pr.html#more

The key changes for us are:

05.55 will change from a 5-carriage Adelante to a 10-carriage, and will call additionally at Radley and Pangbourne - I imagine that few people use this train on a regular basis, but the extra stops will probably slow dow this journey a little.

07.33 will change from a 5-carriage Adelante to a 10-carriage. This will be good for Oxford passengers as there will be an even slimmer chance of not getting a seat, but it will largely benefit Didcot and Reading passengers who will be pleased to see some empty seats on this train.

These changes are very small, and there as far as I can see, there are no substantial changes to the evening services either, apart from very slight re-timings. What FGW don't seem to realise is that other trains are far more deserving of extra carriages - for example the 07.05am service.

Ox Rail Action members are in the process of arranging a meeting with FGW to discuss our recent monitoring report - we will be asking them about further changes that have been hinted at for May and the changes in December.

Just a tip - if you have not yet sent off to FGW for your compensation for the disruption by a train fire on the 7th March, make sure you cc in Alison Forster - experience has shown that you are likely to get ^100 rather than the standard ^50!

Happy commuting
Susan

[Lee]

From Ox Rail Action :

May timetable changes
Some of you may have seen the posters advertising timetable changes in May. Will this mean an improvement in services for Oxford commuters? Well, don't get too excited - there are very few changes that will affect you:

Early services at 0400 from Oxford to London Paddington are subject to slight change, whilst the 0546 Reading to London Paddington now starts from Oxford at 0506.
The 0725 Banbury to Paddington leaves Reading earlier and now calls at Langley, Iver and West Drayton.
The 0752 from Oxford to London Paddington has been re-timed to depart Twyford at 0844 to provide an additional connection from Henley on Thames.
Some Oxford services now feature High Speed Trains ^ with greater capacity than the previous Adelante trains - which will also add seat capacity at stations en route.
The 2050 Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington will call at Didcot Parkway.

If you need more information, the new printed timetable booklets are available from the station now.

Ox Rail Action meeting with FGW^▸ (First Great Western)
Many of you will know that Ox Rail Action put together a monitoring report in early March this year, demonstrating the continued problems for Oxford commuters, particularly our morning services. As a follow-up to this report, representatives were invited to meet FGW to discuss our findings and recommendations. This meeting, attended by three Ox Rail Action members, Chris Bates (FGW Customer Panel representative), Richard Rowland (FGW Regional Director), Glenda Lamont (FGW Customer Services Manager) and Adrian Ruck (FGW External Relations), happened on the 20th April.

The minutes from this meeting will be soon be available to read in full on our website but here is a brief summary of the main points:

1. ORA members expressed disappointment that the changes in May would not improve travelling from Oxford in the short-term. Apparently large-scale changes will not be made until the December timetable.
2. The changes in December 2007 will not involve a complete re-draft of the present timetable (FGW is keen not to repeat last December's fiasco) but will involve some significant changes. FGW will have a draft timetable by early summer 2007 and wishes to consult with ORA when it has this - we will arrange another meeting at this time.
3. FGW is aware of the performance and timekeeping issues that it has with all trains. Some of this (e.g. the 7.33am) is due to trains that were squeezed into the timetable. There are some long-term solutions to this ( i.e. major investment plans for both Oxford and Reading stations) but few short-term apart from the December changes.
4. Complaints about the state of the turbo trains have meant that FGW have brought forward an interior 'refreshment' program to next year. In the meantime, if there are specific problems on a turbo train ( e.g. window keeps flying open, smelly toilets etc) passengers have been asked to make a note of the problem, the specific carriage and the train number (on the front, usually starts 165...) to Chris Bates, who will pass this information on to the appropriate engineers - his e-mail is chrisjbates@btinternet.com
5. FGW is investing in customer service training for its staff and setting minimum standards of service. In particular, the issue of the electronic boards not working at Oxford station was raised, and the suggestion of ORA that the station should use wipeboards to give service information when they are working was taken on board.

[Lee]

The minutes from the meeting are now available (link below.)
http://oxrailaction.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/20070420_meeting_fgw_minutes.pdf

[ihatefgw]

Hello
Would the members of OxRail be interested in adding my badges to their protests?
I'm handing out "I Hate First Great Western" badges to disgruntled commuters, as it seems that protests and petitions are getting us nowhere, so I'm now trying to embarrass them into submission with a visual protest.
Please visit my blog if you'd like more information: www.ihatefirstgreatwestern.blogspot.com, or e-mail me at IhateFGW@yahoo.co.uk to order some badges - at the moment they're free so let me know if you want to order in bulk and I'll make a special order for you. I'd like to get thousands of people wearing them over the next few months, and your support would really help.
Let me know if you're interested.
Many thanks
Helen (IHateFGW)

[Lee]

Here is a further update from Ox Rail Action :

1. Passenger Focus survey results

You may have seen in the press that Passenger Focus, the independant national rail consumer watchdog, have recently released their 2007 passenger survey. It shows that satisfaction levels have dropped again this year to just 72%, and that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) is the second worse performing company in terms of customer satisfaction - not at all surprising. The full report is available from the Paasenger Focus website. It is interesting to note that the bottom three worst performing rail companies are all FirstGroup franchises.

2. New RingGo parking system

Those of you who drive to Oxford station will have noticed the new RingGo paying system, designed to keep the car park free for rail passengers. After some initial doubts, most people seem to think the new system is an improvement (no trying to find those pesky pound coins!) but there has been a hike in the prices to ^4.50 per day, which seems to have seeked in without comment. We've been contacted by Cobalt Telephone Technologies who provide the technology behing the new system, who advice that if people are worried about giving out their credit card details over the phone on the platform or the train, you can pre-register at the RingGo website.

The company wish us luck with our campaign. I'm sure if there are any comments or suggestions for making the system easier to use, Cobalt would be pleased to hear them and we can pass them on.

3. Campaign progress

There are several meetings on the horizon at which Ox Rail Action organising members will be again representing the views of Oxford passengers and attempting to get a better service. Firstly, we have been invited to meet the Secretary of State for Transport, Douglas Alexander, in mid-June. We hope to raise the profile of our campaign and talk directly to him about the issues facing Oxford passengers. Secondly, we are hoping to have a date soon for a meeting with FGW to discuss the draft December timetable. Updates on both meetings will be forthcoming.

[Jim]

2. New RingGo parking system

Those of you who drive to Oxford station will have noticed the new RingGo paying system, designed to keep the car park free for rail passengers. After some initial doubts, most people seem to think the new system is an improvement (no trying to find those pesky pound coins!) but there has been a hike in the prices to ^4.50 per day, which seems to have seeked in without comment. We've been contacted by Cobalt Telephone Technologies who provide the technology behing the new system, who advice that if people are worried about giving out their credit card details over the phone on the platform or the train, you can pre-register at the RingGo website.

^4.50! Why is it becoming so expensive to park at a station!

[grahame]

^4.50! Why is it becoming so expensive to park at a station!

Because it's unregulated and so the price rises to what the market will pay.  Where there's a good train service, a shortage of spaces, no parking in nearby streets, poor public transport on road to the station and a major catchment that's not quite in walking distance ....

[Lee]

Latest Ox Rail Action update :

Representatives of Ox Rail Action have been busy having meetings with important people, and so here is an update from us. Look out for the story, hopefully in the Oxford Times tomorrow.
 
Meeting with FGW^▸ (First Great Western)

We met with Richard Rowland and one of FGW's timetable people last Friday, to discuss the proposed draft timetable for December. FGW are not going to consult widely on this timetable, (they initially stated that they would not consult at all) but they have agreed to consult with campaign groups such as ourselves, after much pressure. Unfortunately I cannot give specific details of the timetable here as it is in such draft form that individual train times may still change. Suffice to say that the timetable is largely the same for the 7.33 and trains after this one in the morning and the same for the afternoon trains as now. The difference comes in the earlier morning timetable, about which we have concerns. There is still a lack of HST^▸ (High Speed Train) trains, and there is a real gap between 6.30ish and 7.30ish, filled by only one three-car turbo, which we predict will have similar problems to the present 7.05 with overcrowding.
 
We made clear to FGW that this was a particular part of the timetable that we had clearly campaigned about, and that we had expected that they would take our views on board to increase capacity at this key time of the day. FGW said they would try to put another train in but they're not promising anything. We made clear that this was the key problem with the timetable, and that we expected them to resolve this problem.
 
Meeting with the Secretary of State for Transport

Last Monday, representatives from Ox Rail Action met with Douglas Alexander, the Secretary of State for Transport; a meeting arranged by Oxford MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Andrew Smith. Coming at an ideal time, we told the minister about our concerns for the new draft timetable as outlined above. He made it clear that he knew that FGW are the worst performing train companies in the country and was quite frank about how bad the situation was. He has been having regular (twice monthly) meetings with Moir Lockhead, the head of FirstGroup to resolve the problems, and promised to bring up our concerns with him at the next meeting the week after next.
 
Overall, we feel dissappointed that FGW have not taken our concerns about the early morning timetable on board, and are hoping that our input into the consultation, together with pressure from Douglas Alexander may go some way to help resolving the issue. The December 2006 timetable will be published in mid-August on the FGW website.
 
Cycles on trains

Just to confirm that although the timetable booklets state that cycles are not allowed on any peak-time trains, this is NOT true. Cycles are allowed, but only with a reservation.

[Lee]

Latest Ox Rail Action Update :

Sorry for the lack of updates to the website - it's really because there has been not much news. We are still waiting to be shown the new December 2007 timetable, which we were promised mid-summer. We've been told it will be available to view on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website in a couple of weeks so keep an eye out for it. Hopefully FGW will have taken on board our many concerns and issues over the draft timetable, but we shall have to wait and see. Meanwhile, in other news^..

Court threats

London passenger group TravelWatch have accused FGW of breaching their franchise agreement, and after sending a letter to Tom Harris, the Rail Minister, they were threatened with being taken to court for libel. After a series of meetings, this threat has now been withdrawn but it just shows how campaigns such as ours can turn a bit nasty.

A Poet

You may have seen the recent press coverage of FGW's attempt at customer care with the appointment of a 'platform poet'. Sally Crabtree, a Cornish poet, performed at selected stations with her copper tree, including a session in Oxford last week. When asked for a quote about this for the newspaper reports, an Ox Rail Action spokesperson ( i.e. me) said "It made me laugh when I heard about this. If trains are delayed while this poet is performing, I don't think passengers will be too impressed". Actually, I laughed a lot more at The Times journalist Alan Hamilton's own poetry about FGW:

Waiting, waiting, fulminating
'Gainst announcements once more stating
That the 8.15 from Reading,
Which for London should be heading,
Won't be here for half an hour;
There's been a failure in the power.
Signals stuck at stubborn red;
We could have laid awhile in bed,
In ease and warmth to contemplate
That First Great Western's running late.
Excuses shower down like rain
For why the train's delayed again.
Driver shortage, leaves on line,
Breakdown, letdown, bad design;
Snow in engine, sun on rails,
Carriage shortage down in Wales.
The cheek of calling itself 'First'
When figures show it's now the worst
And underline the harsh reality
Of quite abysmal punctuality.
Yet always the commuter suffers,
As taut-stretched patience hits the buffers.
To customers they surely owe it
To do far more than hire a poet.

If you liked this, there is more at www.timesonline.co.uk/poetry

Susan Westlake

[Jim]

Excelent Poems!