Today looks particularly grim, despite as you say GWR▸ proclaiming a good service. Not if the train you are planning to travel on is cancelled it isn’t.
I was planning to take the 09:10 today at the start of a series of "Staycation" days out. Next train in that direction - 11:31 and I wouldn't get to my planned destination until three hours after my plan.
As I drove to Trowbridge the other evening, I listened to an interview with a marketing Guru who had set up his own agency, and he was explaining why he did not accept tobacco companies, even if they pleaded. "I would not promote a product I would not encourage my children to use" he said. And the approach is right. I find it increasingly difficult to persuade people to use / try the train.
I was in Bradford-on-Avon yesterday, with a none-transport initiative. I drove ... and while I waited ("come back in 2 hours" type appointment) I walked up to the canalside tea room and bumped into a Facebook friend. "Did you come by bus or train, or cycle". No - I drove; family lifts involved and I was not going to put the family through the sparse services with none-connecting services along the way. B-o-A was a gridlock, and I only found a parking space in the third car park tried (and then it was the last space!) - so it's not as if we're still running on sparse Covid travel.
And why was I listening to the radio in my car one the way to Trowbridge? I could have caught be bus down, and would have waited for the 20:12 train back after the meeting finished at 19:15. But waiting to 21:22 - over 2 hours after the end of the meeting - was not on, and the 20:12 train had been cancelled because GWR once again had no staff.
GWR may talk of a good service. It may be good for their shareholders, and for perhaps for passengers on frequent services, but it's awful to the extent of being useless even to the railway's greatest fans where the potential passengers plan their days and have to rely on a specific train.
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