btline, perhaps I might refer you to the following thread about cotswold line passenger numbers from a year ago, which discussed the footfall at the various stations, which did not show people 'deserting' the line:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=3007.0You may have - we get that - but please don't keep making these kind of unsubstantiated assertions that imply some kind of mass exodus - there may not have been the kind of growth in Worcestershire there has been elsewhere but nor are there signs of people abandoning the route - and Charlbury overtook Evesham because more people were making journeys to and from Charlbury, not because custom at Evesham had fallen off a cliff.
In the 2007-8 stats the recessiion seems to be starting to bite. Spreadsheet is at
http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/server/show/nav.1529 Evesham, Charlbury and Moreton are all down, Kingham is up, Pershore and Honeybourne steady, Shrub Hill up and Foregate Street a bit down, though they now seem happy with the Worcester counting methods, as the wild fluctuations have ended.
And no, you can't get advance tickets, but as has been pointed out many times previously, you can't get Network Card tickets from Swindon, Chippenham and a number of other places on the
FGW▸ network rather closer to London than Worcester, so to make out that you are suffering some kind of unique discrimination is over the top.
That distance argument applies just as much to demanding a ^5 weekend first upgrade - it's a 130-mile run. Are you really saying that on top of a standard fare bought on a Network Card that FGW are trying to scalp you by asking for ^15? I'd say that was pretty good value for money set against the usual first class fares - plus you would recoup a chunk of it in free drinks and snacks.
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