Trains 'back to normal'?

Wed 12 Aug 2009, 09:42

Paul is sadly wrong on so many counts.....FGW can & shouyld continue to improve, but it'll help if we concentrate on what is in need, rather than just having a random rant.

Paul wrote
"So far as ‘complaints’ are concerned, it’s interesting that FGW’s most overt investment in recent times seems to be in the army of ‘customer service’ types and ‘passenger champions’ – typical measures to soak up the symptoms of failure (complaints) rather than address underlying problems."

While agreeing that they have ramped up their Customer Services - boy, did they need to - the 'customer champions' have always been in place, going back to the original FGW franchise prior to THames Trains. Maybe you didn't notice my predecessor?.....

Imagine, say, the Oxford Tube won a franchise to operate the coaches between Oxford and London (and had a monopoly to do so). They were also heavily subsidised by the tax payer in this."

That's an incorrect analogy - I think you'll find that FGW are now paying the Exchequer for the priviledge. This is one reason why they are trying to save money in this recession, as the franchise payment is a fixed amount....

"After a year or so they decide, between 9am and 4pm, to run mostly old rattley buses rather than coaches."

As William has explained - they only have rights to run services, the level of stock used isn't part of the contract.

"As for the other point raised about FGW ‘monitoring passenger numbers’ on the tubos, I would have thought that most sensible people who could would just avoid these trains (as I do). So what sort of evidence will they be collecting to weigh up whether to bring back HSTs? Just the evidence they want, I suspect."

I shall be out & about along the line checking loadings in September, just as soon as the works are complete. What with (school) holidays and works avoidance, any counts now would not be representative. I pay my fares and am completely independent of FGW, so these will be fair counts.