First Great Western - by a passenger, for passengers
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About this site
This is web site run by a First Great Western customer and for First Great Western Customers. We welcome YOUR contributions too via the coffeeshop forum ...
The Department for Transport (and through them, the treasury) and First Great Western (and through them First shareholders) appears to be the top two concerns of the operator, with their voices first and second. But I feel that the CUSTOMER should be King - or should at least feature in the pecking order ....
The First group subsidiary First Great Western runs most train services in a wedge westward from London under a Franchise agreement with the Department for Transport which commenced on 1st April 2006 and runs for 7 years with an optional 3 year extension. The official FGW web site is here. The web site you are currently on is run by one of their customers. SeeAbout
There have been major changes to the service provided, and to its cost, many of which are to the detriment of the service provided to the railway's customers - its passengers. The service to my home town ofMelksham , Wiltshire for example - with a population of around 24,000 - has had its train service cut from 5 a day (each way) to just 2 a day, and they run at times that aren't convenient for most passengers. Travelling from Melksham to London for the day, I could buy a return ticket on the train for under 50 pounds last November. Now the fare on the only available train is over 100 pounds, with off peak fares withdrawn in December and a further price rise on the standard fares in January.
General topics
*Services covered
*Who\'s who at FGW?
*Smoke and Mirrors - "it's THEIR fault"
*Fare\'s fair?
*Alternatives to taking the FGW train
*Your rights as a passenger
*About this site
Link to the coffeeshop to talk about any of these subjects with your fellow passengers
N.B. - This site is owned and run by a customer of First Great Western and is not an official site of the
company. If you are looking for First Great Western's web site please go to
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk.
If you want to know more about this site, go here.