Great Western Coffee Shop

For your most frequent daily journey, how long before your train is due to depart do you normally arrive at the station? At the start of the day - typically in the morning; I am not looking at the return journey.

If it varies, please choose your most common value.   If the reason / selection of your answer is worthy of comment, please add comment. 

Really depends on how important it is that I'm on time, if it's a vital early meeting I often get the earlier train anyway as the service is so unreliable that I want to cut down the chances of being late!

Agree with TG about getting earlier train. Also depends on if I've got to get a ticket when it maybe up 15 minutes or more before departure time. Especialy more than one ticket from the machine!

My most regular journey is the 0801 from Avonmouth. Having switched to that station from Shirehampton following changes to bus services. I take a bus from Lawrence Weston at 0735 arriving close to Avonmouth station around 0745. 12-16 minute wait then.

I conjecture that the longer waits are often going to be from (semi)connected buses ... really need some thorough analysis (or should ask Travel Focus, perhaps?).

The purpose of this survey is to help gauge time available for a survey day at [place] station, where [place] isn't Melksham for once  ;D

In a former life, when I travelled two or three times a week from Chippenham, I would frequently arrive at the station car park in time to see the train before the one I intended to catch pulling out. This is more a reflection of my own personality than the fact that I was relying on buses to get there (I wasn't; I drove, out of necessity as there was no Melksham train service at the time) - I have an abhorrence verging on neurosis about being late for anything.

The train I generally catch is the first off peak from Redruth- the 0914. I try to get to the station for 0900.

Many thanks for your inputs ... they're an assistance informing our methodology for an upcoming survey. "Will there be time to talk to people?"

I missed the survey (as I was on holiday) but as a regular commuter I usually arrive less than 2 minutes before the train leaves, usually having run from the car park :/

There is another train 3 minutes after my regular train and another 14 minutes after that one, but I still end up running far too often.

When I lived in London, I usually only allowed a couple of minutes. My journey to the station was on foot, therefore no risk of bus or car related delays, and the train was usually a few minutes late anyway.
More than once I ran for the approaching train, believing that I had misjudged the time, only to find that is was the previous one running late.

By contrast on a couple of recent trips from Taunton, I allowed well over an hour ! but I was reliant on an infrequent and unreliable bus service, and having a "booked train only" ticket would have faced a "fine" of well over a hundred pounds for missing the train.

This is IMO a great failing of todays railway, often the only affordable fares are restricted to a certain train. The customer therefore has to allow a very generous safety margin to avoid a huge fine. Allowing for the time thus wasted, many journeys now take twice as long as they used to.
I have long held the view that discounted fares should be inter available on ALL off peak services, and be unavailable on all peak time services.

Shum typo, shurely? :-)

You are correct, I have now edited my post to remove the confusing typo. My original posting, including the typo may be seen in the quote above.

Re-read it....you say should be inter-available on all peak trains, but then unavailable on peak time services?

So, as off-peak/super off-peak are already available on all trains designated off-peak or super off-peak, you are simply suggesting removal of Advance fares?

What ChrisB (not immune himself from confusing typos  ;)) is pointing out, I think, is the use of 'of' instead of 'off' in the following:-

yep! :-)

Yes, I have now edited my post to remove the confusing typo, thanks.

Yes, I am suggesting the removal of advance fares, and a reduction in off peak and super off peak fares to broadly similar levels.
The exact level of fares charged would be such as to ensure that the change was revenue neutral.  For local journeys I would propose just 2 fares between any two points, peak and off peak.
Longer trips would justify 3 fares, peak, off peak, and super off peak.
Easily understood and should be available from TVMs, unlike the present hugely complex array of fares.

Taking a journey with which I am familiar, London to Taunton, first class. Reasonable fares under this simplified system might be
PEAK=^160 (this is slightly less than the present first open fare, and should be about revenue neutral remembering that no discounted tickets would be available)
OFF PEAK=^80, again a bit less than the present off peak fare, but should not loose any revenue as no cheaper fares would be available.
SUPER OFF PEAK=^40, very cheap for first class but would apply to only a very limited number of trains that are very lightly used, and PERHAPS also in the rush hour for those travelling against the main flow, on near empty trains.

The above fares are only approximate examples, the exact fares would be calculated so as to be revenue neutral.

I see some evidence that the step changes between fare levels cause a wave in traffic levels - especially with people waiting for the train after the price falls.   Is the solution along the lines of the one taken by the boxing world where (and I'm mixing my standards a bit here) they have

Heavyweight
Cruiserweight
Light Heavyweight
Super middleweight
Middleweight
Super welterweight
Welterweight
Super lightweight
Lightweight
Super featheweight
Featherweight
Super bantamweight
Bantamweight
Super flyweight
Flyweight
Light Flyweight
Mini flyweight
Atomweight

Translated into train tickets, that's

Any Time
Premium PLUS
Premium
Peak PLUS
Peak
Shoulder Peak PLUS
Shoulder Peak
High Season PLUS
High Season
Off Peak PLUS
Off Peak
Mid Season PLUS
Mid Season
Super Off Peak PLUS
Super Off Peak
Los Seson PLUS
Low Season
It's at WHAT time??
 
Problems ... not enough trains to offer all prices on all flows.  Jumps of several steps between trains.  Enforcement issues for the right tickets, though electronic ticketing would help (even there, how would you deal with the person who arrived early, went through the barriers for breakfast at Bonoparte's and travelled in a different prize zone).  Journeys that go across pricing times / zones.  But at least you're closer to a smooth scale.

Grahame - for the sake of simplifying what is already a ridiculously complex and incomprehensible system, I hope your suggestion gets knocked out in the first round!  ;D

 .

Of course that only captures the fixed average loadings of trains on one route, and if the time slots are uniform over several routes it's even more of an average. So if you want responsive and proportional congestion-based pricing, you would need something more closely tied to a train, and its capacity, so perhaps we should tie it to one seat on one train? Maybe even reserve that seat and make its use compulsory? Then we could vary the price as we get nearer to the time of travel. Of course really we'd like to set the price retrospectively, but I suspect the public wouldn't like that at all. Now, what shall we call that kind of ticket  - perhaps something with "advance" in it?

What a disaster all this ticketing is, and yet I seem to remember the time when I was in Newbury Booking Office in 1991/2 it didn't seem to be all that different.

We were part of NetWork SouthEast then who had there own special NSE 5 day returns as well as a range of tickets which included entry into sponsored locations. I remember once selling a ticket from Newbury which included entrance to Leeds Castle in Kent. What a palaver that was.

I remember those famous words "We are going to simplify all the ticketing to make it easier" I wonder when they are going to start, it must be a nightmare for ticket clerks imposing the third degree on intending passengers to find out exactly what they want.

Heyho for the days when we had regulars at Newbury who would pop in on a Monday with their requirements for the next weekend and leave us to work it out in between and issue the tickets when they turned up. The worst was the Boots 2 for 1 when a lady wanted thirty bought tickets plus the same number on the Boots ticket from Newbury to Skegness for a weekend. It involved not only working out the route and times, but calling the ticketing section in Croydon so they could adjust the services to accommodate those number of free seats. It took hours to do.

Not as easy as it looks, especially as the clerks are now tasked with offering the cheapest option, the knowledge required must be mind blowing.

Yes, I remember the good old five day Network AwayBreak as well.  It always seemed that the person who wanted one was going on the Friday and weren't sure whether they were returning on the Tuesday or Wednesday.  And as soon as the customer mentioned the Isle Of Wight you knew you were there for the long haul... "Would you like to go via Southampton, Portsmouth, or Lymington?"... "I'm not sure, can you run me through the various options and prices...?"   :o

Or the lady who turned up just before the fast cheap day train to London who wanted a Young Persons single from York to Knaresborough and got quite huffy when I made her look at the queue behind her that was stood outside the door waiting to buy their Travelcards.

A Travelcard issue half a minute, looking in the fares manual, getting the price, doing the discount and then issuing it because it saved her going to the booking office in York, have a guess - I don't know I wouldn't do it.

If you want something out of the ordinary do yourself and the clerk a favour, call in at a quieter time and get it in advance.

I was always taught, when I worked in a customer facing role, to deal with the customer in front of me.

Not suggest they plan their purchases at the retailer's/service provider's convenience.

I'm glad that these days there is a Ticketing and Settlement Agreement with retail standards that all franchised TOCs have to adhere to. It's not perfect and there are still some clerks who will balk at doing anything other than a simple ticket from A to B. But it is a vast improvement over the days of 'customer service' under British Rail.

This is what I try and do, go in when I know there is a gap in trains and the ticket office is probably quiet.

So you would deal with the one who does not need a ticket now and let all the others who do miss their train?  Is that good customer service? 

When is there not a time when there could be somebody rocking up last minute to both buy their ticket and board a train?

First come, first served. It's a simple concept.

Fine at a large station with a number of clerks where you can have separate counters for tickets for immediate travel and others,

But for a small station with one clerk and a very peaky load. On occasions good customer service may sometimes dictate otherwise.

Sounds painful.  :P ;) ;D

As one who occasionally buys some really time-consuming products I try to approach the ticket desk at the start of a longer rather than shorter gap between trains.   Typically single-clerk stations, advanced purchase that can't be done easily on line or by phone; and I'm darned if I'm going to travel to a station with multiple open windows!

...........sounds worse than trying to get served in a Wetherspoons on a Saturday night! (..........tip - get there early and buy 7 pints!)  ;)

I share the idea of dealing with the person standing in front of me but if they wag up at the busiest time of the day and the option is putting them off for ten minutes and selling to others then that is surely the best option.

In todays gated environment at Newbury the time spent dealing with some complicated enquiry for something happening at another time is the difference between dealing with one, and dealing with a dozen, none of whom would even make it onto the platform let along get on the train if the front person in the queue persists in being dealt with there and then. 

For those that might remember it the busiest cheap day train of the day was the 1016 off Newbury to Padd, and even with two windows open the queue was always out of the door. Have a lady wanting to know all the ins and outs of travelling to Windsor including the fares and a series of alterative times for a journey taking place a week later and arriving at the window at ten past ten is not the best either for the clerk or other intending passengers. She wouldn't go away or come back in ten minutes later either, she just stood there even after I told her she was stopping other passengers travelling there and then.

It isn't always the clerk being unreasonable.

I did it for eighteen months, enjoyed most of it, but got exasperated with the selfishness of a small minority. A long retired colleague was asked by a passenger why he was always so miserable, to which the response was "Come round this side and see some of the people we have to deal with". That raised a smile amongst the regulars standing behind the lady at the window.

If there's more than one window open I guess one can be designated "tickets for travel today only" which alongside TVMs should mean that the other one can deal with more complex enquiries?

If there's only one window however I guess its every man for himself/FCFS........I've been stuck behind someone renewing an annual season ticket at Taplow before in the rush hour on the first day back after Christmas -  the guy was using a combination of vouchers and a cheque and wanted to argue about something.......he wasn't exactly Mr Popular by the time he'd finished! >:(