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17
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Journey by Journey / London to South Wales / Re: Extra Stop at STJ
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on: June 25, 2019, 10:48:05
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Sometimes done at Oldfield Park and Keynsham.
Indeed - quite useful when it is done too! Also much easier to do now we have IET▸ 's where the TM‡ doesn't have to walk up and down the train to make sure all the doors are shut! Though would be nice for the decision making involved in this kind of thing to be more transparent to passengers. Talking of Oldfield Park and Keynsham, my local stations, there have been times where it seemed to me (based on NRE‡, RTT» etc) that a London service should be stopped but it wasn't, and other times where it hasn't made much sense for a service to be stopped when it has!
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18
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: Metrowest Status
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on: June 14, 2019, 13:48:37
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Weather permitting, so that's a big "if" already, I'm thinking of taking a quick jaunt coastwards on the Severn Riviera Express to see if there is any indication of work starting on the Portway Station site. Does anyone know if this would be a waste of time as well as the ticket fare? I'm still not certain about the stipulation that's been mentioned about the funding being conditional on completion this year. If it is and there's not an orange jacket to be seen yet, are there going to be some interesting times ahead?
It's only three quid return from Temple Meads, so not a big loss. A short trip around Avonmouth can be rewarding. An even shorter trip even more rewarding. When all else fails, may I recommend the George in Shirehampton High Street, opposite the Jobccentre? Less dangerous than the Lifeboat, some say. The chippy is pretty good, too. Or The Lamplighters which is much nicer than either and is nearer the station!
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19
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All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Severn Beach Fares
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on: June 03, 2019, 15:42:54
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Did a return journey Clifton Down to Severn Beach on a recent Saturday afternoon. TVM▸ at Clifton Down out of order. It was busy at every station.No sign of any member of staff, apart from the driver who was operating the train. If GWR▸ are not that fussed about collecting fares, it is no wonder there seemed to be so many people enjoying a free ride.
There are some staff that are very good! The woman who is usually the guard on the 8.21 MTP - BRI» for example (it does make me wonder how rotas are worked out because nearly every time I get that train, usually 3 times a week, the same person is the guard) who manages to make her way through most of the train despite the short time between stops and the business of that service. But in general I agree, at least there should be TVM's on more of the stations etc.
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21
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All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Severn Beach Fares
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on: June 03, 2019, 14:53:04
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As someone who often uses this line, I have to agree with the revenue protection issue on the route. There are no TVM▸ 's at most of the stations, and the stops are so close together it is tough for the staff to sell tickets to everyone who needs one. That is before you look at those who try to actively avoid paying. When the track is re-doubled, and a 15-minute frequency introduced as far as Avonmouth (or round the Henbury Loop!)
Oh we can hope! haha. Why should this line in particular be sensitive to a fares increase, except that passengers have got used to it? And a 40 minute service is better than Yate, or Caldicot, or Melksham, or numerous other stations that have "normal fares", so I don't think that's a good argument.
I think for me (as I said, I use the line fairly often): - Because the service is often irregular (it isn't just every 40 mins, it is much more irregular with some 30 min gaps and some 50 min gaps, and no doubt some others too) and prone to delays and part cancellations (thanks to the single track), the low fares are quite important in keeping people using the trains rather than decided to give up and use another method of transport.
- Much of the most well used parts of the line are pretty close to the City Centre / Temple Meads - many people decide to use the train instead of the bus or walk simply because it is so cheap you may aswell. Increase the fares too much and you lose that.
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22
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Sideshoots - associated subjects / Railway History and related topics / Re: The last HSTs to leave Paddington in passenger service - 18 May 19
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on: May 21, 2019, 11:01:23
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I accidentally managed to be involved at Temple Meads, only realising that I'd be at the station for the last one to pass through as I was on a train from Montpellier to Temple Meads ten minutes prior! Was great to see a bit of history, and thank you to the station staff for making sure everyone was safe and not in the way of the more general public (thankfully at 8.30pm on a Saturday evening, Temple Meads was a lot quieter than Paddington looked like it was 2 hours earlier!). Also thank you to whoever was in charge of making letting it come in on P3 in the old part of the station, that made for some quite nice pictures and a much more appropriate sending off for the HST▸ (although obviously not the last Bristol will see, long live the Castle Class!).
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23
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: 'Knife Arch' at Temple Meads
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on: May 09, 2019, 16:11:50
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Saw this article earlier, I'd love to have a bit more detail. Like did everyone coming through the entrance and exit barriers on P3 (as that is where it looks like it was, not the "entrance hall" as the article claims) have to go through it? What about the consequences of delaying people (e.g. if someone missed a train because of the extra time taken by this what would happen)? What about people with (potentially large amounts of, or just bulky) luggage?
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24
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All across the Great Western territory / Buses and other ways to travel / Re: Where does my time go - 24 minutes moving but 68 minute journey
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on: April 08, 2019, 15:21:34
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I do wonder at how long it takes some people to buy a ticket. Yesterday I thought somebody was making a bid for the bus, or re-arranging the national debt it took so long. Ticket apps on smartphones aren't that wonderful, there tends to be a problem finding the ticket app amongst the hundreds they possibly have on the phone.
When people actually use them correctly (loading the ticket up before boarding the bus), they are so much faster than buying your ticket on the bus. The only thing that can beat it is Oyster▸ / contactless in London. The problems are that the app (at least the First one) quite often crashes, or is slower than usual to load, so something that should take less than 10 seconds actually takes more than 30 and that you are basically reliant on the real time bus times on an app / at the bus stop being accurate for you to know when to actually load up the ticket. Personally, if the app reliability and real time information can be improved then that solves any issues with the mobile tickets. Paying by cash still takes a lot longer, and you can really feel it when say 5 people board with their mobile tickets then one person pays in cash.
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25
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: Four track for Filton Bank - ongoing discussion
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on: November 29, 2018, 14:04:47
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The service I was on this morning, the 8.50 Oldfield Park to Bristol Parkway, terminated at Filton I know that much.
But other than that, based on what NRE‡ and RTT» are saying, services that terminate at Parkway normally are actually terminating at Filton, but services up to Gloucester and Great Malvern are running through as normal. So probably just thinning out the services slightly to make up for the issue!
NRE does also say tickets being accepted on the 18, 72 and 73 buses, though no idea what bus the 18 is (First certainly don't run an 18 in Bristol), the 72 doesn't even go that near Filton or Parkway, so the 73 is the only really relevant one there.
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27
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Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: 2018 cancellation and amendment log
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on: November 27, 2018, 11:58:26
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Swindon coped with an hourly service reversing at platforms 1 or 3 headed from the North East or Scotland to Plymouth (and vice versa) during the Filton Bank closure, and once the through Paddington to Cheltenham Spa service becomes hourly with the "west unit" train no longer sitting in the bay most of the time, the bay will be cleared to become the standard TransWilts platform again.
The main problem with the XC▸ services at Swindon during the blockade was that, for at least the ones I noticed, they were timed to wait at Swindon for between 5 and 10 minutes. This caused delays to me twice during the last couple of weeks whilst my train had to wait for the platform to become available. Shouldn't matter if are talking about "normal" services through Swindon that don't hang around, but it does need to be thought about.
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28
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: Four track for Filton Bank - ongoing discussion
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on: November 22, 2018, 12:10:35
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Are there any plans to add platforms to the new main lines at Stapleton Road and Lawrence hill / is there enough room with the new track layout to do so in the future if it becomes necessary / desired?
Also totally agree about the single track on the Beach line. It is already a problem anyway, but hopefully with removing one source of delays and adding the ability to keep units at Stapleton Road or Lawrence hill whilst they wait for a Bristol bound train to pass the junction we have a little wiggle room.
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29
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: Four track for Filton Bank - ongoing discussion
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on: November 22, 2018, 11:22:33
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Already saw a slight benefit this morning with the Severn Beach line train I was on running 5 minutes late towards Temple Meads. In the past this would have held up the Great Malvern to Weymouth train that normally runs 7 or so minutes behind, but is usually delayed if that Severn Beach train is running late. Today it used the new main's, meaning it arrived into Temple Meads just after I did (rather than 5 minutes or so later), and so my connection was a nice walk over from P1 to P7, onto the train, then leaving a minute later, no waits needed! Of course, I know at some point (probably sooner rather than later!) this will inconvenience rather than help me as I can no longer rely on the Weymouth service always being behind us as long as we hit Narroways first, but it is nice to see the reliability improvements so obviously this soon.
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30
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Journey by Journey / Bristol (WECA) Commuters / Re: MetroBus
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on: November 22, 2018, 11:18:10
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A couple of articles on the Bristol Post site that seem to concur with the vandalism of the Metrobus buses happening in service with rocks being thrown at buses. A few photos showing the damage, including broken windows too. Looks like the yobs who have been attacking the 75/76 buses and the A4 Bath - Bristol Airport buses have found new targets.
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