I wonder what the initial completion date was supposed to be for this? The fact it is going to take over a year from now to finish it seems a bit nuts considering how long the work seems to have been going on for.

To be fair, tweeting a company about service you think isn't good enough is a bit different to going to the press.

Regardless of the OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter)'s "reputation", not having at least one member of staff first aid trained and having no first aid provision at the station simply illegal. What if one of the members of staff had needed treatment at work? Certainly employers have a legal responsibility to their staff to provide first aid training and equipment so that staff can get treatment if they are injured at work. And I believe that responsibility also extends to the general public where you are an employer that invites the public onto your grounds. Regardless of other businesses being near by, or the fact it was "just outside" the station so it probably absolves TfL^» (Transport for London - about) from any legal responsibility in this case, the lack of any first aid training or equipment at all, if true (and I know that's the important phrase, hence the bold text!), is worrying to say the least!

The main two problems current systems like that in use at the moment have are:

• There is nothing that covers nationwide as far as I am aware. There are some apps (like the "UK^▸ (United Kingdom) Bus Checker" one I use) that are pretty much nationwide, but in some areas they just use timetable data as there is no real time data available.
• Even where it does work, it can be unreliable and misleading. Especially when a service just doesn't run, quite often it'll show as the timetabled time, then just disappear when that time passes, no hint of it running late or being cancelled.

Of course, even having the option in some areas is a better situation than in the past (where you just had to wait and hope), but I certainly agree moving to an NRE^‡(resolve) equivalent would be a very good thing for bus users!

As someone who travels in the "Bristol" area a fair bit (mainly the local stopping services between Bath and Bristol, and the Severn Beach line) I am not surprised at all, if anything I am glad my general feelings from the last 6 or so months aren't totally just in my head! (obviously not glad the situation is as poor as it is, but glad my general feelings are backed up with real data).

And sadly, as some suspected, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) didn't run the full timetable Parkway - Paddington.
At very least, the replacement bus I was on to Parkway (which was as far as I was going, so I didn't mind) had some passengers who were annoyed that GWR had cancelled the 16.45 service from Parkway to London, their choices then being either a train to Temple Meads and a 25 minute wait for the next London train, or an hour wait for the next direct service from Parkway. No idea if either of those options were cancelled too, but certainly some passengers getting pretty annoyed and surprised when asking the RRB^▸ (Rail Replacement Bus) driver if he could carry on to Temple Meads too, to just get back in reply "I've no idea whats going on with the trains". I suspect passengers probably expect there to be some competence and up thinking, maybe even having a rail employee on each bus!

At least speaking from my own experience, that is usually down to the live departure boards just saying "delayed" which means that the passenger may not know it will just be 1 minute late when they tweet.

The main issue with First class on the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s is that when there is a 2x5 formation, they don't have a consistent "direction" of the units. So sometimes you get the first class sections of both units together in the middle, sometimes you get some first class at the very front and some at the very rear, sometimes you get first class at the very front and in the middle, and sometimes you get first class at the very rear and the middle. Talk about confusing, and it impacts dwell times too as nobody knows where on earth to stand on the platforms.

So I don't really want to get bogged down in the rest of the discussion as I don't really have the time, but as someone who sometimes falls into that category I think we have to realise there are differences between tagging (which really calling them "artists" is a massive stretch) and the work of people like Banksy etc. Even in someone like Bristol where graffiti is common, you have both types and it is pretty obvious which are the ones that Bristol is "known for"!! It's also probably worth making a distinction between the graffiti that gets put onto walls etc where those carrying out the act and those cleaning it up are not put under any risk, and the people who do it on the railway etc, who are putting themselves and others at a great risk.

Right and how would that work where operators share infrastructure?
Would you give the line between Temple Meads and Parkway to GWR or XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))?
Would you give the line between Cardiff Central and Newport to GWR or ATW^▸ (Arriva Trains Wales (former TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company))) or XC?
Etc etc.

His blog is usually pretty good in general!

Back onto topic, I specifically agree with his conclusion of "but in a consultation which can only keep average fares the same, what's the betting that the potential losers ultimately drown out the potential winners?"

Wonder if they are anticipating that the trolley won't be able to get through the people having to stand due to the short formation?

Really? So the quote GWR have given - "the location of the bike reservation (ie where in the train you have been allocated a space), is clearly marked on that reservation" is a lie then?

Don't get me wrong, I think there should be some kind of indication on the outside of the train too. But if the reservation does say which carriage (which is what GWR are claiming, I can't verify as I have never had to get one) then its not THAT big of a deal.

Don't you have to have a reservation to carry a bike on the new trains though? And wouldn't that reservation tell you which carriage to put the bike (and if it doesn't, it should!).

Even if they are under orders to not blame the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about), surely there is a code for staff training, or the need for units elsewhere, that better covers this situation? No need to even mention the DfT?