Hi Sharon,

I've done the Swindon-London commute for three years or so. I've tried to find other ways of saving money but there aren't any!

Having persuaded my bosses that I didn't need to be in London everyday, I now travel in about 2 days a week, buying advance purchase tickets to save money. But if you're going in 3 or more days in a week then the season tickets are better value.

Good luck!

P.S. You may be interested in this campaign - http://fairfares4swindon.wordpress.com/

Having once commuted into London from Oxford, and now (occasionally) from Swindon, I've always wondered why the fares were so different. The answers here partly explain the reason, but don't make it any fairer!

I once questioned FGW^▸ (First Great Western) over the difference in fares for a similar 1hr journey and then told me it was because Swindon gets far more frequent services than Oxford! But that doesn't make any difference to me.

Unfortunately the Fair Fares 4 Swindon campaign http://fairfares4swindon.wordpress.com/ hasn't really moved recently but it does have some useful figures for comparison!

I've been commuting from Swindon to London for a few years now - one of the most expensive train journeys...

With the recent increases in the price of season tickets, I have persuaded my bosses to let me work from home for 3 days a week - I buy advance tickets for the other 2 days (cost ranging from between c.^13.50-^34.50) for a single journey depending on which train and how early I manage to book. If you don't have to go in 5 days a week this might be an option for you. Advance tickets are time-consuming to book and restrictive but at least they always makes me leave work at 5pm prompt!

I also save money by cycling to my office in London rather than getting the tube.

The advantages at Swindon are that the trains are frequent, fast, usually on time and you will 99% of the time get a seat.

Good luck!

I too am very unhappy that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are removing this service - what bliss the 7.21am non-stop from Swindon to London is! Does FGW think that all us commuters get 8 weeks off every summer and so won't need to go to work? I shall miss this service dreadfully - will have to bombard FGW with complaints...

Thanks for everyone's head-scratching and comments.

Welcome to the world of Swindon commuting Nitrox. I am in exactly the same boat as you - tend to commute into London between 2 and 4 days a week and I buy a monthly season ticket.

You're right - it's impossible to drive to Didcot and continue the journey that way, although it might be cheaper.

I've recently written to Andrew Haines (FGW^▸ (First Great Western) chief exec) to request a review of the fare discrepancies between Swindon and nearby stations such as Didcot - am waiting for some reply.

The 5% renewal is due to the poor punctuality of their trains - up until last week you got 5% or 10% depending on how bad they'd been (nearly always 5%) but now you actually get 10% or 20% - FGW finally agreed that they've been a pile of pants. The reason why there might be a query over your renewal is that although you're renewing a season ticket, you're not renewing it like for like, and FGW may well argue that that's not a straight renewal. I know that I lost my 5% the first time I renewed after moving from Oxford. 

Hope this helps! And yes, all the call centres are on the other side of the world...

As someone who has commuted from Oxford (^360 a month) and now Swindon (^580 a month), I have to say that the old prices I used to pay from Oxford seem like a dream now! However, when you can only compare to say, the Oxford tube coach service (^900 a year), it does still seem expensive at the time.

I do think that the service is better from Swindon - much more frequent trains and not so many problems, however it is not twice as good! Perhaps we should set up a 'Commuters Beyond Didcot' action group and campaign to reduce these discrepancies in fares.....

My monthly season ticket Swindon-London rose from ^562.20 to ^589.15, that's with the 5% discount. According to my calculations, that means my fare has risen by 4.9%, cancelling out any discount forever....
And for a poor service at that.

Hi there,

I have recently moved from Oxford to Swindon and still commute into London Paddington most days. From Oxford, the journey takes roughly an hour, usually with two stops and generally fairly unrealiable. From Swindon, the journey takes roughly an hour, usually with two stops and gerenally fairly unrealiable. What is the difference you may ask? Well, a Swindon to London monthly season ticket costs nearly twice as much (^560 with 5% discount) as from Oxford (^330 with 5% discount)!

Why is there this enormous discrepancy in fares? I realise that the journey is further in miles, and would even be prepared to pay, perhaps ^100 more per month, for this luxury of speedy travel (not). But nearly twice as much? It is making me question the sanity of having a London-based job which I love.

I have complained to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) but their response was that the the fares are set by Network Rail and its nothing to do with them - is this true? Does anyone know why the fares are so much higher or tried to find out?

I would love to hear from anyone who has thought of a way round them. For about ^30 less a month you can get separate season tickets to and from didcot parkway but it's not that much difference. I have heard that some people drive from Swindon to Didcot and get the train there rather than paying the higher fare price, but seeing as it is a good hours drive to Didcot this can't be a solution for regular commuters.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Susan

Hi there,

Thanks for your comments. Yes - we have focused just on the morning services at the moment. This is not to say that the afternoon peak services are adequate, just that these didn't really change on the 10th December. I for one catch the same train now in the evenings as I have always done, and it hasn't changed in terms of chances of getting a seat etc. Not half so many people have complained to us about the afternoon changes as the morning ones.

The bus is an alternative. However, it does have an average journey time of 100mins, rather than the train times of roughly 60mins - that's quite a difference twice a day. I think that's the main reason people don't use it for regular commuting. Like me, I'm sure they are tempted by the price difference, but it would mean giving up your entire weekdays to work and travelling.

What's wrong with our service? The fact that we have only have four fast trains to London (by fast I mean those that stop only at Didcot and Reading - all the trains stop at Reading I'm afraid) between 6-8am. Two of these trains begin before Oxford and so are at least half or two-thirds full. Two are turbos (one a three-carriage), one is a High Speed Train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train)) and one is an Adelante. Add that to the fact that there must be 500+ people travelling every day and you can see why we're overcrowded and frustrated!

Susan

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying acronym

Ox Rail Action is a campaign group set up by Oxford passengers - for Oxford passengers - fighting for passengers before profits. In short, we want:
* An adequate supply of seats and services to and from Oxford in peak hours.
* Proper passenger consultation and representation.

You can find out more about our group, how to sign up to our e-mail distribution list, and see our progress at our website: http://oxrailaction.wordpress.com. We also need you help - please get invovled! Monitor delays, tell us about incidents and problems. Also if you have any questions or comments please e-mail us at saveourtrains@googlemail.com

At present, we are putting together a monitoring report on Oxford morning trains, based on a sample two weeks in Jan/Feb. We asked members and volunteers to take notes on the number of free seats, the number of people standing and delays for all morning peak trains (6-8am). We then used this data to put together a report, showing the level of service post the slight timetable alterations on 15th Jan. I'll post a link to this report as soon as it is up on our website so you can see what we've been doing.

Anyway, no need to write more here about Ox Rail Action as all updates and past updates are on our website for you to browse!

Susan
Ox Rail Action

All season ticket holders are entitled to discounts (5% or 10%) when they renew if FGW^▸ (First Great Western) hasn't lived up to their reliability and performance promises:

Performance results:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=265

Compensation info (see section 5.8 ):

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=442

I know that Oxford travellers are currently entitled to a 5% and have been for some years!

Susan
Ox Rail Action

Also, don't forget the Forward passenger programme:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=54

If you are a season ticket holder, you qualify for some free vouchers - free tea or coffee, money off food, first class upgrades at the weekend, free car parking at weekends etc.

May as well try to get your money's worth!

Susan
Ox Rail Action

Yep, and they are not even going to consult us about changes this time. I think a draft timetable for December is already around. If anyone has seen it I'd be glad to know what their plans are!

Susan
Ox Rail Action

Yes, there has been much confusion as to who was responsible for the timetable changes. When we asked Richard Rowland (regional director for the Oxford area) about this he said that the basic timetable was provided by the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) when the franchise was up for bids. Operators had to bid to provide this specific timetable. After the bid was won, the train company could then add trains to the timetable in order to run a good service.

Obviously FGW^▸ (First Great Western) didn't add that many trains to the basic timetable. The question is, who at DfT is making the decisions about the basic timetable and what are they basing their information on?

Susan
Ox Rail Action

Another important bod is Moir Lockhead, head of FirstGroup, as you've mentioned before - if you copy him in on any complaints or communication with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) it makes things speed up a little at FGW! For e-mail addresses they are all:

firstname.surname@firstgroup.com

but don't expect direct replies.

Susan