Apologies one and all.
Yes, the 'up; is Easter Monday, and was concerned about the 6 minutes transfer time as they are  two different trains. Only going as far as Castle Cary on the up, so hoping a travelling chef from Plymouth.  Will need something to keep us awake with such an early start.
'Down' is with First all the way on Saturday 6th, so it seems the 12h36 would be good, and forget the 11h36.  Just a shame as the later train is a stopper.  All trains (up & down, will need to be with First).

Many thanks for your help, very much appreciated.

Note to Ollie (et al).  Do you post on Fb for First Devon & Cornwall, or are they different people in a different area?  Being First, I presume all the posts came from the same department.
Now call me naive.

Drive Green/yellow/red           American (Green Road) driver monitor system imported by many UK^▸ (United Kingdom) companies. First installed in all their vehicles.  Other companies have installed, but not active.
Initally told it was to save fuel (which they did) & make passenger travel more comfortable & secure (which it does).
CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision).   Was installed, now being uninstalled in our area - costing too much?

Note to mod- not sure if this in the correct area, please move as necessary - thanks.

Hi,
Returning to the far so'west on 6th April from Brighton via London.  Intending using First Capital from Brighton to London, then FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to the far end.
Arriving St Pancras 11h18, leaving Padding 11h35..
Perusing TfL^» (Transport for London - about) suggest perhaps alighting at Farrindon (11h14), then Hammersmith & City to Paddington being quicker than Kings Cross to Paddington.
Not sure we'd make it anyway with such short transfer times. 
Suggestions appreciated please.
I also note "hot buffet" on train, meaning no pullman service from Paddington (just the express cafe)?

On part way up we arrive Plymouth 07h42, change trains to depart 07h48.  This seems a very quick change, especially when arrive platform 8 to depart platform 7 (or are these the two sides of the same platform).  Please bear with me - with rubber wheels, we don't have this quandry........

P.S. Our company is heavily committed to safety.  Every incident has to have an investigation, followed by an awarding of "points" if the driver is at fault.  The higher the points, the more at risk the driver is likely to be, and the more retraining he's given.  Eventually if his score is still high, he's encouraged to change companies.
Each vehicle is also fitted with motion sensors and these give each driver (different) points on his driving ability - braking, cornering, acceleration, direction change & speeding.  Drivers can see their daily/weekly/mointhly/annual figures; all on a map or list view.  Drivers can see their own figures compared to their team score, also his own position within the team.  Depots all have a weekly target, as does the Country.
Safety comes first.

Ouch Tim, that hurts!
I think if you total the number of bridge strikes against the number of miles driven, that would be a very low percentage.
Likewise the number of accidents against miles driven, low percentage again.

With our division of the company, generally it's a 39 hour working week. less daily meal break varying between 35mins - 120 mins (dependin on length of duty) - perhaps a 32 hour actual driving week.  The number of weekly miles driven by each driver could be in the high several hundreds or more.
Most of our runs are single road with passing spaces in deckers, the run taking up to 2 hours to complete (more in summer).  Those runs we meet locals in winter; and visitors who are unable to cope with reversing (or adjust to the lack of road width) in summer.
I believe the majority of our incidents are related to windows & trees rather than vehicle to vehicle contact.
In my less than 5 years in the far West, I believe we've had 1 bridge stike (empty bus), and no pedestrian stikes.  Personal figures only, not seen anything official.  As drivers, we hear and meet those from other depots, so gossip and stories pass through the County.
The latter two incidents would make the local media, and is based personal recall.

Guidance please from employees within the industry.
I've been reading this forum for many years as a guest.
A few posts really made me want to reply, but didn't want to without permission from my employer.
Emailed HR^▸ (Human Resources) with a  note to say I would like to post as a (bus) driver and am old enough to know slander, etc. and would try and post neutrally but factually.
I received no reply, so a few months later, started posting.
Should I mail HR with my user name & make them aware, & keep posting as and when?  They are notorious for not replying unless pushed hard.
Do current posting employees make their HR aware of their forum user name & posts?
I want to be as honest as possible.

{{To the extent that I've found myself on the recently form First Bus Customer Panel for Bath!}}
In internet casual looking, I came across the minutes from one of our County panels, & (no suprise), what they were being told did not equate to what we as drivers saw & knew.  Very sad that the real truth was not being fully given.
Take comments with caution in mind............

Bearing in mind as drivers we're always kept in the dark, but for evening & early morning work we hear the company make a loss in running with so few passengers, so County offer a running subsidy if the route is run, provided it goes through village A, village B, C & D, etc, etc.  So the bus company then diverts everywhere off the main road. A combination of good and very bad for travelling passengers.

Scott, would your meeting with planners involve one from Plymouth (covering Cornwall)?  Or was he/she moved to Southampton/Bristol?  Unfortunately, totally devoid from reality, just someone who looks at TomTom route planner{other route planners are available} & plans as per their mileage/time.
I believe a copy of their idea for rotue times is sent to each depot a few months before start date, but comments seem mostly to be ignored.  Unlikely, but it would be good if that planner would travel every route during early morning, midday & evening to see how it actually runs & what changes should/could be made.

Again fascinating - thank you.
As a bus driver, we're lucky if we drive a new route twice with a pilot.  Generally once is 'yer lot' and occasionally a verbal briefing & a few sketches - tho' I decline the latter, no pilot, no drive.

Having now caught up on the last in the series, I've really enjoyed all (perhaps the first one was too padded & slow for me - bit like some of the then loco's).  An excellent series.
Also good for me as a bus driver to see the behind the scene's on the rail side, fascinating.

Goody, another set of vintage vehicles enroute for us maybe.  Would replace our existing vintage Darts (although a few are still good!).
Cynical personal comment from me before anyone wants to bite my head off.
Interesting to see the number of bus spotters we see gleefully taking pictures.



Edit note: Quote marks amended, for clarity. CfN.

P.S (to Scott). Our general view of timings is that we're given enough time to drive the route without stopping.  If we have to pick up or set down passengers, then we start to run late.  When(especially in the summer months) we receive many passenger enquiries as they alight, we go even later.  Then there's the wet day traffic bottlenecks - no allowance made, so even later running.
At least we're not hanging around waiting time...............

We're having a change in timings 'down our way' from the end of March for one of our routes.  Previously weren't given enough time between three timing points (in & out bound) for years.  Following services invariably left late.
Constant complaints by drivers - all ignored.
Seems the timing people were unaware of what route we had been running & didn't realise the timing problems.  Hence a new rescheduled route with (it seems) sensible times.
Another longer distance one was retimed a few months ago (again after years of complaints) and now has too much time on it now; so yes, busses can be left outside houses/waiting in the country for their time.  This route time change has now also brought in a new set of problems, namely meeting an outgoing bus in very narrow country lane - somone has to reverse! 10 minutes later meets another outbound (on a different service) in narrows.
Changing times isn't as simple as it sounds.
Occasionally when you reach a timing point early, there can be up to 3 other busses waiting time, so a road block can result.
Other timing points are unsuitable for waiting.
No easy answer