This moaning on twitter

[IndustryInsider]

WTT (Working Time Table) is scheduled to depart at 1706, and this will be the time that the driver works to.

Unless the driver happens to spot that the public time is different (by noticing on the information screens) and driving to that instead.  He/she has no indication of any difference on their schedule card.

The whole Public/WTT differential really winds me up.  There are trains that have differences of 4 minutes between the public and working times.  Assuming the driver sticks to the working times, then you have the public perceiving their train is always 4 minutes late.  What bloody awful, and totally unnecessary PR that is.  Apart from exceptions circumstances, the two should be combined into one time so that everyone knows the score.  Rant over.

[lordgoata]

The whole Public/WTT differential really winds me up.  There are trains that have differences of 4 minutes between the public and working times.  Assuming the driver sticks to the working times, then you have the public perceiving their train is always 4 minutes late.  What bloody awful, and totally unnecessary PR that is.  Apart from exceptions circumstances, the two should be combined into one time so that everyone knows the score.  Rant over.

LOL - so you are telling me, not only do FGW have their own concept of "on time" (ie. can be upto 3 minutes late), but they also have two versions of the same time table, one for joe public, and one for the workers ?! Ye Gods.

* lordgoata finds somewhere warm to curl up until the world regains some sense ..... yes I maybe gone some time 

[Super Guard]

LOL - so you are telling me, not only do FGW have their own concept of "on time" (ie. can be upto 3 minutes late), but they also have two versions of the same time table, one for joe public, and one for the workers ?! Ye Gods.

* lordgoata finds somewhere warm to curl up until the world regains some sense ..... yes I maybe gone some time 

The whole railway has a WTT and PTT.

[broadgage]

It is my belief that railways in general, not just FGW, have got worse in the last 10 years.
Overcrowding is definatly worse, and is a direct result of new shorter trains in many cases.

I frequently used the suburban services into London Blackfriars, these used to be 8 car slam door EMUs, latter replaced by all new networkers, 6 coaches in the peak instead of 8, some improvement.

I used to travel between Waterloo and Gillingham dorset, in the good old days we had 8 coach locomotive hauled trains, sometimes longer at busy times.
I dont remember EVER standing on the old trains. Then came 3 car DMUs with standing being the norm.

And as for virgin cross country, they received a massive subsidy to halve the length of the trains, with standing the norm.

In recent years new trains have been largely replacements for old, and not supplements to improve capacity.

FGW have led the field in cramming more seats into the same vehicle and calling this an improvement. Refering to " thousands of extra seats" sounds to to the man in the street like some extra trains, when in fact they mean a few extra seats per train.

[EBrown]

I don't really think twitter helps in some cases, comparing it to an email, you often get the exact same response (just much shorter without the investment spiel), which is an apology or an explanation. You also get the response same day - FGW customer service are a little bit longer...

Would some of these "complaints" have ever been written if FGW weren't on Twitter?

Are people somewhat "lacking" with manners on social networking sites?

There are however, some very polite users of twitter, BerkshireBugsy being one of them. I don't think being polite and putting across a point is difficult:

@FGW Hi Jo, hope you had a good w/e. Just to let you know "Find out more about family travel" link doesn't work on goo.gl/TPcnn

[BerkshireBugsy]

I don't really think twitter helps in some cases, comparing it to an email, you often get the exact same response (just much shorter without the investment spiel), which is an apology or an explanation. You also get the response same day - FGW customer service are a little bit longer...

Would some of these "complaints" have ever been written if FGW weren't on Twitter?

Are people somewhat "lacking" with manners on social networking sites?

There are however, some very polite users of twitter, BerkshireBugsy being one of them. I don't think being polite and putting across a point is difficult:

@FGW Hi Jo, hope you had a good w/e. Just to let you know "Find out more about family travel" link doesn't work on goo.gl/TPcnn

What a nice positive start to a Monday morning! All though this thread was specifically about twitter, my approach about contacting companies (such as FGW) is the try and mix the good and the bad.

Sometimes when the service goes through a bad patch it can be difficult to be complimentary but I do find that even in the not so good times it is fairly easy to find staff who stand out for the right reasons. On those occasions an email will wing itself to FGW in the hope that it finds the right destination.

Happy monday everyone (ok I admit that might be taking things a bit far)

[thetrout]

I must admit that I had a little bit of a rant on FGW's Facebook Page... My train to Salisbury was 15 minutes late. Now I wouldn't mind that normally, but I had a connection to make at Salisbury to Waterloo. There were also problems on the c2c line that day too, so all in all, being 15 minutes late made me 1hr 38mins late!

I did say in my e-mail to Jo that I wasn't fussed if I wasn't entitled to Compensation as I was happy with the price I paid for the tickets, so it wasn't a problem. However sitting in my Inbox on my Exchange Account this morning, I was delighted to find a compo voucher for £29.00!!

But I'd like to think my e-mail was taken in politeness as I made it clear that the delay was of no inconvenience to me. But still, that'll save me a fair bit going to Southend on Thursday!

[BerkshireBugsy]

But I'd like to think my e-mail was taken in politeness as I made it clear that the delay was of no inconvenience to me. But still, that'll save me a fair bit going to Southend on Thursday!

My sentiments entirely. IMO if "one" is going to complain then do it in a civil fashion first. If the first communication is a full blown rant it leavers nowhere to "step up a gear" to.

Mind you, if you have ever been left waiting for an hour on a cold wet platform because the xx:xx (insert relevant time here) has been delayed then sometimes that is easier tweeted said than done.

Oh well off to see what delights commuter world holds in store for me today