I guess (theoretically) from a GWR▸ perspective it makes sense to take out services on a branch line like the Transwilts and stick in a bus replacement rather than canning mainline services which may be more frequent but more prone to severe overcrowding on long journeys (especially at this time of year AND when the service is being reduced due to staff shortages)?
It's a grand theory ... but perhaps it has as many holes as a colander
It shouldn't be a "rather than" either-or type choice. GWR should have the staff employed and trained to handle all the trains and not fall short last Thursday, or Saturday, or today Monday.
Sometimes they may stick in a bus replacement, but often not. Gaz last Thursday should not have been delayed 2 hours (i.e. taken 2 hours 20 minutes for a journey that takes 20 minutes by train and should be around 35 on a bus). And I'm still amazed at GWR's advise to me on Saturday when I asked for the alternative to the 10:20 train to be told to catch an alternative service - and when I asked when that would be I was told 15:33.
Services being thinned would not be long distance ones / long trains.. I don't think any of our train crews actually drive / manage the
HSS▸ services and the suggestion even then is the local services and not regional ones that would go.
Yeah, I can confirm the Portsmouth to Cardiff train is very overcrowded between Trowbridge and Bath at rush hour... the nearest I've ever got to a seat was sitting in the luggage rack! The Transwilts service is never close to overcrowded.
And indeed THAT is why the suggestion wouldn't be to take staff off the Secondary main line (Portsmouth to Cardiff) service.
There is indeed sense for rare occasions when there's an extraordinary crew shortage to replace the Westbury to Swindon train with a bus to Chippenham. Let's say that's reasonable for 2% of services. But 12% have been lost in the last week - and only a couple of trips actually replaced by a bus. And that's on top of a new timetable which has in itself seen a 3.5% cut in the number of trains scheduled on the line!
We were aware there would be "teething troubles" as the service changed, with the perfect storm of the lead up to Christmas and the holiday season itself. So let's treat this period from 15th December to the end of the year as a learning period - watch what happens, tell GWR where things locally fall below standard, and look to work well and closely with them in the new year to help recover and promote a reliable service - even if 2% of the services are replaced with a bus / change at Chippenham, running just behind when the train would have run.
