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  • Fare change meeting - Pewsey: October 31, 2019
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Author Topic: New Timetable Fares Issue - Pewsey  (Read 22208 times)
hoover50
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« on: September 30, 2019, 13:26:05 »

As a result of the new timetable from 15/12/19 onwards, the current 0810 off-peak train from Pewsey to Paddington has been replaced by an 0817 peak-time train. This means that a return to London around that time increases from £53.60 to £120

The first off-peak train will be a 0930 departure rather than the 0810 at present, i.e. 1hr 20mins later.

I thought the whole idea of the new timetable was to improve things but this will make it much worse for people wanting to travel from Pewsey!  Angry
« Last Edit: October 25, 2019, 14:16:01 by grahame » Logged
grahame
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« Reply #1 on: September 30, 2019, 13:36:34 »

As a result of the new timetable from 15/12/19 onwards, the current 0810 off-peak train from Pewsey to Paddington has been replaced by an 0817 peak-time train. This means that a return to London around that time increases from £53.60 to £120

The first off-peak train will be a 0930 departure rather than the 0810 at present, i.e. 1hr 20mins later.

I thought the whole idea of the new timetable was to improve things but this will make it much worse for people wanting to travel from Pewsey!  Angry

See http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=22244.0 ... where we suspect that this may not be intentional.   I have also followed up on the Facebook Pewsey Community Page.

Issue of changed train times pushing services from off peak to peak effects other lines too. I will be writing up / raising a couple of Melksham issues via the user Group, and am hopeful that the boundary of the peak will be adjusted rather than massive fare rises on trains that become peak in name, but are off-peak in traffic / nature.
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grahame
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« Reply #2 on: October 16, 2019, 00:47:13 »

View from Bedwyn / Kintbury / Hungerford on Facebook

Very high percentage price increases for some as trains move a few minutes and long-standing concessions are withdrawn.  It may be that the new system is fairer across the board, but as the post says "we have built our lives around these trains and train prices".


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JayMac
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« Reply #3 on: October 16, 2019, 11:39:34 »

Largely irrelevant. If you're driving a commercial vehicle it's your responsibility to know its height.
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Timmer
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« Reply #4 on: October 16, 2019, 12:04:03 »

Largely irrelevant. If you're driving a commercial vehicle it's your responsibility to know its height.
Think this was for another thread. Do you want me to remove BNM?
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Celestial
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« Reply #5 on: October 16, 2019, 15:26:40 »

Largely irrelevant. If you're driving a commercial vehicle it's your responsibility to know its height.
Think this was for another thread. Do you want me to remove BNM?
Maybe the first two words were more fitting than intended.
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JayMac
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« Reply #6 on: October 16, 2019, 15:47:07 »

Apologies. I did post in wrong thread. As there have been follow ups then it's okay to leave my embarrassment for posterity. Embarrassed
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TaplowGreen
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« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2019, 19:02:44 »

View from Bedwyn / Kintbury / Hungerford on Facebook

Very high percentage price increases for some as trains move a few minutes and long-standing concessions are withdrawn.  It may be that the new system is fairer across the board, but as the post says "we have built our lives around these trains and train prices".




I think they're being a bit melodramatic. Surely it's the case that in any reorganisation on this scale there are always going to be winners and losers?

One could argue that they've benefitted from an extremely generous easement for many years, and these are always subject to potential withdrawal?

Are there slower (but cheaper) trains still available, albeit perhaps involving a change at Reading?

(I do agree with BNM about the commercial vehicles though!)  Smiley
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grahame
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« Reply #8 on: October 17, 2019, 09:55:17 »

I think they're being a bit melodramatic. Surely it's the case that in any reorganisation on this scale there are always going to be winners and losers?

Taking Pewsey, as I know the case better, as an example

The price increases on the lowest cost walk up tickets for certain journeys at certain times of day have come as a massive shock to people who have used these services with these tickets for many years. For many people, cost-of-travel is a significant part of their budget and changing from a £53.60 fare to a £120.00 fare (say) 40 times a year would / will cost an extra £2,656.00 per annum - up from £2144.00 to £4,800.   Assuming a basic rate (20%) taxpayer, it's an extra £3127.20 gross needed and I'm not going to try to consider National Insurance factors.

However ...

a) The fare until mid December has been a concession and there's an argument that it should not have been so low in the first place; a difficult one as it has been established as a custom for so long.   And no notice (to my knowledge) was given that the custom was to be withdrawn.   Last year, Pewsey lost its rail services for 50 days (bus replacement instead) amongst a great deal of publicity talking about new, better, faster trains.  At no point to I recall seeing any warning that (for some) the new, better, faster trains would also cost them a lot more to use - and people are going to feel aggrieved at been selectively informed last year and having this sprung on them now.

b) If a product you have used suddenly and sharply increases in price, or otherwise becomes unavailable, surely you take a look for an alternative product.  Whilst the headlines we're seeing are looking at the new price of travelingg on what is essentially the same train with the same ticket type, for many users I suspect there are other options so they won't have to spend all that extra:
* A new train an hour later available at the lower price which could even be better for some:
* re-arrange their work to be able to make less journeys
* shift their office time (if they can) a couple of hours later
* Drive to a lower cost station, bearing in mind that Pewsey is a railhead
* Look at booking further ahead with advance tickets
* Buy two singles - up in the peak, back off peak perhaps
Split ticketing, season tickets (which are not going up) etc are further options to look at.

Looking ahead to the new year, the £120 ticket may be rising to £124 giving rise to a further shout of pain.  And looking further ahead to someone sorting out the current mess that is ticketing ... goodness only knows what the effect will be.  But then with Pewsey to London for a day in the peak - £120 and  Bedwyn to London in the peak being 'just' £63.10, future levelling out might reduce the Pewsey fares at the expense of the Bedwyn ones.   We live in interesting times!

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hoover50
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« Reply #9 on: October 18, 2019, 09:00:30 »

But then with Pewsey to London for a day in the peak - £120 and  Bedwyn to London in the peak being 'just' £63.10, future levelling out might reduce the Pewsey fares at the expense of the Bedwyn ones.   We live in interesting times!

This really needs to be addressed. It is absolutely ridiculous that the fare is almost double from Pewsey which is less than 9 miles down the line from Bedwyn.

I think the main cause of this anomaly is that you are able buy an anytime day return from Bedwyn but not from Pewsey, where you have to buy an anytime period return.

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Timmer
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« Reply #10 on: October 18, 2019, 09:25:06 »

This really needs to be addressed. It is absolutely ridiculous that the fare is almost double from Pewsey which is less than 9 miles down the line from Bedwyn.

I think the main cause of this anomaly is that you are able buy an anytime day return from Bedwyn but not from Pewsey, where you have to buy an anytime period return.
Time was that you could justify the huge difference in fare due to Pewsey having IC (Inter City) quality rolling stock compared to DMUs (Diesel Multiple Unit) from Bedwyn, but now the rolling stock, in the form of IETs (Intercity Express Train), is of exactly the same standard from both stations.
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Richard Fairhurst
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« Reply #11 on: October 18, 2019, 11:21:56 »

Are there slower (but cheaper) trains still available, albeit perhaps involving a change at Reading?

Slightly going off-topic, but this to my mind was the main disadvantage of unifying all Paddington services under one operator. (There were, of course, many advantages!)

WCML (West Coast Main Line) passengers benefit from the competition between LNWR (London North Western Railway) and Virgin (and, of course, Chiltern) - different fares and different levels of provision. The same is true to a lesser extent on the ECML (East Coast Main Line) as far as Peterborough, and at various places across the network where you'll often have choice of a London InterCity operator, CrossCountry, and one or even two regional operators.

We don't have that in GWR (Great Western Railway) land. If GWR changes its fares, or its restrictions, or its train design, passengers are stuck with it. Generally there's no "slower but cheaper" option as there might be elsewhere on the network.

Thames Trains were a bl--dy awful operator and I don't miss them in the least, but I do sometimes cast envious glances across to the WCML.
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ray951
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« Reply #12 on: October 18, 2019, 12:14:16 »

Are there slower (but cheaper) trains still available, albeit perhaps involving a change at Reading?

Slightly going off-topic, but this to my mind was the main disadvantage of unifying all Paddington services under one operator. (There were, of course, many advantages!)

WCML (West Coast Main Line) passengers benefit from the competition between LNWR (London North Western Railway) and Virgin (and, of course, Chiltern) - different fares and different levels of provision. The same is true to a lesser extent on the ECML (East Coast Main Line) as far as Peterborough, and at various places across the network where you'll often have choice of a London InterCity operator, CrossCountry, and one or even two regional operators.

We don't have that in GWR (Great Western Railway) land. If GWR changes its fares, or its restrictions, or its train design, passengers are stuck with it. Generally there's no "slower but cheaper" option as there might be elsewhere on the network.

Thames Trains were a bl--dy awful operator and I don't miss them in the least, but I do sometimes cast envious glances across to the WCML.

Won't there soon be competition between TFL (Transport for London) and GWR between Reading and Paddington? Maybe spliting tickets at Reading will become popular?
« Last Edit: October 18, 2019, 12:20:11 by ray951 » Logged
Timmer
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« Reply #13 on: November 22, 2019, 10:24:29 »

BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today's Paul Clifton will be doing a report on the Pewsey off peak to peak fare change from December's TT change for South Today.
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hoover50
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« Reply #14 on: November 22, 2019, 17:25:41 »

BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today's Paul Clifton will be doing a report on the Pewsey off peak to peak fare change from December's TT change for South Today.

I just watched the report from the lunchtime news, via BBC iplayer. One of the passengers featured on the report seemed completely unaware of the fare hike. His words were "...You've shocked me..."

I suspect there are still quite a few people who are completely unaware of the controversy and are going to rock up to Pewsey station from Dec 16th and will be in for a nasty shock when they ask for a ticket for the 0817 to London and be told the cost is now £120 rather than £53.60
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