The cost of a lack of connections at Didcot to / from Oxford

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Inspired by a post elsewhere on the forum ...

There are significant passenger flows from Swindon and west thereof to Oxford, with passengers who are able to change at Didcot able to travel on a "not via Reading" ticket, and those who find that connections at Didcot don't work having to go via Reading and pay considerably more.  This has always struck me as a bit unfair, with the rail industry not providing appropriate connections by the sortest route and then charging its customers for their failure to provide.

Taking a personal example - day trip Melksham to Oxford. If I change at Didcot:
£56.80 - anytime day return
£18.00 - off peak day return

If I have to travel via Reading (I would not mind a "no break of journey" contition:
£119.20 - anytime return
£68.70 - off peak return
£52.20 - super off peak return

There is a significant flow of people between Swindon and Oxford, and I have to wonder if a tardiness in providing decent connections every 30 minutes and/or sensible fares for people who have to (but don't really want to) travel up and down to Reading might in some small degree be a business decision - "Two customers at £52.20 are better than five at £18.00" stuff.

[grahame]

P.S. Made the worse for groups ... with Groupsave being available on just about all "Change at Didcot" schedules, and only on some of the "Change at Reading" options due to the difference in conditions / availability of these tickets on GW^▸ (Great Western) and XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)).

[didcotdean]

The oddity is that these days per hour there are more buses that go between Didcot Parkway and Oxford Rail Station than trains (3 rather than 2). Plus another two that take a different route to Oxford City Centre and then to Headington and the JR Hospital. All rather slower of course but some maybe nearer to some people's final destination.

The bus company does though include trains in its journey planner 

[grahame]

The bus company does though include trains in its journey planner

1. Does the train company included buses in its journey planner?

2. Are train and bus tickets interchangeable?

3. If not, why not?

I think the answers to 1. and 2. will be guessable and easy.   The answer to 3 much harder to explain!

[Reading General]

I would say this is down to the London centric nature of the railway. Can the electric stopping trains not be extended to Swindon to provide a more often connection? This would provide the opportunity to get rid of the huge jump in fares between didcot and Swindon, a leftover from intercity only trains I guess.