Hardly commutable from Reading, at any pay rate!
25 minutes Reading to Swindon
25 minutes Swindon to Melksham
10 minutes to change
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60 minute journey time.
Why not?
Oh -
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Trains don't run at the times they're needed and there are times where it looks as if they are designed not to connect. For an 07:00 open, 06:45 arrival at The Hub .... So that's the 06:11 off Swindon, 06:36 into Melksham. It would need a train at 05:40 from Reading, into Swindon at 06:05. Problem is, there's no such train nor anything for a long time before
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Fares are complex and in many cases going to be excessive. Look at that return fare of £119! Potential for the employer, as they're a
CRP▸ , to include a pass in the package. And off peak, or a season if you can work 6 days one week and none the next may help. Or split ticketing. Flexiseason probably does very little good.
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Current reliability is such that it's really risky to trust it, and for a customer service role where a late arrival at work would be a very serious matter, it makes the job impractical. The gap of over 2 hours from trains on the Melksham to Chippenham leg can be a real issue. The staff at Chippenham are typically excellent at sorting out onward travel when things have gone wrong, but with arrival there perhaps 10 minutes after you found the Melksham train cancelled from Swindon, take 10 minutes to get a taxi and a journey 10 minutes longer on road than rail ... half an hour late into Melksham at best.
