The rail story to follow tomorrow
Part 1
In one way, an excellent day trip from Melksham to Weymouth yesterday - but in another ways a sad illustration of what's wrong with public transport for such a trip.
At the planning stage, we decided to drive to Westbury and park there. No train early enough from Melksham to connect into the 09:04 from Westbury, and with the first train in the other direction through Melksham replaced by a bus, I was dubious about the connection 10:00/10:17 - quite apart from the loss of an hour's daylight in Weymouth. More on connections later
Paying for the trip / getting the right ticketParked fine and paid at the ticket machine. "Card Only" - not a problem for us, but noted. Had to re-enter registration twice - thought I had pressed "U" in the registration the first time - turned out I had "V" correct, but the font face made it look otherwise.
Tickets ... ticket office closed. Ticket machine not offering what we wanted. Bright yellow threatening "Penaly Fare" notice. Ticket office not only closed but advertising reduced further hours until further notice, and I have to wonder if "Further Notice" is never ... extra advice on ticket machine suggested that using the A to Z would access all the fares available for the journey. Wrong, it wouldn't have done, bu whats the harm in adding those brave words even if they're not actually right?
Advise was "for anything else, buy online or speak to a member of staff". There was a single chap wearing a
GWR▸ tabard in the subway, but he wandered off before we reached him. Surprisigly (and what a delight!) the buffet was open and we grabbed tea, coffee and flapjack. I didn't ask if the staff member there could sell us our tickets too.
A 2 car 158 standing in platform 3, towards the country end. Signalled off in good time, and the train crew appear just as it was about due to leave and all six passengers climbed on. Journey story to follow - I'll keep this post to tickets ... to conclude
Train Manager happily sold us what we wanted - obviously (!) a group save off peak day return for three people from Melksham to Weymouth via Yeovil Pen Mill. £14.15 a head. Very long roll of paper!
There MAY be some logic in not having a human being is an office at the station entrance to sell tickets and provide information at all times, but before that becomes a standard, it needs to be obvious, straightforward and not threatening for everyone to get the ticket they want for every journey they make. My example above illustrates the sort of issues that confronted me prior to just one journey.