Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 08:15 04 Dec 2024
 
* Three rail firms to be renationalised next year
- 'Deeply disturbed': South Koreans react to President Yoon's martial law order
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 07/12/24 - Christmas Lights MTUG
15/12/24 - New Timetable Starts
19/12/24 - MTUG Committee Plus meeting
25/12/24 - Westbury Station Closure

On this day
4th Dec (1898)
Theft of Chocolate at Melksham Station (link)

Train RunningCancelled
07:00 Gatwick Airport to Reading
07:28 Banbury to Didcot Parkway
07:59 Gatwick Airport to Reading
08:07 Didcot Parkway to Oxford
08:34 Didcot Parkway to Banbury
20:56 Cardiff Central to Bristol Temple Meads
21:46 Bristol Temple Meads to Severn Beach
22:40 Severn Beach to Bristol Temple Meads
Short Run
07:34 Redhill to Reading
08:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
13:28 Weymouth to Gloucester
13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern
16:32 Great Malvern to London Paddington
18:10 Taunton to Cardiff Central
20:24 Exmouth to Cardiff Central
20:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern
21:53 London Paddington to Worcester Shrub Hill
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
December 04, 2024, 08:20:48 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[123] Northumberland Line to open on Sun 15 December
[119] Louise Haigh, Transport Secretary until 28 Nov 2024
[106] AQ03 - what do these groups have in common
[76] CrossCountry upgrade will see 25% more rail seats
[58] Cyclists - death toll on our roads
[38] The Magic Roundabout
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: 5. Ticketing and connections  (Read 772 times)
Chris from Nailsea
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 18910


Justice for Cerys Piper, please!


View Profile Email
« on: October 03, 2024, 15:10:01 »

5. Ticketing and connections

We hear a lot about fare simplification and about better reliability from the new government. Few of us doubt that a more reliable service and one on which prices are better understood would be a good thing. We also hear of fiscal conservatism - plans to reduce the cost of the railways.

In recent years, through trains from Bristol, Bath, Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge to London (Waterloo) and to Brighton have been withdrawn by SWR» (South Western Railway - about)» and GWR (Great Western Railway). Groupsave has been moved to an 09:30 start and had the "children go for £1" element withdrawn. Railcard discounts are being trimmed back this month. A Freedom of Information response following the withdrawal of through trains from London to our county town in Wiltshire was heavily redacted, with other services also under consideration for culling blacked out as being "commercial in confidence".  With "nationalisation" looming the redactions should no longer apply, and indeed joined up benefits could accrue.

I applaud the improvements in services in recent years to Okehampton and the planned improvements to Newquay in frequency and in running the trains from there beyond the isolated junction at Par. What other plans are being made? As an example, the London Waterloo to Salisbury "stopper" is operated by class 158 and 159 units by SWR. The Bristol to Salisbury "stopper" is also operated much of the time by class 158 units.  Much used and much loved facilities, with significant potential in the new era, could be provided.

I also commend the railcard and groupsave principles.

a) Can you tell us of any other services that are under consideration for culling from the redacted report, or any service level reductions as we see no commitment to retained service levels

b) Can you tell us of plans to join / connect services across ex-franchise boundaries bearing in mind a 40% loss of passengers if they have to change trains

c) Can you tell us if there are other fare "simplifications" in the pipeline which will result in backdoor rises in the cost of travel for the average passenger?

d) Are there any other simplifications which will truly result in an easier and more consistent product - for example the "Network" railcard to universally apply across the whole network, or Groupsave to apply universally on all operators to encourage journeys to Barry Island or Birmingham?
Logged

William Huskisson MP (Member of Parliament) was the first person to be killed by a train while crossing the tracks, in 1830.  Many more have died in the same way since then.  Don't take a chance: stop, look, listen.

"Level crossings are safe, unless they are used in an unsafe manner."  Discuss.
GWRPA
Jr. Member
**
Posts: 13


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2024, 15:26:26 »

GWR (Great Western Railway), in common with other train operators continues to receive taxpayer subsidy.  This began during the pandemic and while rail passengers are returning, we still need DfT» (Department for Transport - about) support to operate our services.  That subsidy needs to reduce, as part of our National Rail Contract we are therefore set a challenging, reducing budget. Our priority has been on protecting the timetable as much as possible.  We hold Local Transport Forums and seek local views on changes.  We are not planning any major changes in our next timetable.  That said, we have been given approval to trial additional direct services from Bristol to Oxford and we will also operate additional services in Cornwall once the Mid Cornwall Metro completes.  This follows the increase in services to Carmarthen (65 extra services a week) last year, a clear demonstration that we are able to both manage the budget and provide more rather than less services.

Fares and ticketing are primarily a matter for the DfT and the new Government has spoken about a “best fare guarantee” as part of their wider rail reforms including setting up Great British Railways.

Regulated fares are controlled by the DfT, and rises are usually based on RPI (Revenue Protection Inspector (or Retail Price Index, depending on the context)) for the preceding year. This would’ve meant an increase of 9% but government intervention capped this at 4.9%. Many of our customers on our long-distance routes do make use of Advance Purchase tickets, which offer substantial savings on the headline Peak or Off-Peak fares.

We have also worked with local partners on initiatives like our Cornwall and West of England Pay-As-You-Go (the first such schemes outside of London) which has introduced single-leg pricing, and we introduced a new Long Weekender ticket last year which allows off peak travel on peak services where customers opt to return on Mondays rather than Sundays.   There is still innovation in fares, we also recognise the need to simplify fares and that can mean removing ticket types that are lightly used. 

We have also been able to make station improvements and it’s incredibly exciting to have worked with local partners to open Ashley Down station just last week – the second new station to open in Bristol after Portway Park & Ride opened last year along with Marsh Barton in Exeter and Reading Green Park too. Work is developing well on Okehampton Interchange next to the A30 which will be the 200th station that GWR operates when it opens.

Each of these new stations was part funded by local Government. The West of England Combined Authority also funds the additional MetroWest services for Gloucester and Westbury, and Cornwall Council will fund Mid Cornwall Metro services when they start.   GWR has opened more new stations than any other train operator.  We work well in partnership, both with Network Rail, and the DfT, but also with our local and regional stakeholders.  Partnership can deliver great benefits and there is still more to come.

West of England Combined Authority investment continues with the Henbury line and hopefully the Portishead line too, as well as Charfield station in South Gloucestershire.

Work also continues on Network Rail’s development at Oxford, it has not been easy, but the benefits – in particular East-West Rail – will be huge, and as mentioned we are currently trialling our direct Bristol-Oxford service on Saturdays. This is the first-time direct trains have run between the two cities since 2003.

We’re also working closely with Network Rail on accessibility projects across the network, we know the importance of improving access to rail particularly for those with accessibility needs – this includes at Theale, St Erth and Tilehurst where installation is currently underway.

It would be remiss of me not to mention HS2 (The next High Speed line(s)) and Old Oak Common; this is a huge project and the impact this year is being primarily felt on Sunday 17 Nov and 27-29 December when the lines between Ealing Broadway and Paddington will be closed to enable station construction work. We will be diverting some of our Devon/Cornwall and South Wales services to Euston instead of Paddington as well as the Night Riviera sleeper, with other services terminating at Reading or Ealing Broadway (full info available at www.gwr.com/christmas). These types of closure will take place at various points in the coming years, while the build continues and we’re planning for Euston diversions whenever the lines to Paddington are unavailable for an extended period. It should also be noted that at times during the construction there will be a reduction in access to London Paddington, where we will operate a two line railway (rather than four lines). This will be during late evening, overnight and on some weekends.  This may mean a reduction in services. We’re also working with the Department for Transport, Network Rail, HS2, Elizabeth Line and other industry partners on the impact on GWR services once the station build is complete in the early 2030s and HS2 services begin operating from Old Oak Common.
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 42750



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #2 on: October 04, 2024, 18:30:27 »

Text I have typed from the recording of the Zoom session - please forgive typos.
DM - Daryn McCombe, GWR (Great Western Railway)
TL - Thomas Lydon, GWR
GE - Graham Ellis
BC - Bryony Chetwode
CB - ChrisB

Question 5

GE: Ticket simplifications resulted in hidden price rises

DM; TL posting politically correct answer on forum. Obviously the treasury controls regulated prices relies on the revenue stream coming in from the railway. For any fares reform they are not going to be giving up significant amounts of money so there will be winners and losers through any reform that happens.  What we have to do is to make sure overall that the reform is fair and that we're not seeing unfair outcomes from that but ultimate no-one in GW (Great Western) is going to be involved in making the decisions on it. We'll be able to help influence as you are on regulated fare ans I suppose even unregulated fares will become a matter for government.  It is inevitable when you are trying to make changes but not make a reduction in the overall revenue inevitably you are shifting the balance from one element of the fares system to another and how that balance lands and your own perspective will determine whether you're a winner or a looser.

GE: Far more with you than the question may suggest.  We had a system of peak fares that was set to maximise the money that was taken and perhaps to discourage travel on the busiest trains. We now find the bust crowded trains are Saturdays and Sundays when we have the super off peak fares. it may surprise you that the 06:32 Melksham to Southampton which is a peak train is rarely very crowded

DM: Observation we have regularly and Mark has made in public and private that the fares are not in kilter with what they were designed to do and we would advocate for that as well.

TL: Pre-pandemic and with other operators we did advocate fares reform. We all accept that they's too many anomalies that have been in place since the railways were privatised, and will be in place when no longer privatised but there needs to be a decision taken beyond train operators across the industry and with passenger groups but with wide scale reform there will be winners and losers. And there needs to be an acceptance of that.  If people want there to continue to be improvements, that has to be matched with investment.  That comes from public funding but we need to see it matched from the farebox as well, particularly in these challenging economic times.  There's a job for all of us to do that note that while there are fares out there that don't seem to be the cheapest, the vast majority who are travelling don't use those fares.  If you're on a high speed service e basically from anywhere into London, peak time on a Tuesday or Wednesday, probably the majority of people on that train are using an advance purchase ticket which compared to the cost of driving and parking is not incomparable and (personal comment) all of use who are passionate about rail need to talk about the issues and be advocates

GE: Sure, ironing out some of the anomalies also irons out some of the bargains. Example given.

TL: And we have brought in our pay as you go scheme cover the whole of SOuth Cotswolds and Swindon into Bristol and single leg pricing which "I am sure is something people joining us on Zoom will have been arguing for" for a long time, so there's that innovation there. There's areas where we would like to replicate contactless like we've had in London - not Oyster (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) but where you can just use your phone or debit card and encourage people to use the rail. Obviously these things are far more complicated in the back office.  We do want to see fare reform, the government is committed to it. Ultimately this does it with government and Louise Haigh and Lord Hendy to resolve

GE: If it's one of those things I was looking to resolve, I wouldn't want to be starting from where we are.

TL: We have spoken a lot in our written answer about National Rail Contracts and our decreasingbbudget. Ask - we will be sick and tired of hearing but Mark and the business made a point that it was about protecting our timetable; without a timetable we don't have a product to sell and a huge amount of investment and work went into the 2019 timetable and, yes, there are some areas where we have had to make changes that are very difficult but for the vast majority of the network we have not only protected [it] but enhanced it like around Bristol and to Carmarthen and in the summer the new service down to Devon and Cornwall

GE: Agreed, and with the exception of the GW services to Brighton which you'll note we were muted in protest, whereas all hell broke loose when SWR» (South Western Railway - about) withdrew through trains from London to the county Town of Trowbridge (and B-o-A, Bath, Bristol).  Hats off to Mark and the team there - we may be critical but we are critical as friends.

GE: We are trying to get a gallon into a pint pot this afternoon ... long written answer too, thank you.  Can remaining questions dome though?  Yes -  thank you.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page