There may be 12 trains an hour between Reading and London at peak times but its not much fun when every single one of them is standing room only and they're delayed every day for a week. Just because my journey is shorter and more frequent than others on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) network doesn't mean I don't have the right to expect (or hope for) a prompt and satisfying service.

My original post was about compensation for the 3 months of service I'd paid for that were riddled with terrible delays - not the 6 months or so when the FGW service has greatly improved.

And Reading to Reading West may be 1300m along the track but I don't think its safe to walk that way home! And luckily I don't actually live at Reading West station, so the 10-15 min walk that you suggest it is is actually more like 35 minutes.

From the wording on their site it seems I wouldn't ever be entitled to a refund/compensation since I hold an Annual Season Ticket:

"If your journey is delayed by more than one hour, we will compensate our customers, including Weekly Season Ticket Holders" and then later:

"If you hold a ticket for a single or return journey, or a Weekly Season Ticket, and your train is delayed or cancelled..."

No mention of us annual season ticket holders.

 

Yes, how will they work out what journeys we've taken and what has affected us? They may be running a 90% service but my train is regularly late in the evening as it gets stuck outside Reading for ALL ETERNITY as it waits for a platform. This isn't a major problem other than the fact that I end up missing my connecting train to Reading West fairly regularly - which means either a 30 minute wait or ^1.70 on the bus. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are therefore delaying me or costing me an extra ^8.50 a week (if it happens every day which occasionally it does!). Maybe I should keep a log of every train I get on and send it to them when it is time for renewal!

Of course my train isn't considered late since I believe they judge it on the entire route so if I'm delayed by 15 minutes on my section of the journey but they manage to make up that 15 minutes on the remainder of the entire journey then its classed as on time. Unfair! 

I need to renew my annual season ticket at the end of August and so I called up today to find out what the cost would be. They told me it will cost ^4152. Last year it cost me ^3844 (I think). As I went from a monthly season ticket to an annual ticket last year I of course wasn't entitled to any renewal discount since I was effectively buying a new ticket. I was told I'd receive my renewal discount when I renewed my season ticket.

Since January you don't get a renewal discount anymore since FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are meeting their targets. Fair enough, the service HAS improved and I am willing to accept that they are operating at around 90% for punctuality and such like. My arguement with them is that I travelled with them from September 08 to December 08 on my current season ticket when they weren't meeting their targets so surely there should be some kind of discount for those 3 months of travel? They tell me no and just went on about calculating the discount over the year and I wasn't entitled to one. I've put in a complaint as I'm pretty miffed about this. I know it wouldn't be a lot of money off but every penny counts! I know that they will respond telling in the negative and was told I could complain again to Passenger Focus.

Just a rant really - but is there really nothing I can do? It really doesn't seem fair! Sorry my first post was ranty! My journey is Reading to London with the tube.