The User Group onion

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Who represents the public transport passenger - now and in the future?  Here in Melksham - as in villages, town and cities all around the United Kingdom, there are groups ranging from those involved with a single bus stop through to national and international ones. 

1. Melksham Transport User Group - https://www.mtug.org.uk
2. (rail) West Wiltshire Rail User Group - https://www.wwrug.org.uk
3a. TravelWatch SouthWest - https://www.travelwatchsouthwest.org.uk
3b. (mostly rail) Great Western Coffee Shop Forum - https://www.passenger.chat
4. Campaign for Better Transport - https://bettertransport.org.uk
5. European Passengers' Federation - https://www.epf.eu

It's rather like the rings on an onion

More at https://grahamellis.uk/blog1472.html

Do we need them all? Does each have its place and function? Yes - I believe it does - or at least there is a need for customer representation at all geographic levels, on current and future services too, and on all modes of transport.

[ChrisB]

You omitted Transport Focus / London Travelwatch - they do both still have statutory duties for passengers
Rail Ombudsman https://www.railombudsman.org/

[grahame]

You omitted Transport Focus / London Travelwatch - they do both still have statutory duties for passengers
Rail Ombudsman https://www.railombudsman.org/

Transport Focus is in the article's footnote to explain.  It is not a user group - it is a statutory body that is under the control of statute and does what HMG has told it.  Same for the Ombudsman - the one time I asked them to look into something they told me (very nicely) that it's not in their jurisdiction which confirms it's not really doing whatever the passenger groups mandate - it's doing what Heidi and her team tell it.   London TravelWatch is also a statutory body.   It's also nothing to do with Wiltshire.