When it comes to the national rail service, plus ca change round these parts. I wasn't expecting a transport revolution in the last few months, but it's a shame the same old hypocracies and completely avoidable annoyances are still in evidence, nationwide. Is it really acceptable to charge £175 for a peak-time open return from Bristol to London? Obviously I didn't pay that, and any meetings I attend in the capital are arranged to avoid the prohibitive costs of travelling in rush hour. But, next time I have to have a meeting in a capital, maybe I'll make it Paris or The Hague instead. It would without doubt be cheaper to get there.
My issue is not with the fundamental tenets of free market capitalism or anything like that. As a company you want to maximise your profit margin. But at the expense of your customers? I find First Great Western's attitude to their paymasters to be contemptous, at best. It is surely common sense to allow people to sit in empty seats on an earlier train if they turn up to the station in good time. I was told by one of the station guards that I would have to buy a whole new ticket, to the tune of £89.50 if I wanted to get on this particular train. Or I could wait 45 minutes and get the train I was originally booked on. For many, the company foots the expenses bill and for most of those many I'm sure expenses are something you want to keep to a minimum in the current climate. When FirstGroup are apparently posting pre-tax profits of £127.8m (a rise of 56%, year on year), you wonder that in an alternate reality if our rail network wasn't quite so extortionate many businesses, perhaps entire industries, wouldn't be in such bad shape and have to forecast quite so bleakly.
And as an adjunct to this whole sorry affair, if more people were inclined to use the train (still the nicest way to travel - potentially), our air quality would undoubtedly rise. To the young lady representing FGW who was replying to my twitter rants in the week and made the point that most trains on that route are actually quite full, then how about this: use some of your profits to lay on a few more trains. Then reduce the prices. And keep them there, just for a bit, at least.
And as an adjunct to this whole sorry affair, if more people were inclined to use the train (still the nicest way to travel - potentially), our air quality would undoubtedly rise. To the young lady representing FGW who was replying to my twitter rants in the week and made the point that most trains on that route are actually quite full, then how about this: use some of your profits to lay on a few more trains. Then reduce the prices. And keep them there, just for a bit, at least.
