30/12/13 Saturday service

[VauxhallandI]

GA are running a Saturday service today.

They state that this is because of the reduced demand, however Twitter is full of reporters of crowded trains will short formations.

The main point that confuses me is that they are not charging weekend prices.

I also overheard an elderly lady at my station this morning being refused her railcard discount as it was before 9:30am, would this be true at a weekend too?

 

[swt_passenger]

Running the 'Saturday timetable' does not make today a weekend for fares and restrictions. They are being consistent with what most London & SE commuter TOCs do at this time of year, and have done for many years.

On the other hand, when they run a Saturday service on a bank holiday, you would expect it to be just like a Saturday...

 

[306024]

GA are running a Saturday service today.

They state that this is because of the reduced demand, however Twitter is full of reporters of crowded trains will short formations.

The main point that confuses me is that they are not charging weekend prices.

I also overheard an elderly lady at my station this morning being refused her railcard discount as it was before 9:30am, would this be true at a weekend too?

In previous years a normal Monday service would have been provided but with 8 cars instead of 12 where appropriate. Perhaps Clog Rail's attempt to save some money by running a Saturday service has backfired.

 

[VauxhallandI]

In previous years a normal Monday service would have been provided but with 8 cars instead of 12 where appropriate. Perhaps Clog Rail's attempt to save some money by running a Saturday service has backfired.

Well there is no consequences for them so I guess they don't care
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Running the 'Saturday timetable' does not make today a weekend for fares and restrictions. They are being consistent with what most London & SE commuter TOCs do at this time of year, and have done for many years.

On the other hand, when they run a Saturday service on a bank holiday, you would expect it to be just like a Saturday...

Consistency doesn't equal right!

If it is a Saturday timetable the. It should be Saturday fares or is there another logic in another dimension I am unaware of?

 

[captainbigun]

Watching the 17:30 LST-NRW arrive at Stratford full and standing with a platform of punters waiting to get on made for entertaining viewing. Arrived about 2 down, left about 6 down, aisles and vestibules full. That's pretty poor by anyone's standards.

It isn't the first time that the service has been thinned only for it to end in farce, at some point you'd hope lessons would be learned.

I can see an argument on the fares, if you're paying for the peak service, then peak frequency, at least, should be provided. Just another excuse to empty passenger's pockets.

 

[PHILIPE]

Cross Country were taught a lesson after being taken over by Arriva. They ran a reduced service during the break on the core West of England to North east route. This became hourly instead of half hourly and after the first year they learnt their lesson and the folly of providing reduced capacity..

 

[JonathanH]

Watching the 17:30 LST-NRW arrive at Stratford full and standing with a platform of punters waiting to get on made for entertaining viewing. Arrived about 2 down, left about 6 down, aisles and vestibules full. That's pretty poor by anyone's standards.

It isn't the first time that the service has been thinned only for it to end in farce, at some point you'd hope lessons would be learned.

I can see an argument on the fares, if you're paying for the peak service, then peak frequency, at least, should be provided. Just another excuse to empty passenger's pockets.

Great Western have relaxed the peak fares over Christmas for a few years now. I think I read that the reason for this is the disruption from engineering work. It would be interesting to understand whether the train companies actually think they would suffer a revenue loss if they did relax peak restrictions during the period between Christmas and New Year.

For some people, the off-peak timetable actually better suits their commute during the Christmas period but the railway should see that it provides adequate capacity if it is to keep peak fares in place.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Great Western have relaxed the peak fares over Christmas for a few years now. I think I read that the reason for this is the disruption from engineering work. It would be interesting to understand whether the train companies actually think they would suffer a revenue loss if they did relax peak restrictions during the period between Christmas and New Year.

Most of the former InterCity operators relax restrictions between Christmas Eve and New Year, and in terms of London & South East TOCs, Chiltern do so as well. Not sure about the others.

Transport for London, on the other hand, don't other than for public holidays, so whilst you can get an Off-Peak (or Super Off-Peak) ticket into London, you still need an Anytime Travelcard to travel before 0930 Monday to Friday.

 

[3141]

Well there is no consequences for them so I guess they don't care
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Consistency doesn't equal right!

If it is a Saturday timetable the. It should be Saturday fares or is there another logic in another dimension I am unaware of?

The logic is obvious. Today is Wednesday.

If they run a Saturday service on a Wednesday that is a public holiday you canhope that they might operate the Saturday fare arrangements but it would be illogical and unrealistic to assume that will happen.

What they should do is to learn from this year's experience about when trains are heavily loaded and run longer trains and a Saturday t.t. with some additions on 1.1.2015. I'm sure people who are concerned about what's happened today won't just complain here but will also write to GA, Passenger Focus, local MPs, local councils etc. to press the case for a future service that takes account of known demand.

 

[306024]

Was there overcrowding today on GA services (which was a Sunday service)? Certainly the ones I saw were OK, but then I missed what would have been the busiest part of the afternoon. I'm not here to defend GA, from all accounts there certainly was overcrowding on Mon 30/12/13, but Tue 31/12/13 was much quieter.

Now next year 01/01/15 is on a Thursday. Does that mean people will take Friday 02/01/15 off work and travel on Sunday 04/01/15 instead? Your guess is as good as mine. As Christmas / New Year fall on different days each year, every year throws up different travel patterns.

 

[starrymarkb]

FGW certainly treat it as a Saturday fare wise. Not sure on other TOCs

 

[bicbasher]

I was slightly frustrated on Monday when Southern replaced the 1836 from London Bridge which would be a 10 car service to West Croydon with a 4 car 455 to Caterham which was packed as far as Forest Hill with the majority being shoppers with some commuters working over the Christmas period. I can understand why the Saturday service would be in place, however a 5 car 377/6 would've been slightly better.

In the past, at least two morning peak services would be in operation to the Saturday timetable, however there was no additional cars or services on Mon 30th during the evening peak. Southeastern did have some additional services, such as a Greenwich line all stations to Slade Green service from Charing Cross.

 

[VauxhallandI]

The logic is obvious. Today is Wednesday.

If they run a Saturday service on a Wednesday that is a public holiday you canhope that they might operate the Saturday fare arrangements but it would be illogical and unrealistic to assume that will happen.

What they should do is to learn from this year's experience about when trains are heavily loaded and run longer trains and a Saturday t.t. with some additions on 1.1.2015. I'm sure people who are concerned about what's happened today won't just complain here but will also write to GA, Passenger Focus, local MPs, local councils etc. to press the case for a future service that takes account of known demand.

Not my logic.

Passenger Focus, MP's righty oh.
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Was there overcrowding today on GA services (which was a Sunday service)? Certainly the ones I saw were OK, but then I missed what would have been the busiest part of the afternoon. I'm not here to defend GA, from all accounts there certainly was overcrowding on Mon 30/12/13, but Tue 31/12/13 was much quieter.

Now next year 01/01/15 is on a Thursday. Does that mean people will take Friday 02/01/15 off work and travel on Sunday 04/01/15 instead? Your guess is as good as mine. As Christmas / New Year fall on different days each year, every year throws up different travel patterns.

You obviously don't get the GA Twitter feed. Combine the short trains and the full price Saturday service with GA's daily train faults and you have trouble.