Govia get Thameslink Franchise

[FlippyFF]

I wonder what time (year?) this will be updated?

http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/about-us/

 

[Class377/5]

http://www.thameslinkrailway.com/your-journey/timetables/

Look at test timetable, someone forgot to delete. Interesting the Hertford Loop Dec 2014 timetable is up.

And a timeline of changes

http://www.thameslinkrailway.com/about-us/improvements/our-commitments/

 

[Hadders]

Interesting to see that buying tickets directs you to Southern's webtis site which is triple branded with Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern.

Season tickets can be purchased through the site with weekly seasons available on ToD (not sure this was possible with FCC) although it says they can only be collected from a Southern machine. I assume a TL or GN one will work too!

I don't know why those responsible for content can't get it proof read before it is published. A couple of significant errors I've seen:

It says super off-peak tickets are only valid after 10am. This is confusing as the super off-peak day tickets are valid on weekends only (with no time restriction either). Being pedantic I know there's a difference between super off-peak tickets and super off-peak day tickets but it's confusing as it currently stands.

There is a section saying contactless payment is valid which is good but although it does state it is an alternative to Oyster when travelling around London it really should state that it's only valid on their services in London Zones 1-6. Someone with little knowledge of tickets would think they could use it to pay for a journey from Bedford to Brighton.

 

[jon0844]

Some pages with things like ** insert number here ** and the new app already has loads of quotes from satisfied customers. Obviously cut and pasted from the Southern app. Still nothing on the Play store but it could be scheduled to appear at 2 am.

And surely Super off peak tickets will remain with the FB restriction, namely: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/63462.aspx

 

[Hadders]

Another thing - there is no single timetable showing all of the services from Stevenage to London.

You have to refer to multiple timetables to get the full picture. I know most will use journey planners but a timetable is useful to determine stopping patterns etc which are not always apparent on on-line systems.

I could understand inner suburban and outer suburbans being separate but Peterborough and Cambridge services are separate timetables, and you need to refer to both as together they make up the fast and semi fast Stevenage service.

The more I read the page about Off-peak tickets the more useless it appears to be. It says you may need to travel on 'specific trains' when using an off-peak ticket. I thought only Advance tickets that tied you to specific trains.

 

[DelayRepay]

The site says Carnets are still available to buy online, but I can't seem to bring them up in a search. Which will be a pain if they're not actually available.

 

[jon0844]

Although reducing hassle with revenue officers, so not all bad.

 

[Class377/5]

Engineering work seems to have more LM and Scotrail than Thameslink and Great Northern!

http://www.thameslinkrailway.com/your-journey/engineering/

 

[causton]

Indeed, not too impressed with the site at the moment, copy and paste of Southern's with different colours (IMO worse, there's something that makes the site seem more dated than Southern's. I think it's all the flat colours with no gradients or curves) with some content missing and some ** to add later **, it seems!

 

[DelayRepay]

Although reducing hassle with revenue officers, so not all bad.

I'm probably in a minority but I never had any problems with them. I've seen the horror stories in "Disputes and Prosecutions" though.

 

[Hadders]

Not sure if it was on this thread or another But the section on airport travel says that 'fast bus transfer from the station to the terminal included in your ticket'

Now is it included in a ticket to Luton Airport Parkway or do you need one to Luton Airport?

 

[Firestarter]

Why does it take a year. Is it complicated to program? I work in IT. I would have thought it would take a year to program it.

You contradicting yourself?

 

[user15681]

Engineering work seems to have more LM and Scotrail than Thameslink and Great Northern!

http://www.thameslinkrailway.com/your-journey/engineering/

I noticed this last week... engineering works and service disruptions just showed them all across the entire network, not solely TL and GN. I think service disurptions has been fixed now though, so hopefully engineering works will be narrowed down to relevant ones.

 

[ModernRailways]

Quite a few bugs, one or two fairly major too. When using the drop down lists across the top, you have to be very quick to actually click one of the sub-options otherwise it won't work. This is only happening because the white line that they've put in means the drop down selection actually goes below that. Should be quite an easy fix by just moving the sub options box up a bit so the top purple line they have covers the white line.

Also, it appears the Daysave ticket that FCC offered is now gone too Hopefully there will be a replacement product though.

Overall, it looks quite swish. Although, I don't like how the Great Northern site just redirects to the Thameslink site, I would have preferred separate sites or at least different homepages showing relevant info for that line only and the rest of the site just redirects to the Thameslink pages.

One downside is that a lot of the images are pixellated, possibly been compressed too much.

Also, a Twitter spoof account https://twitter.com/GNRail_UK

 

[Abpj17]

Another thing - there is no single timetable showing all of the services from Stevenage to London.

You have to refer to multiple timetables to get the full picture. I know most will use journey planners but a timetable is useful to determine stopping patterns etc which are not always apparent on on-line systems.

National Rail has a nice personalised timetable option - I guess GN aren't going to ever produce a time table that includes the eastern mainline stop at stevenage tho...

 

[jon0844]

I'm probably in a minority but I never had any problems with them. I've seen the horror stories in "Disputes and Prosecutions" though.

If you have the right pen and the tickets don't get rejected by a gate you should be okay.

 

[Hadders]

National Rail has a nice personalised timetable option - I guess GN aren't going to ever produce a time table that includes the eastern mainline stop at stevenage tho...

I'm not on about East Coast services. The standard off-peak pattern on a weekday from KGX to SVG with Great Northern is:

XX05 taking 36 mins (continues to Cambridge)
XX23 taking 24 mins (continues to Peterborough)
XX35 taking 36 mins (continues to Peterborough)
XX53 taking 24 mins (continues to Cambridge)

Is it too much to ask for all of the above services to be shown in one timetable? As things currently stand the Cambridge services are in a different timetable to the Peterborough ones.

This doesn't just affect Stevenage, it affects many more stations than this. Someone unfamiliar with the line could look up the service in a timetable and come to the conclusion that the service frequency is half of what it actually is.

The personalised timetable is okay to a point but it doesn't show where the train calls which can be important when planning a journey.

 

[bussnapperwm]

319441 and 319366 last one off blackfriars

 

[387star]

Bye bye first capital connect
Won't miss the livery and the refurbishments could have been better but they improved a lot in atter years

 

[91103eastcoast]

Have Govia ditched the timetables with every GN service on, including East Coast services between London and Peterborough? I can't seem to find it on the website.

 

[jon0844]

Is it too much to ask for all of the above services to be shown in one timetable? As things currently stand the Cambridge services are in a different timetable to the Peterborough ones.

This doesn't just affect Stevenage, it affects many more stations than this. Someone unfamiliar with the line could look up the service in a timetable and come to the conclusion that the service frequency is half of what it actually is.

The personalised timetable is okay to a point but it doesn't show where the train calls which can be important when planning a journey.

There was a similar issue with Hatfield (and possibly others) with the semi-fast services during the peak. I can't remember now exactly, without going to look (and it's 2am!) but it was basically missing some services that weren't from PBO or CBG, or starting at WGC.

I don't know if it was fixed later on by FCC, as I rarely look at timetables closely now and use an app to get realtime info which WILL show everything. The timetable has only been carried primarily to prove what services do (or don't) have first class.

 

[ModernRailways]

Have Govia ditched the timetables with every GN service on, including East Coast services between London and Peterborough? I can't seem to find it on the website.

All of the timetables are there. They don't show East Coast times though. http://www.thameslinkrailway.com/your-journey/timetables/

Small error on Timetable A3 for Peterborough is that the first page still says all trains are operated by FC (Capital Connect), the other pages say GN (Great Northern).

And this little nugget is interesting

There are fewer passengers in First Class, so you're almost certain to get a seat. If you don’t, we’ll give you the cost of your journey back.

 

[jon0844]

Was that cut and pasted from Southern where there's likely to be a guard to check first class? Otherwise I can see this being a very abused feature!

Good to see you can use the FC lounges at KGX and STP. Could you do that before? I thought the King's Cross lounge was only for East Coast passengers, unless there's another one I'm not aware of? (Never used any of them).

Some things still not working saying they will at 2am. Well, by my watch it's 2.43am now!

But the Thameslink app is there now. No Great Northern one though. If there's only the one app, and only one website with one URL simply redirecting to another, then it does make me wonder why they've kept the two lines separate at all. It's surely going to be quite confusing for all, and one name fits all could have been the better idea as FCC did (albeit then referring to TL and GN within that).

Also, their targets for ticketless travel:

Our targets for ticketless travel

September 2014 to September 2015 2.8%

September 2015 to September 2016 2.6%

September 2016 to September 2017 2.5%

September 2017 to September 2018 2.5%

September 2018 to September 2019 2.5%

September 2019 to September 2020 2.5%

September 2020 to September 2021 2.5%

Bit odd that once they reach 2.5% they will apparently not try any harder to get it down further, and it doesn't seem like a very tough target they've set (or had set for them).

 

[user15681]

Not sure if it was on this thread or another But the section on airport travel says that 'fast bus transfer from the station to the terminal included in your ticket'

Now is it included in a ticket to Luton Airport Parkway or do you need one to Luton Airport?

Tickets to Luton Airport include the bus shuttle. If you have a ticket to Luton Airport Parkway, you will need to buy a separate ticket for the bus shuttle.

 

[Saint66]

Just got home... Goodbye FCC, you've served me well.

But, welcome Govia!

 

[user15681]

The bits I found interesting...

Some of the key bits about ticketing:

The Key will be available across TL and GN by September 2015
Season tickets that are flexible for part time workers from September 2015
From 2016, advance tickets that limit you to a set time window, not just 1 single train

For passengers:

The ability to have a vote on what you would like to see improved
The bi-annual customer report 'Connections'
An online passenger panel of 1,000 passengers who will complete surveys, be involved in web chats, have a forum for issues and feedback from 2015
Two smaller face to face customer cabinets to discuss issues directly - effectively one for the north half and one for the south half of TSGN.

 

[bussnapperwm]

Couple of pictures from blackfriars about 2 hours ago

 

[Abpj17]

I'm not on about East Coast services. The standard off-peak pattern on a weekday from KGX to SVG with Great Northern is:
...
The personalised timetable is okay to a point but it doesn't show where the train calls which can be important when planning a journey.

There is an option under 'advanced' to show intermediate calling points, so yes it can.

 

[bussnapperwm]

2w02 is incorrectly showing at Gatwick as first capital connect

It's been corrected now...

319432 is the unit on the first fully thameslink service

 

[387star]

Some confusion on Twitter as to what lines great northern are inevitable I guess