Now, I travel on c2c far more than any other TOC, and so I kind of accustomed their extremely high standards that barely anyone else measure up to... (Yes, I know there are all manner of specifics that allow them to excel - self-contained network, modern equipment and trains, etc)
Anyway, travelling west from Paddington and back today a couple of things impressed me with FGW, so, praise where praise is due.
First, Paddington station was utterly chaotic at lunchtime today. Long queues to buy or collect tickets at EVERY ticket machine and at the ticket office too. Quite disgraceful, actually. I was fuming, had to wait the best part of 20 minutes to get a ticket. Having had this sort of experience previously at Victoria and having seen horrendous queues at London Bridge, I was thinking "Fenchurch Street is the only properly run and sufficiently staffed terminus in London. Maybe Marylebone, perhaps, too". (Yes, I know, difference of scale there, too. but still.) And of course I should have bought and collected my ticket in advance, rather than leave it to the last minute. I usually do...
Anyway, one woman on my train out evidently hadn't been able to collect her pre-purchased ticket before getting on the train because of all the chaos. She explained this to the guard (I suppose it may have been just as well that the train left from one of the non-barriered platforms), and showed him an email confirming her booking on her mobile phone... I thought.....this might get nasty (and I might have stood up for her too. Paddington was a mess. Waiting times for tickets were NOT reasonable or indeed predicable or normal. I believe an event in Henley was the cause of the heavy traffic). He said no problem, you've booked and paid for a return ticket, just collect them when you get to your destination.
Good, sensitive, decent and sensible action by the guard, who I think deserved to be praised for this.
Second thing - not really directly attributable to FGW, let alone an individual, in quite the same way. But returning on a 166 with an experimental air conditioning system and the windows sealed shut - - fantastic. Nice, cool, train. Just perfect on a baking summer evening.
My commute will most likely be switching from c2c to FGW later in the year, so I am trying to find things that persuade me they're not as (relatively) bad as some of their performance figures might suggest...
Anyway, travelling west from Paddington and back today a couple of things impressed me with FGW, so, praise where praise is due.
First, Paddington station was utterly chaotic at lunchtime today. Long queues to buy or collect tickets at EVERY ticket machine and at the ticket office too. Quite disgraceful, actually. I was fuming, had to wait the best part of 20 minutes to get a ticket. Having had this sort of experience previously at Victoria and having seen horrendous queues at London Bridge, I was thinking "Fenchurch Street is the only properly run and sufficiently staffed terminus in London. Maybe Marylebone, perhaps, too". (Yes, I know, difference of scale there, too. but still.) And of course I should have bought and collected my ticket in advance, rather than leave it to the last minute. I usually do...
Anyway, one woman on my train out evidently hadn't been able to collect her pre-purchased ticket before getting on the train because of all the chaos. She explained this to the guard (I suppose it may have been just as well that the train left from one of the non-barriered platforms), and showed him an email confirming her booking on her mobile phone... I thought.....this might get nasty (and I might have stood up for her too. Paddington was a mess. Waiting times for tickets were NOT reasonable or indeed predicable or normal. I believe an event in Henley was the cause of the heavy traffic). He said no problem, you've booked and paid for a return ticket, just collect them when you get to your destination.
Good, sensitive, decent and sensible action by the guard, who I think deserved to be praised for this.
Second thing - not really directly attributable to FGW, let alone an individual, in quite the same way. But returning on a 166 with an experimental air conditioning system and the windows sealed shut - - fantastic. Nice, cool, train. Just perfect on a baking summer evening.
My commute will most likely be switching from c2c to FGW later in the year, so I am trying to find things that persuade me they're not as (relatively) bad as some of their performance figures might suggest...
