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First Great Western has most overcrowded trains

No surprise that FGW has the worst overcrowding. See this article

Puntuality and reliablity seem to have fallen off a cliff in the past 2 months.

Is this why you voted Lib Dem in Bath?...thought not

Extra train carriages to ease overcrowding on First Great Western’s rail services face the chop after ministers ordered an “urgent reappraisal”.

The last Labour government promised an additional 1,300 carriages across the country three years ago, of which 647 have already been brought in or are on order.

The remainder have now been put on ice after the Department for Transport was told to slash £683 million from its budget as part a raft of in-year savings totalling £6.2 billion.

New timetable

We seem to have acquired an additional early eveing train from BTM in the new timetable. There are now services leaving BTM at 1649, 1705, 1711 and 1723 that call at Oldfield Park.

Seems too good to be true. Anyone spotted any downsides with the new timetable?

First Great Western to lose 30 carriages

First Great Western has lost out on 30 carriages dubbed "Boris Johnson's hand-me-downs" to two northern Integrated Transport Authorities in the north.

The company had hoped to receive the carriages next year, to replace 24 that are due to be returned to other train operating companies at the end of June.

Instead, passengers in the Merseyside and South Yorkshire areas will benefit from the carriages, following a decision by the Department for Transport and rolling stock companies that provide them.

Prepare for more overcrowding

Sweeping it under the carpet

Oldfield Park station has been without a ticket machine for 2 months and is staffed only irregularly. So, arriving this morning I was pleased to see a member of FGW staff on the station. Maybe today I could buy a ticket before I boarded the train and would not have to join the long queue at the barrier at BTM.

The ticket office was shut, so customers asked the man, who was swepping up rubbish, whether he was selling tickets. To which he replied Yes, but he had to finish sweeping up the rubbish. This drew an amused and frustrated reaction from those wanting tickets, since with several dozen people of the platform it seemed that selling tickets ought to take priority. But no, he continued sweeping and then eventually...VERY slowly, opened the ticket office and prepared to sell tickets. By which time my train had arrived and it was too late. Excellant customer service FGW!

The Metro

We can now get a copy of the Metro at Oldfield Park station. Can't buy a ticket but we can get a newspaper!