Happy New Year!

New Year Fare Rises

An unhappy start for the new year with fare rises for both rail passengers and customers using First Bristol/First Somerset and Avon buses.

Rail fares in the region rose by up to ten per cent from Wednesday 2 January – the rises were attacked by many passenger groups, including TravelWatch SouthWest which stated in its press release that the increases by First Great Western were totally unjustified in view of the company’s appalling and unacceptable operational performance . There was very considerable negative media coverage of the FGW fare rises – a comment column in the 6 January edition of the Sunday Times concluded:-

‘If a company (i.e. FGW) that is renowned as the worst train operator in the country can have the chutzpah to announce a ten per cent fare increase at Christmas, then I don’t suppose that it’ll give a monkey’s about what its customers think or do’!

Another First subsidiary with a poor reputation for punctuality and reliability also increased fares from 2 January – First Bristol/First Somerset and Avon increased the prices of single, return and FirstTen tickets by an average of over four per cent.

Bus Passenger Representation

The Department for Transport has issued a consultation paper on the ‘Options for strengthening bus passenger representation’. TravelWatch SouthWest will be responding to the consultation document, so if you have any comments, please email ‘company.secretary@travelwatchsouthwest.org’.

Wilts and Dorset Service Cuts

Quote of the Week from Chris Harris, the Public Relations Manager of Wilts and Dorset: ‘The changes we are making from January will give our customers a better service’ – the service changes from 6 January 2008 include:-

• X4 – the through service between Salisbury and Bath is withdrawn. W&D will operate an hourly service 24 between Salisbury and Warminster – customers travelling between Salisbury, Westbury, Trowbridge, Bradford-on-Avon and Bath will need to change buses in Warminster in future. First will be providing a bus every thirty minutes on new services 264 and 265 linking Bath, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge, Westbury and Warminster

• 11 – reduced from a bus every thirty minutes between Poole and Kinson to an hourly service – all evening buses and all journeys between Kinson and West Moors withdrawn. Service rerouted to omit Foxholes Estate

• 15 – frequency of service between Poole and the Royal Bournemouth Hospital reduced from a bus every thirty minutes to an hourly service

• X35 – the previous service of a through bus every two hours between Bournemouth and Southampton via Ringwood reduced to just two buses in each direction between Ringwood and Southampton

• X36, 134 and 135 – all three services withdrawn meaning the loss of through buses between Bournemouth and St Leonards/West Moors

Wilts and Dorset Driver Strike

Drivers employed by Wilts and Dorset at their depots at Blandford, Bournemouth, Lymington, Poole, Ringwood and Swanage staged a one-day strike on Thursday 3 January in their continuing dispute relating to the length of continuous driving time, without a break. A further strike is planned for Tuesday 8 January, when the management proposes to provide a limited daytime service on routes 3, 4, m5, 8, 9, 13 and 16 with a standard fare of one pound for any single journey. One day strikes are also scheduled for Wednesday 16 January and Monday 21 January.

Freedom Travelpass

A new range of multi-modal, multi-operator tickets were launched in the Greater Bristol area from 2 January 2008 – details of the zones and fares are available on the First Great Western website. TravelWatch SouthWest has already received five complaints from customers who have been unable to purchase the new tickets from First Great Western and First Somerset and Avon staff – customers reported that the staff either had no knowledge of the new product or did not know how to issue the appropriate ticket! A typical ‘FirstGroup’ shambles!

And finally, a ‘peculiar’ bus war!

First Devon and Cornwall and Plymouth Citybus have started competing on a number of weekday evening and Sunday bus services in Plymouth. In a recent tendering exercise by Plymouth City Council, First Devon and Cornwall ‘won’ a number of services operated on Monday to Saturday evenings and on Sunday, which were previously operated by Plymouth Citybus.

Plymouth Citybus has now decided to continue to operate some of the ‘lost’ services on a commercial basis, without public subsidy, so customers now have a choice of two competing services operating at virtually identical times!

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