I've just had a word with said thing; it's not thrilled as the aspersions over its weight.

 
Single leg pricing (i.e. the end of return tickets) does make sense.   

I just looked up Trowbridge to Bristol Brabazon fares for opening day, and I am offered ...



11 fares - and I think just two or three singles could be a sensible set
* Advanced fare
* Off Peak
* Anytime
with people adding in another ticket from the same three standards of coming back.

The $64,000 question is what the pricing should be.  Off peak single at half the off peak day return, anytime single at half the anytime day return  - sensible.    Just remove the return fares - near way of putting prices up while saying that you have not increased prices.

The lower priced off peak tickets are "any permitted" - the other off peak tickets are "via Bath Spa".   Yes, I am scratching my head over that one!

 
Wondering which of Bristol's stations make the best connections to the bus network, not sure if that would be Clifton Down or Lawrence Hill - though it would be mean to exclude Bristol Parkway. Concerning Lawrence Hill, it's impressive to see the frequency of services calling at a bus stop that's pretty well minimum viable product - though it does have a shelter.

 
To add my two pennorth: for a good suburban service around Bristol, we need more stations and more trains. At the moment the stations side of the equation is doing better than the trains side, in part due to the failure of the 175s to feed the cascade that would allow us here to use the old stuff from Devon and Cornwall.

Ashley Down and Bristol Brabazon are good modern accessible stations which start out with too few trains calling, but they will soon have more - possibly many more, with 4tph at Ashley Down a distinct possibility within a few years. That will not only rival the local bus services - the 70 and the 17/18/24 on Muller Road - but will also make connections at Filton Abbey Wood much better.

Clearly something needs to be done soon about fares, though, to allow easy interoperability between bus and train and also to fix the disparity between the Severn Beach line and the rest of the burgeoning local network.

 
There needs to be clarification across all railcards (i.e. words to the effect of "if the ticket was purchased using a railcard then the restrictions of that railcard do not apply"). If an off-peak ticket can be used on an anytime train then the Senior Railcard L&SE "not before off-peak tickets" restriction makes no sense, for example.

 
From Roger French latest blog

https://busandtrainuser.com/2026/11/10/lners-simpler-fares-pilot-the-results-are-in/

The Department for Transport has published a review it commissioned from consultants, Systra, into LNER’s two current fare pilots – ‘Single Leg Pricing’ and the so-called ‘Simpler Fares’.

The good news is Single Leg Pricing comes out of the review much more positively than the Simpler Fares trial which for yours truly, as a fairly regular passenger on the East Coast Main Line, comes as no surprise at all.

...........................continues.............

 

Along the lines of Viz’s ‘Top Tips’ presumably?

Along with a ‘Bunker of the Month’ competition perhaps?

 
With Evesham being the location (at Wood Norton) of the BBC's "secret" Armageddon headquarters and broadcasting hub, I used earnestly to hope and expect that the Ruskies would vapourise us all in the first of the 8-minute attacks and hence avoid all this "Protect and Survive" nightmare

 
In my time machine, I'm going back a few years to save some of the Swindon Class 123 DMUs.  Perfect for jobs such as Bristol - Oxford and Exeter Cardiff limited stops.  And very nice units too.  Far more comfortable than any of today's offerings, and, I'd guess more likely to turn up.  Shame about the asbestos

 

Most of the railway companies, back in the day, used the words "fast" and "slow" lines.  The Western difference gave "Main" and "Relief" where there were four roads.  I think it's better - doesn't get confusing when you could have a slow train on the fast line being overtaken by a fast train on the slow.

It's still retained in the NR Sectional Appendix covering what was largely Great Western territory.  Shame about the very clear, but prosaic"Line 1", "Line 2" etc of the tracks outside Paddington.  Although I recognise the clarity and the fact that most (all?) the tracks are bi-di

 

I think we really do need a Coffee shop Forum "helpful hints" section, as little gems like this are invaluable in enhancing our day to day lives?

 

So as someone who lives 5 mins away from Ashley Down (ASD) and does use it frequently, I can chime in here.

Yes, the hourly service currently isn't good enough. Added to the fact you often get cancellations due to "more trains than usual needing repair" - which at this point is just gaslighting as it is actually "the usual number of trains needing repair". And I can also say that the fact the Sunday timetable is different (until December anyway) in that the shuttle doesn't exist so is replaced by stops on the Cardiff - Taunton / Exeter trains, and the shuttle is often dropped when there are engineering works (replaced with stops on other services) has caused a fair amount of confusion with local residents who aren't as in the know.

However what I will say is GWR are good at adding stops at ASD to other services when there are cancelations and when there are things on at either the Memorial Ground (Bristol Rovers) or the County Ground (Gloucestershire Cricket and every now and again international cricket). This proves it can be done so I do agree with you that adding a stop there on a non Filton / Brabazon shuttle would be useful - though I'd also be happy enough if they were to do the shuttle half hourly and maybe then the TfW burns services in a few years time can add one or two more trains per hour too.

In terms of the does anyone use it question though - yes people absolutely do! Its worth saying that whilst the 70 is more frequent, the time it takes means it is often just as quick to wait for the next train! (E.g. you could get the 07.29 #70 bus from Sefton Park Road and get to Temple meads at 07.58 assuming no delays, or you could get the 07.52 train from Ashley Down and get to Temple Meads for 08.01). It also doesn't help the reliability of the 70 hasn't been great recently, and whilst as I said above the train does suffer the same fate, at least there if I miss a connection because the train didn't show up / was late I can get money back, but if I miss a connection because the bus doesn't show I am stuffed. As already said by another commentor the station numbers we have from last year show it at the equivalent of ~100k per year (based on ~50k in its first 6 months of being open) and I wouldn't be surprised if the full years figures which will be released soon will be higher than that as people get used to it being there. Certainly my experience is that the rush hour services at least (especially the 07.52 to Temple Meads and both the 17.04 and 18.04 to Filton) have got busier over the last 2 years since the station opened. It also helps that the timetable, whilst sparse, does work well for some journeys. E.g. Ashley Down to Cardiff Central and the return actually provides a pretty good connection at Filton most of the time (of course disruption does mess that up quite badly when it does happen though).


It is a bit frustrating because a good all mode ticket does exist (the Freedom travelpass), but is poorly advertised and is only available as a paper ticket.
It isn't available digitally, nor is integrated with either First bus's tap on tap off payment method or GWR's payg option - despite the GWR payg option having its zones and fares based on the Freedom Travelpasses zones and pricing!

 
Many years ago maybe 10+ years ago a younger and fitter broadgage sat upon a thief to detain it until the police arrived.
So doing rendered the quite coach VERY noisy, as they "squealed like a stuck pig" there is a report about the incident somewhere on this forum

 

It looks like it's to do with the air conditioning unit. Laira cannot fix it. The trains have been stuck on a siding since arriving at Laira on 1 October 2026

Cannot see Mark Hopwood being on radio Cornwall again in the near future.

 




Post includes AI generated content (?)

 


Yes ... and although the x34 from Chippenham RAILWAY Station runs every half hour from 14:41 to 17:38 only on Mondays to Fridays, three times from 16:05 to 17:35 on Saturdays and 9 times from 09:25 to 18:25 on Sundays.  Daytime Monday to Saturday runs from Chippenham BUS Station only, and no service any day of the week after the last bus has left from the railway station.   Need to know, and normally no through ticketing, no waiting if the connecting train is drawing in even as the last bus leaves.  In the opposite direction, Melksham Market Place is about a 15 minute walk from the railway station, 3 early buses Monday to Friday (last service 08:15), two services Saturday (last service 08:05) and (on request to driver) Sunday services from 08:50 to 17:49 call at Chippenham Railway station.   On weekdays, it's a commercial service meeting the main regular flows, and on its Sunday a supported service - interesting to see the different perspectives.  If you know how it works and it works for you, good. But there are so many potential journeys untapped outside the hours that it runs.

For Bristol Brabazon, I note fill in buses too ... perhaps all-mode ticketing and connections are better there? Way back in the days I was with TransWilts, we produced an integrated corridor timetable and perhaps the Bristol folks will be doing so?   Should be easier - at least for three weeks both buses and trains will be First operations.

 

The best way is to poo into a bucket, lined with a plastic bag. Don't trust the bucket to bear your weight, but sit on a chair with the seat removed. If available apply sawdust, cat litter, or dry earth to reduce smells.
Wee in a separate container that is emptied outside.

 
Hmm. 

Posting this personally here, not as an official of the Coffee Shop forum or of my erstwhile employer (a High Street bank):

For several years, I worked in a complaints department, dealing with customers who had an issue. I was given authority to pay out up to £1,000 (in those days) without any need to refer to management.

I don't think I ever paid out anything like that: I simply looked at their file notes, decided they were right, and offered them £200 or £300 as compensation, 'in full and final settlement'.

That is not to say that the tactics used for sales of other services by all of the High Street banks in years gone by were good: history has shown that they were not.

Chris.

 
My own impression of San Bento, Portugal, is this clip from YouTube: safe for family viewing, but it takes a while to get to about 3 minutes before the music happens. Some 14 minutes of viewing.

(The guy with the yellow surfboard needs a punch, in my opinion).

CfN. 

 

There is, of course, the half-hourly Faresaver BUS service x34 from Chippenham railway station to Melksham Market Place, as a 'Plan B'. 

 
Many years ago now, I had to convey a surf-board-like item from Nailsea to Melksham, by train.  (This could be a very long story, so I won't bore you with all the details here. )

I had no problem whatever (apart from lugging the sheer weight of the thing).  I merely propped it up against the bulkhead in the cycle rack area, unpadlocked, on the basis that nobody was was going to 'run off with it'.

CfN. 

 
On a related note...

Recently there was huge disruption because of flooding at Llanharan, so Cardiff-Swansea was blockaded for a few hours. Several London/Cardiff/Manchester trains cancelled at Swansea. Interestingly, even when the line reopened, the next London train was cancelled. Several cancelled trains had slunk back to Maliphant depot in the meantime, so stock should have been available; I can't comment on how the overall planning and crew availability panned out (for all I know the drivers had been sent by taxi to continue their diagrams) but this does demonstrate a bit of a resilience issue.

But anyway.... first trains to Cardiff were TfW services – meant to be two in a row, but in the end the second one further delayed (I suspect because of adhesion issues because it picked up a lot of delay leaving Gowerton which has often been an issue on wet days). Some London passengers took these to Cardiff, as the CDF-PAD short workings had still been running, so advice had been to try this option. It looked like the next London train would run (indeed it did in the end) but many of us didn't want to take our changes as it was shown at that point as 5 far and a train at platform being better than possibility of the next one running!

Got to Cardiff and just made it onto a CDF-PAD train (because that was a bit delayed shunting to the up platforms). TM made usual annuncement on leaving CDF, and mentioned ticket validity, including info that advance tickets only valid on booked train.

Felt a bit insensitive to me. He might have been London or Bristol crew and relatively unaware of what happened to west, but the issues that day were surely big enough for staff on related routes to be briefed. A simple addition along the lines of 'however we understand there has been disruption so if affected your ticket will be accepted' could be very reassuring! Not quite the same as 'valid on another route/TOC' but very much in the spirit of it.

Perhaps it seems so obvious it doesn't need to be said, and in that situation I'd readily argue my case, while not expecting to need to, but infrequent travellers may well feel concerned about their ticket being accepted.

 
I've had luggage stolen by accident. Or at least on the face of it that's what happened! I looked around and realised bag had gone; I scrambled to the door and managed to stop someone who had walked off with the wrong bag. They seemed genuine (in which case maybe they checked the bag more carefully next time they travelled!) but could easily have been a tactic.

When it comes to luggage security, something that bugs me is the lack of visibility of luggage stacks, not to mention the sheer lack of luggage stacks. (Then there's finding a shelf taken up by a tiny bag that could easily go on the overhead rack or by someone's feet!) The move towards stock with 1/3-2/3 doors instead of end doors even for express work doesn't help here. With 'proper' vestibule-saloon-vestibule layout, there can be a decent-sized rack at each end of the saloon, and every door-seating interface passes one.

With saloon-door-saloon-door-saloon layout, there may be one or two racks but not at the start of every saloon. So boarding at the vestibule, one may find the luggage rack is to the left but the free seating is to the right. Visibility of luggage rack lost. And needs twice as many luggage racks to solve this! A few times recently while travelling on Gatwick Express stock (also often used on West Coastway) I've ended up in the composite car, where one vestibule leads to a smaller and larger area of standard seating (because of the way first class plugs the end), and the smaller seating area has the luggage racks!

Fine having awkward arrangements for short journeys (keep luggage in the seating bay and be willing to stand, or put in a luggage rack and stand if no seating nearby, because it's a shorter trip anyway) but on routes where a lot of people are making longer journeys it would make for a more pleasant journey if these things were thought through!

 

I guess it's better than the train terminating at Filton Abbey Wood and sitting on the North Filton Chord?  The shunt out to Hallen Marsh is far from optimal, though AIUI when Henbury opens in a couple of years it will be in a new bay platform which will be much better and save six miles of shunting.

Though I'd still liked to have seen it operate in a loop round to Avonmouth and combining with the existing hourly Avonmouth service that doesn't go on to Severn Beach.

Ashley Down had 51,000 entries and exits recorded in the last stats released, and it only opened half way through the period they covered.  The new year of stats is about to be released so it will be interesting to see how its usage is developing, but it seems like 100,000 per annum is a very achievable target.  A service every 30-minutes would be great.

 
Makes me wonder why it takes so long.

In many cases it's just a case of checking against records, and maybe some sort of checks for anomalous claim patterns.

Some will need manual checks for quality checking and dealing with unusual cases, but surely not many. Some will need to be referred. But if there's a backlog perhaps a switch should be flicked in the algorithm to reduce additional checks and accept claims on face value. Set a reasonable SLC and flip that switch if not met.

 
''Don't panic, Captain Wainwaring!'  It will all be well when GBR take over the running of our railways. 

 
There was that time that someone getting off a train at Reading lifted a bag that didn't belong to him which turned out to contain seven kilograms of Semtex. (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/man-who-stole-bomb-kit-fears-retaliation-by-ira-1416060.html)

 

My "rule of thumb" would be to suggest that a service that runs at least once every 30 minutes is appropriate.  Long writeup could follow.   I would guess (an educated guess, but still a guess) that an hourly service will carry less than half the passengers of a 30 minute service.  In other words, double the service from the initial and you'll more than double the station's passenger numbers.   A further doubling of service would probably not result in a further doubling of traffic, but that maths get complex because of other stations served along the route, which will have different, and perhaps significant, extra flows.

I am, of course, a bit personally jealous of a service that runs even hourly!.  In our town, miss the 15:14 back from Swindon and the next one's 17:45.

 

And the queue will be getting longer by the hour. They are cancelling trains on the Nottingham Cardiff service right left and centre. Every one must lead to another 100 claims.

 

Perhaps in some cases it's the luggage itself. There's some quite expensive bags around that might fetch a few bob, especially if you're lurking near the First Class section?