YOU’RE unlikely to agree if you’re reading this while shoehorned between fellow commuters leaving Oxford for London just after 7.30am today, but First Great Western seems to be heading in the right direction on overcrowded trains.
Back in the autumn of 2010 it had four commuter services between the city and London Paddington listed as among the worst for overcrowding. It was a disgraceful statistic.
The latest figures, for last spring, had just one train listed – the 7.31am to the capital.
Peak commuters into London from Oxford have to pay £417.50 a month or £4,384.00 a year for their season tickets, a huge amount of money that should at the very least guarantee them a journey in relative comfort.
The company says it has managed to improve services for Oxfordshire by tweaking the timetable and putting in extra carriages.
Too often in the past train companies have mouthed platitudes over overcrowding, shrugged and carried on packing in those lucrative customers.
So while this is an unsatisfactory experience for those travelling from the city at about 7.30am, at least First Great Western seems at last to be achieving some results.
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