I am most disappointed at the tone and essence of the response received to the petition made to 10 Downing Street regarding the drastic cuts made by First Great Western to services in the Wessex region. It was empty of even hypothetical commitment to this regional service. The response was received 30 March.
Because the franchise says so (as if it wrote itself) FGW are at liberty to cut services that they feel are not adequately used even though as has been pointed out several times that this assessment is at best misguided and at worst a cynical snub to passengers.
First great Western have given assurances that appropriate measures are being taken, including bringing in additional rolling stock, and have accepted responsibility for underestimating the capacity requirements of the new timetable introduced on 10 December. First Great Western have already taken steps to restore capacity in some areas and expect the position to improve further in the coming weeks.
The “coming weeks” have come and gone and I was greeted with the cancellation of the 07.37 Salisbury to Southampton service due to a “unit defect.” I have just returned from the USA where you can see the devastation caused by the cynical removal of public transport systems.
In planning the new franchise, the former Strategic Rail Authority found that usage of most trains on this route was very low, and set a minimum specification in order to achieve best value for money. First Great Western is free to operate additional services over the route subject to capacity on the track being available.
I note that the most successful e-petition to 10 Downing Street against road charging (whose premise was hysterical) was received and noted without problem by the government. What a surprise.
We must continue to keep pressure up on ministers and our MPs.