No raving about rovers and rangers

A couple of weeks ago I decided to take advantage of a First Great Western Oxfordshire Day Ranger ticket to explore the line between Reading and Banbury and stop off at a few places in between. I'd only heard about this ticket from an article in The Railway Herald and there were no details, when I checked, on the National Rail web site. To give First Great Western their due, this ranger along with a selection of other rovers and rangers was detailed on their web site with a nicely coloured and simple to read map, which could be downloaded, showing the areas of validity. Two important pieces of information were missing though. No mention of whether this of the other rangers/rovers could be purchased with a Network Railcard and perhaps more importantly whether they are valid on other operators' services. I sent off an e-mail to First Great Western via their web site in the week before I was due to use the Oxfordshire Day Ranger and still, some two weeks later, I am waiting for a reply.

Similarly, I sent an e-mail to London Midland earlier in the year about whether they still offered Rover/Ranger tickets as Central Trains/Silverlink had done. In contrast to FGW, there is no information about this type of ticket on the LM web site. An e-mail query, which had to be chased produced a rather terse response. Yes, they are still offering Rovers/Rangers and they will be producing publicity in due course. Why not now?

It seems from my experience that most rail companies don't want people to know about their Rovers/Rangers and try their best to keep them secret. I did have an enjoyable week a couple of years ago using a 'West Midlands Rover' but that caused problems as not all the staff I encountered on my travels were aware of its validity.

Personally I think the range of rover and ranger tickets is excellent and if taking a day out where you want to visit several different places or just want to enjoy a number of trips, they represent great value. They should be publicised more and at least every TOC's web site should have details of the rovers and rangers they issue and/or accept on their services. If FGW can do it, albeit with some misgivings on the information provided, why can't everybody else?

Worst Great Western?

I read on BBC News this morning that disgruntled commuters in the Bristol area are staging another 'fares strike' against First Great Western (FGW). The company has been dubbed 'Worst' Great Western or another one I've seen is 'Forever Getting Worse.' Even in the railway media the coverage of FGW seems to be almost universally scathing. I use FGW from time to time and I have never had cause to be outraged or complain about its service, although admittedly I am not a commuter. Part of the problem seems to be the lack of reliable rolling stock available to the company, whether that is due to FGW's penny-pinching or Department for Transport (DFT) interference it is difficult to say. Certainly those pics of off-lease DMU's at Eastleigh last year which FGW had returned to the lessor despite suffering from severe overcrowding on its South West of England services, did the company no favours.

FGW is a company though that seems to lurch from one public relations disaster to another and it has only recently avoided a strike called by the RMT. I am sure that the constant bad news is having a drip-drip effect and even for those who don't use FGW regularly, it must put them off considering using the train or their services. Interestingly the BBC News article attributes one comment to FGW in defence of itself despite giving the More Train Less Strain group and RMT ample opportunity to voice their opinions attacking FGW. It hardly presents a balanced picture and sadly it is indicative of the slanted and unfair reporting often to be found in the mainstream media.