Sorry for the delay in getting back to you.

Useful thing to note is a lot of FGW tickets revenue will be shared to other operators as most of our tickets are “Any Permitted” so for the Reading – London example, going via SWT is a permitted route (albeit unlikely to do due how long it takes) but SWT still get a share.

In terms of overcrowding, I don’t see the problem going away anytime soon. (My opinion)
Reading – London and vice versa has a frequent service (sometimes not frequent enough) but at the same time I’ve been in cases where I will travel from Reading – Paddington, train comes in, everyone piles on it leaves full and standing, I get the next one about 5 minutes later, which is relatively quieter. It is always hit and miss. Hopefully when the reading development is done to add extra capacity through the station, and then new stock which will hopefully turn up should help ease the pressure.

Feel free to contact me via e-mail if you have any issues Matt, more than happy to give you a personal e-mail which will guarantee a faster response.

You’re right, there is an alternative, into Waterloo, but it’s a very long journey (if there are complications on the line, I’d dread to think how long it might take to get to Reading or London).

That’s how much I’m paying for the monthly ticket. I didn’t know about the SWT share. That’s useful to know. I think that is another example of how just how complicated our rail industry is.

Would you know what FGW are doing exactly to address the overcrowding problem? It does seem to be getting worse, despite the downturn (or perhaps because of it), and it’s pretty stressful. There’s a fair bit of pushing, shoving and cursing that goes on. I do think customers deserve better.

Reading – Zones R1256* monthly ticket costs £398.60 (which SWT get a share by the way)

I’m not sure if it’s possible to do a routed Staines season ticket now, cannot find any prices.

Ed West, commenting in the Telegraph, described the current state of affairs as “mixing the worst elements of socialism and capitalism”:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/4697544/Rail-fares-weve-gone-from-passengers-to-customers-to-mugs.html

Is this a monopoly issue? Is FGW the only provider of commuter services on this line? Why aren’t we introducing competition on this route? Is it because no other provider can provide a service of higher quality for lesser cost?