Transport for Wales Rail

[iMarkeh]

RE: KeolisAmey Wales & Borders

(31/08/2018 11:42)knutstransport Wrote:  Merseyrail trains are advertised as Liverpool Central at Chester. Given the W&B service will depart 1 minute after a Merseyrail train surely the sensible thing is to advertise it as Liverpool Lime Street via Runcorn. Using the penultimate station on destination displays creates as much confusion as it avoids - in the case of York via Harrogate services at Leeds, those arriving at Leeds from outside the local area wanting an onward train to Headingley end up seeing a service to Poppleton instead of York via Harrogate and have no reason to believe the Poppleton train is their one, other than the departure time is the same.

Though they are advertised as Liverpool Central, they are still faster to Lime Street than this W&B service. Though yes I agree using South Parkway can cause a small bit of confusion, surely it is better than everyone trying to use saveaways and Merseyrail returns on the W&B service. At Chester, it actually makes sense as South Parkway is 1. the JLA link station (Where holidaymakers and tourists would more likely be travelling if using this service) and 2. anyone heading to Liverpool Lime St will have the cheaper tickets.

When asking if a train goes where you want it to go, very few staff check tickets to ensure they are putting you on the right train. If you look at a stop list for the Merseytravel service, you see 17 odd stops. The W&B train has 6. As an outsider, which one do you think about getting? IF you see a 17 stop train, you think it will go round the world and back again. 6 stops is alright though, nice and quick train. Regardless of timings (as they aren't shown on the Chester boards). I would say 1/2 the UKs train users don't know what their ticket restrictions are or even what they mean. How are international tourists going to know.

At Liverpool it will be worse as people go to the ticket office, buy their ticket. Look up, train to Chester Plat 6. 'Let's get that....' blissfully unaware the ticket they have just been sold isn't valid. The Liverpool High Level boards don't show Low Level trains so people won't even see the alternative like at Chester. If Chester and Liverpool don't advertise it as the penultimate station, W&B revenue inspectors will have a field day. They would make thousands just off fines.