Take me or leave me. I am, who I am. Love me or hate me - You only live once!
Having a clear out....
Take me or leave me. I am, who I am. Love me or hate me - You only live once!
Having a clear out. Check out my Ebay - smcclt300688 or southwesttrains
Member since:28.12.2006
Reviews:23
Members who trust:6
HOW EASY IS IT TO BUY A TICKET?
With 51 points of sale at London Waterloo, there should be absolutely no problem with buying a ticket. With all points of sale acceptin either cash, or credit/debit cards, then you have the most convenient system. As well as this you have 14 ticket windows at the ticket office. Where all methods of payment are accepted. Cash, euros, customer service vouchers, travel tokens, credit/debit cards and even warrent payments. I know that some other smaller stations don't have a ticket machine, or a ticket office that opens very much. So, for example, If you couldnt buy a ticket, and explained this to the guard on the train when you board, then he or she will take this into account and then issue you with the correct fare. Another way that you can but thickets is through the SWT telesales department. Unlike other Train operating companies, the telesales department is unique to SWT. The only tickets you can buy from
them is for use on SWT. Once you have purchased the tickets, you can then pick them either at the station (generally it would be one of the bigger stations) or they can be posted to you first class the very same day. I also forgot to mention the travel center at London Waterloo. There they have 7 windows, totally dedicated to helping thee public with anything they might need. There they can do things like advance purchase, railcards, seasons tickets and much much more. You can also buy tickets for travel the same day too. Buy beware - although the queue might look small, it is usually really slow moving, due to the fact that it takes time to help people with things like advance purchase. South West Trains have been running a media campaign for the last year, (whcih will continue for 2 more years) which basically is, getting the message across that you must buy a ticket before you board the trains. Failure in you doing so, will result in you paying a penalty fine. You then risk being prosecuted through the courts. All in all, I do think that South WestTrains have made evey effort to make buying a ticket easy for you.
THE FREQUENCY OF TRAINS.
As London Waterloo is my nearest station, this is what I will be talking about mostly. There are over 40 departures an hour from Waterloo, to places from kingston to Southampton, to Weymouth To penzance. Elsewhere, trains are quite frequent, but the further out from london you go, the less trains there are. For example. On average. there are 4 trains per hour from woking to waterloo.. then if you are at weymouth, then the trains are every half an hour from there.
FACILITIES FOR THE DISABLED PERSON.
Facilities for the disabled person, are excellent. All trains have a ramp and a guard to offer any assistance. As well as this, all trains have disabled toilets and a designated wheelchair space. On the station (London Waterloo) all platforms have step free access and tactile edging. To get down to street level, there are lifts available at all exit points. There are also disabled shower and toilet facilities at the station.
RELIABILITY OF THE TRAINS.
The majority of the time, SWT runs a reliable service that is on time, and efficiant. When things do go wrong, all measures are put into place, to minimise distruption and to help passengers. Usually when things do go wrong, its not really because a train has failed or anythgin to do with the track, its usually to do with tresspassers on the line, or a fatality. Ocasionally, during october/november, leaves on the line can cause problems, or later on in the year, it may be the wrong type of snow. But apart form that. everythign seems to be ok most of the time.
COMFORT OF THE TRAINS.
I don't really rate the comfort of these trains at all. they are horrible and hard. The older trains, the ones that go long distance to say salisbury as the best.They have really large seats, with lots of leg room and big arm rests. The new trains have small narrow hard seats, with minimal leg room. I think the company just wants to cram more people in. Thats the only objective.
ON BOARD FACILITIES.
The facilities on board SWt are quite good. On some services you have a buffet car, while on others you onlt have a buffet trolley that passes through the train from time to time. The prices are average for a train. Nothing special really. There is always a toilet on board the trains, and i have yet to come across one that doesnt work. I have been in some that are smelly, or dirty, but at least you can do what you need to do and get out of there as quick as possible. There are emergency alarms in each coach of the train, that are provided for your safety.
GENERAL STATE OF THE PLATFORMS AND TRAINS.
The trains are always cleaned during the day, usually when they reach the end of thier journey, say at Waterloo or Weymouth. So there are no prolems here. The trains stations are cleaned every day, continuously, but a dedicated and hard working team of cleaners who make sure everything is as it should be.
SECURITY ON THE TRAINS AND STATIONS.
All SWT stations and trains now have CCTV, emergency alarms and help points. All trains have guards on and are regularly patroled by the securtiy staff. Especially on a friday or saturday evening or night.
HOW GOOD ARE THE STAFF?
The staff must be some of the best around. The training programme is very extensive and thourgh. They can never help enough and go out of their way to help someone too. Ive never seen any other staff in any other station do that for the passengers.
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Of course, you are commenting on SWT from Waterloo & that region. If you lived in Devon or Cornwall (esp Cornwall when a lot of the trains stop at Plymouth!) you might feel less favourably toward them. Still, at least they have made efforts to update their rolling stock, which used to be truely awful.
duskmaiden 04.09.2007 01:43
Good review. i get my train form Waterloo East as use South Eastern trains which are not bad.
smcclt3006 08.08.2007 19:57
I really don't think that my review is biased. I don't blame travellers for overcrowding. I as just makingthe point that there are alternatives, Thats all. As for the trains being more frequent, well the network is full anyway. its isnt SWT's fault. Blame network rail for the signalling and tracks. Sometimes it just isnt safe to use longer trains. what aout short platforms? and the guard needs to see the whole train at stations, that just isnt possible in most places.
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Aug 7th, 2007
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