Thursday 13 August 2009

First for hitting the passenger where it hurts

The Fact Compiler has been stirred from his deckchair by the following extra-ordinary news.

According to Passenger Focus:


First Great Western (FGW) is set to introduce new restrictions on its cheapest Off-Peak tickets which will mean many passengers travelling into London in the morning and out of London in the afternoon will see their fares rise by 20%.


What can this mean?


Some say First Great Western has joined the ranks of franchise demics like NXEC, London Midland and Arriva Cross Country.


The Fact Compiler, almost replete from his well earned break, has a more charitable view:

Perhaps Mark Hopwood is leveraging these swinging increases as personal favour to First's Chief Executive - Sir Moir of the Lovely Book (pictured below)


No doubt the storage costs for the mountain of remaindered copies has started to make First Group shareholders twitchy...