Evidence from Mr Mick Green – WBF 14

I welcome the chance to input into your enquiry. As a Director of a business based in Mid-Wales I use the railways regulalry to travel to meetings. The current franchise does not deliver a satisfactory service.

The service is very unreliable, so to meet deadlines and ensure connections are made I have to travel on an earlier train than should be needed. As trains are only every two hours on the Aberystwyth - Shrewsbury line then this can add a considerable number of hours to my day at considerable cost to my business.

Any new franchise must include an hourly service on the Aberystwyth - Shrewsbury route. With the number of businesses based along this route, and with the University, it is vital we have a regular service that can allow connections to be made without long waits at connecting stations.

Timetables must reflect regular journeys to major centres such as Birmingham, Cardiff and London, so that a minimum time is spent waiting at stations.

It is also vital that the franchise is given to a reliable operator, with strict sanctions if the service is not reliable. The current operators do not seem to understannd the concept of a timetable - trains must run when advertised and must meet connections.

Finally, it would be useful if bus operators could run services that connect with trains, although perhaps that is asking a little too much!

Yours,

Mick Green