9th December 2009

An open letter to First Capital Connect customer services. I would heartily encourage you all to send similar letters of complaint. I'm also thinking of organising a slow hand clap one monday evening as a show of disgust at their continued failures

Dear First Capital Connect.
When, are you going to sort out the service on the Bedford to London line? Your shallow apologies, and printed posters fall a long way short of what we, the commuting public, your customers are actually looking for. All we want, is a reliable service. The vast majority of us would even stomach the overcrowding, and uncomfortable conditions that we are forced to endure if our trains were to run to schedule and on time. Bus things have been very bad for a very long time and it’s gone way beyond a joke.

I pay £311 pounds per month for my monthly season ticket from Leagrave. Even with a good service, this is an extortionate amount of money, but as things are it’s basic theft. I have paid my money for my ticket, in advance, in return for trains that run to and from London on time. You are not fulfilling your end of the bargain, and to be honest, any of your apologies and excuses are any good. It is YOUR FAULT that the drivers ended up working to rule, by ending up in a situation where there were not enough drivers to run the trains in the first place. It is YOUR FAULT that I am late for work, risking my job at a time where all of us are at risk of unemployment. It is YOUR FAULT that I don’t get home from work until late every night, and I have reached the point of no return with your company.

Worse still, the refund policy is UNFAIR, and RIDICULOUSLY COMPLEX. Percentage refunds based on tardiness are not fair when the CUMULATIVE EFFECT of your AWFUL service means that I end up spending an extra 3 hours per week on your trains or waiting for your trains to arrive. I am a season ticket holder. You MUST know what the EXACT statistics are of your FAILURES, so why on earth I have to complete a lengthy form each time a train is delayed is BEYOND ME. You should be begging me to take the money back, and sending my wife flowers for keeping her waiting at night.

Your trains are late, dirty, smelly, and DANGEROUSLY PACKED at rush hour. I’m telling you, one day there will be an accident, and YOU will be culpable.

We are SICK of your company, and worst still, we have NO CHOICE but to use your shambolic service. Where are the customer services agents? Hiding in an office on platform 4 of Farringdon station, with NO POWER to help or inform us as to WHEN things will be sorted out. In the mean time, I’d like some money back please and you can fill out the paperwork.

FIX THIS MESS. It’s a disgrace, and nothing short of that. You should be ashamed.

4th November

A letter to Jim Morgan, MD of FCC

Dear Mr Morgan
I hope this email finds you well. I'm not sure if you will recall, but we met briefly last Friday (30th October) while you were meeting customers on the platform. I run a website called 'The Commutercast' (http://www.commutercast.co.uk) Looking at the statistics on the website, it's proving to be quite popular.

On the most part, the commutercast is a bit of fun, where fellow commuters share their experiences of commuting with each other. It is not restricted to train travel, but at present, the vast majority of content is train related. Content is not restricted to any particular network, although my personal commute is from Luton to London, so a lot of the content I post is based on this route. That said, it appears that peoples' experience of commuting by train is the same, no matter which network are operating the service.

Last Friday, I asked you if you would be kind enough to spare me some time to answer a few questions relating to FCC services and I was delighted that you agreed. I have started collecting questions from our users, and I was wondering if you could let me know when we might be able to do the interview. I understand that you must be very busy. Although the content on the commutercast is largely satirical in nature, I intend the interview to be made up of sensible questions. This said, the majority of people who are submitting questions have serious issues with the level of service that First Capital Connect are offering at the moment, especially with the large number of short formed services, and apparent staff shortages. I would suggest that this would be a good chance to put your side of the story.

Thank you for taking the time to read this email, please let me know if you are still prepared to answer a few questions, and when you would be available.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Let's see what happens :)

More Delays

What is going on?

3rd November

Brilliant response to call for questions. Keep them coming, I'm on the case organising the interview now.

Here's some of them so far...

"Why are they having such problems with staff (i.e. drivers) at the moment, and why so many cancellations? e.g. In the next 30 mins 3 out of 9 trains from West H'stead are cancelled."

"How often does his team actually ride on the service to see how bad it is?"

With thanks to @awhitehouse on Twitter

"Ask him why the drivers are out 'Christmas Shopping' and why FCC is not coming clean about the ongoing staffing problems."

With thanks to @jmcomms on Twitter

2nd November 2009

Commutercast meets First Capital Connect

It was good to see Jim Morgan (on the left above), Managing Director of First Capital Connect, on the platform at Farringdon station on Friday evening. The service has been pretty disappointing lately, with cancelled and delayed services and rumours of staff shortages. The platform was packed with disappointed commuters, all desperate to get home on a Friday night.

And there was Mr Morgan, fending off complaints, and taking the critisism on the chin. I overheard a few conversations, he was only really able to offer some hollow apologies rather than any concrete assurances of future improvements in service.

These are rare opportunities, and I wasn't going to miss the chance to request an audience with the big cheese at First Capital Connect.

And so, without a thought for my own personal safety, I went up to him, introduced myself as the MD of the commutercast.co.uk and asked if I could interview him.

To my surprise, albeit as a way of trying to get shot of me, he agreed.

So, now all we need are some questions. I have some ideas, but really I'd like to throw the floor open to you. I'm determined to use the opportunity to ask some decent question, so please send any thoughts and ideas to commutercast@gmail.com

Sponsor me in Movember:

During November, I'm going to be growing my mustache. It's all in aid of Prostate Cancer. The Mustache you see on the left is a demo, not the real deal. Click here to find out more, and to donate! Please state the commutercast somewhere in your donation. THANKS x

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The Conversation Conundrum...

Ever had a COMPLETE STRANGER invade your personal space on public transport, and try and start 'A CONVERSATION'???

How do you approach 'The Conversation Conundrum'?

Answers on a postcard (well, email) to commutercast@gmail.com

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Introducing Malinki! The luckiest Commuter...EVER!

After arriving at her destination 28 Minutes early and tweeting "We are now arriving into Kings Cross, 28 minutes early" <-- surely this is a record??" I couldn't miss the opportunity to get her on board with the Commutercast. It turns out that even though she'd lost part of her ticket, which was also for the wrong day, the guard let her off! LUCKY OR WHAT!

Anyway, stay tuned for more shenanigans from the luckiest Commuter EVER.

You can also follow Malinki on Twitter @malinki