Providing temporary relief to your Thameslink pain.

Between 11th December and the 7th January 89.0% of Thameslink services ran with less than a 5 minute delay at their final destination, and so considered ‘on time’ by First Capital Connect. This is still below their previously published target of 90.32%.

3.5% of services were cancelled for part or all of their journey Continue reading →

We have been contacted by Dispatches who are producing a feature on the UK train operators and want IhateThameslink readers to submit their stories, pictures, and video to them. This really is a great way to expose the shambolic First Capital Connect. I encourage everyone with a camera or smart-phone to take as much footage of their crowded journeys or bad conditions and submit it to Dispatches.

Video – You can upload your video footage to YouTube here, showing the train conditions and your experience of them. Continue reading →

It won’t come as much of a surprise – but only 73.7% of planned thameslink train services were less than 5 minutes late at their final destination between 12 December – 8 January. This is even worse than last period when only 79.3% of trains were ‘on time’. This is also the worst performance in the last 12 months. Figures can be downloaded here.

FCC invest in a new de-icer...

When combined with the Great Northern route, First Capital Connect managed to get 73.0% of trains to their destination less than 5 minutes late.This suggest the Great Northern Route performed slightly worse than the Thameslink route in this period. Furthermore a whopping 14.1% of trains were cancelled across the entire network.

This month, FCC had the following excuses for their terrible performance:

Adverse weather conditions Continue reading →

It has been reported by the Welwyn Hatfield Times that FCC has launched a cash-back promotion on season tickets on its Great Northern route.However, there is no information about this on the official FCC website.

Update 13/01/11: Information can now be found on the First Capital Connect website about this offer, hidden away on the ‘Spotlight on Seats‘ section. According to the website, this offer has been launched to ‘celebrate’ additional seating now available on the Great Northern Route.

But, there is always a catch. Apparently this offer is open to ‘new customer only’ and to those who have not bought a season ticket in the last six months. This seems very unfair to all the existing customers who have put up with cramped conditions over the years. Continue reading →

First Capital Connect gave us a new year’s gift that we could all do without – a rise in ticket prices of up to 46%. It is still unclear how much all ticket prices across the network will rise, but some price rises have been reported in the media as shown below. According to Campaign for Better Transport fares are set to go up by 25% over the next four years – that’s £1,300 more for some season tickets. You can join their campaign for fair fares at www.bettertransport.org.uk/fairfares/.

The latest statistics (pdf) published by First Capital Connect shows that only 79.3% of planned thameslink train services were less than 5 minutes late at their final destination. When combined with the Great Northern route, First Capital Connect managed to get 83.4% of trains to their destination less than 5 minutes late. Furthermore 6.4% of trains were cancelled across the entire network.

FCC gave the following excuses for the poor performance.

Defective train near Welwyn Garden City Continue reading →

A few months ago I posted regarding engineering works forcing me to drive to work - and costing me about 4 times as much as the train – because First Capital Connect refused to provide a bus service to replace their regular timetable.

I wrote to FCC asking for compensation to the tune of 79 miles at the standard £0.40 per mile, minus the cost of what the train ticket would have cost me (£7.90), a total of £23.70. I also asked for a reassurance that if engineering works affected regular arrival times in the future, they would run a replacement bus service to arrive at least as early as the first train normally would.

This is the response I received (click the image to see the original, or below for the text: Continue reading →

Although I’ve already written two posts on here, I haven’t fully introduced myself.

I’m Stuart, I work in a technical role for the BBC on a freelance basis in London, and commute from one of the often-forgotten stations between Bedford and Luton at all times of the day, week and year. When I’m not starting work at 06:00, I’m finishing at 23:00. When I’m not working on a bank holiday Monday, I’m trying to get some sleep after a 12-hour nightshift. You get the picture.

9-5 commuters may be aware of a little thing called the Thameslink Programme which currently closes the cross-London route for 25% of the week, and 100% of the weekend. This means Farringdon, City Thameslink and Blackfriars stations cannot be reached by using First Capital Connect services, and those needing to cross the river to complete their journey need to get the Tube between London Bridge and St Pancras.  This is scheduled to be the case for at least the next two years, and has already been happening for well over a year. Continue reading →

Today, IhateThameslink launch their campaign to pressure First Capital Connect to release meaningful and transparent statistics.

Please click here to sign the petition, or to read why we have started this campaign, please read out campaign page.

In coming months we will be able to compare the official FCC performance statistics with more meaningful statistics thanks to our guest blogger Stuart who has created a superb application that records data direct from the National Rail database. The results should be interesting!

That’s right folks. In the period running from 27 June to 24 July FCC only managed to run 89.5%  (or 88.1% – see screw up 1 below) of train less than five minutes late at their destination on the Thameslink route. This is just marginally better (or worse) than the 88.2% in the May-June period.

Screw up 1:  On the performance home page they state the Thameslink performance is 89.5% however on the report (PDF) it says it is 88.1% and that the FCC combined (Thameslink + Great Northern) is 89.5%.

Screw up 2: First Capital Connect have published their latest report but in true FCC style their performance home page is out of date and still has comments and excuses relating to the last report! Continue reading →