What's worth mentioning about a small propeller airplane - more Cesna than 747!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Hang on, you said they were on £50k each a few posts back......
Anyway, sounds like Carwyn Jones is indeed supportive of Gerald, doesn't look like the service is in much peril....and rightly so! As I said before - One Wales was a Plaid - Labour joint document! And Labour aren't stupid enough to undo all that was achieved under that - they may be looking for coalition partners again sometime!!
I never said each, the Chef service costs ATW a minimum of £60K PA on Gerald.
As for WAGAIR, a small aircraft flying Holyhead to Cardiff for political use costing £1.6M PA minimum of taxpayers money is good achievement then.
As for Gerald from December 2011 for another year, we shall see if WAG can find another £2Millions plus of taxpayers money to bankroll it in its present form of elite open access.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I think the problem is with the latter point you've got 4 and a bit hours window in the middle of the day (off peak) between a down and an up one off oddball service.
Anyone who plans schedules knows your service is planned to grow to the peak, slide back or stay level through the day, stay level or build up to evening peak then slide back through the evening until closure or skeleton nightime.
A one off oddball stuffed in like this doesn't lend itself to do anything useful without more staff expense, as staff are coming down from the North needing to return, and vice versa at night, hence very wasteful diagramming of staff, because it is a complete oddball imbalance trip each way.
Its really not easy to utilise unless planned in with a complete timetable rework.... But then you are mucking about with the franchised operation to suit a one-off oddity that can be dropped at the whim of the paymaster (the WAG).
Where on earth would you send it on a one off trip at 11-12am getting back at around 4pm that would have a path and more to the point would fill a gap that was needed (off peak)?!
But now we have two train sets, one hired in from the W&B franchise a 175 hanging around Cardiff for 6 hours going nowhere.
I appreciate these two trains are now open access paid for by WAG & are only paid to run one return trip, but a 175 paid to be out of service for 6 hours, is well crazy in my opinion.
......................................................................................................................................................................................................
I have recieved the verbatum report from Toby Jones
Researcher to Mark Isherwood AM
Shadow Minister for Social Justice and Housing this morning here it is
Mark Isherwood: The McNulty report, which was published last Thursday, made a number of recommendations to deliver savings. The report was commissioned by the previous Labour Government when it found that the railway in the UK was 30 per cent more expensive than its equivalent in other countries. The recommendations were made to make savings, but this week saw the launch of the second north/south express train service from Holyhead to Cardiff. Why is the Welsh Government subsidising,to the tune of £100,000 a month a second premier express service that leaves Holyhead just 15 minutes before the general service in the morning? Why, in consequence, is the premier service able to undercut the general service fares, on advance purchase, by 50 per cent or more? Those rates are not available to people using the general service.
The First Minister: You are referring to two different services, but I would have thought that you would welcome anything that reduces journey times between north and south Wales—particularly train services. The cost of railway services in Britain is not exactly a ringing endorsement of privatisation. We know that railway services in Britain are more expensive than almost everywhere else in the world. Privatisation was meant to deliver better value for passengers but it clearly has a long way to go.
