Meeting was in Swindon, at the Express by Holiday Inn - handy for the railway station, but signage for the event was a bit lacking, within the hotel (which is like a maze). Unfortunately, several people attending by train were also delayed by signalling problems, so the start of the meeting was deferred by a few minutes, and then more late arrivals trickled in throughout the presentation. By the conclusion of the meeting, I counted 20 guests present. Also unfortunately, my 'just there, in plain clothes, observing' cover was blown, right from the outset, as Chris Phillimore recognised me, made a point of welcoming me personally and thanked me for taking the trouble to attend! (Fair play to him, though: he'd only met me once, at TravelWatch SouthWest, over a year ago!)  And finally, even more unfortunately, as I was one of the first guests to arrive, I didn't have a chance to see the full version of the 'guest / contact list', which everyone was encouraged to complete as they arrived - so I have no idea who any of the other guests were! Sorry!

Present from Go! were Keith Vingoe (CEO), Chris Phillimore, Kate Whittle and Alex Lawrie.

Introduction by Keith Vingoe included reference to yesterdays meetings at Yeovil (which he described as having been 'lively') and Trowbridge (which he described as being 'well-informed'). At one of yesterday's meetings, someone had apparently come along prepared with ten pre-written questions: "We felt like we were on Mastermind!", Keith joked. He then handed over to Chris Phillimore, to give an overview of their rail proposition.

Chris Phillimore explained their proposals for the rail route:

Rolling stock will be refurbished Mk 2 coaches, rather than Mk 3, and will be 'top and tailed' with loco's;
There will be no penalty fares, but usual discounted advance and off-peak tickets will be offered - including new options, such as local employer contract discounts (for example, offering special MoD staff terms);
There will also be favourable terms (cheaper tickets) for rail travel restricted to Go! services, rather than general tickets which could also be used on FGW. Such tickets will be available online, or may be bought on the train (although it was acknowledged later, in the question and answer session, that the ticket barriers at Swindon, for example, could prevent people from from using the 'buy it on the train' option there);
They will have a three-year rolling ticket pricing policy, to help passengers to budget / plan their likely commuting patterns in advance;
Costs will be in the region of £5m to £6m a year to run the trains.

Kate Whittle then explained the Go! proposals for 'car clubs', which are also part of their business. Apparently, car clubs have been around for about 10 years, and there are some 40 in the UK now: Kate is a keen member of the one in Bristol!  Car clubs have been shown to reduce car use by up to 60%, as the lack of a car parked outside the house (unless one has been rented in advance, 'by the hour') means people are less likely to use cars for impulse / local journeys.  The aim of Go! is to have two more schemes running in 2010, and another three by 2014.

Presentation then covered the concept, legal basis and financing of co-operatives: it was emphasised that they are not 'not for profit' organisations, as is sometimes thought. They do need to make a profit, as with any business - but it is their way of using their profit that is different. As to the funding of the Go! co-operative, it was explained that 50% of the shares would be made available to 'members' (passengers, staff, private individuals) to enable them to retain control of the organisation, with the other 50% being offered to 'investors' - ethical funds, for example - who would be offered a higher return, but have less control over the business.  The minimum investment for a personal member will be £100 (100 shares) and for an investor will be £500 (500 shares).  So far, some £90,000 in funding has been raised.

Questions were then invited from the audience:
Two guests in particular were very keen / interested / questioning on the Swindon to Oxford element of the Go! rail proposal. Their questions (and answers) clarified that the route is viable (using the existing track on the Didcot West Curve), will be used (compared with the A-road alternatives), and will work better than the defunct Thames Trains (?) service (withdrawn in 2003?) because Go! will be using 100mph stock, rather than 75mph or even 90mph stock. (Apparently, the Thames Trains stock was rather unceremoniously grabbed to serve elsewhere in 2003?);
On the subject of finance for the Go! co-operative, several people raised questions. The conclusion I reached, from the answers given, was that Go! are comfortable with their financial standing. Keith Vingoe explained that they need (and have in place) surety of £5m for their bid to ORR to be viable. This is apparently insurance based - that is, they don't actually need to have £5m in the bank: it's there, as a guarantee, so if it all goes pear-shaped, Network Rail, et al, will be reimbursed.
There were a couple of questions about revenue sharing, on the tickets sold for rail journeys between Swindon and Oxford. Chris Phillimore acknowledged that there could be a potential small loss of revenue, due to ORCATS - and he then gave an excellent explanation of 'ORCATS raids'.  (Well, I was impressed - but then, I've never really understood ORCATS, anyway  );
On cycling, due to their social and ethical focus, Go! are keen to include as much storage for buggies and bicycles as they can - and it was emphasised that their board already includes people who are very committed cyclists (Alex);
On recruitment, Chris Phillimore said they will begin recruiting next year, and they don't see recruiting drivers, just for example, as being a problem - based on the experience of Wrexham and Shropshire, where most of their drivers were recruited from outside the industry;
On freight, Chris Phillimore gave an emphatic 'No!': Go! will not be trying to compete with Freightliner!  However, it may be that they will look at parcel carrying options, as part of their passenger services.

Conclusion from my attendance at this meeting was that Go! are a fairly good proposition: overall, I was impressed.  There were some admin problems (apparently, they ran out of their colour-printed executive summaries, as most of them disappeared from the chairs where they had been put out, at yesterday's meetings  ), but the business / public relations case they put today was convincing. The general consensus from the audience seemed similarly positive - particularly the Swindon to Oxford 'local commuters'.  Once their concerns about the finance issue had been discussed, I would have predicted a clear majority verdict in favour of the Go! proposals, if a vote had been taken.

By the way: 'the present service at Melksham', 'the TransWilts line' and 'extending the platform at Melksham' were mentioned several times - and I got the impression Chris Phillimore glanced across at me each time, just to be sure I'd noticed ...

I hope this helps!

Regards,

Chris from Swindon