Aaaggh - Darned Trains!

[Milims]

Since next week is half term and since we have the freebe family rail card I thought that it would be nice to hop on a train and have a day trip to Edinburgh And so begins the trial!
Plan A. Try to find the ticket price - so go online, search for the Train Line site, put in when you want to travel, what time, how many people, etc press next. Check details, press next. Accept terms, press next. Another page of something, press next. Then it asks you to log in or register! Won't go any further! Aaaaagggghhhh!
Plan B. Ring station. Try to find it in Yellow pages, not sure if I look under stations, railways, travel.......give up.
Plan C. Find number on BT site - as above.
Plan D. Ask OH to find number. Success!! Call number. Explain travel details. Request ticket price. Receive long explanation of ticket prices and that there may be cheaper advanced tickets from £16-ish instead of £55 Check details - that's £16 in total and not £16 per person for a single ticket? Assured that it's £16 in total. Put thru to ticket buying line. Music. Gent with strange accent introduces himself and listens to details of journey - I have to spell the name of the station 3 times! Tells me ticket price is £55. I ask about £16 tickets as per the lady I spoke to before him. His voice takes on the "OMG I'm talking to an idiot" tone. Tickets ARE £55!
Plan E We take car - we can afford that and the parking is free with a blue badge!

[hamster]

For future reference, www.nationalrail.co.uk allows you to check prices without logging in.

But yes, trying to book train tickets really tests your green credentials, doesn't it? I don't understand how it can work in France and Germany and why we're so rubbish at it. Gosh, I sound like a grumpy old lady!

[mrsflibble]

I hate having to stand in line at stations and get staff comeing up telling me about the automated machines. yeah, I know they're there, no I can't use them 'cos they don't have a facility on them for the PRIV rate TOC card I'm a holder of, they then back off no matter how nice I am about it and don't tell ANYONE ELSE in the queue how to use the auto machines!!!

mind you, a few queues and a couple of missed trains here and there are well worth it when I get 75% off rail travel. I just wish my TOC card was like my GWR staff family card which goes through ticket machines like a season ticket.

[Andy Hamilton]

I seem to be on trains all the time these days, it does really make a difference if you book online. We have the worst train operator in the country down here, so at least you get trains that turn up and have seats! I took a return trip to Reading on Sunday and had to stand for part of the journey each way, on a flipping sunday I ask you! I don't care if I sound like a grumpy old man our trains are pretty poo. Saying that when they work well there is some amazing scenery from the lines out of Bristol and it can be a very comfortable journey. I have noticed that the trains are filling up a lot more over the summer months, I guess that the South West is a tourist area.

I also find that National Express can be pretty reasonable at times. Although that is to say if you go through London and book funfares. It is worth looking into traveling with them should you not wish to spend more on the train.

[Sky]

The rail network in the uk is fantastic compared to over here.
I have fond memories of being able to catch a train from our local station into Leeds city centre ... here the local railway stations have all been made into garden centers or cafes or just closed and demolished completely.

[mrsflibble]

We have the worst train operator in the country down here,

ok, flipping into GWR spokesperson here... they had some REALLY bad trains sold to them, (the Adilante fleet of HSTs) the government will only let them get rid of 4 sets (4 engines god knows how many carriages) or something stupid like that- give your sympathies to Hull trains here 'cos they bought them... they're not allowed to buy any more trains so they're having to use old rolling stock and also repair what they have got at a rate of knots, while still trying to keep to government targets and guidelines.

the adilantes had a rather worrying habit of spontaneously combusting, and seemed to be built out of spit and tissue paper from what I can gather.

According to the blurb we keep getting in GWR appology letters they send to staff, it's all set to change as they're re-doing the older diesel trains. just gotta hang in there a bit I'm afraid. they're trying the best they can, or rather they're trying the best the governement will let them.

[Milims]

Public transport round here is very user unfriendly. If I wanted to take the family to Edinburgh, which is about 80 miles North of my home, by public transport it would be a military operation. First of all all 5 of us have to catch a bus, which run about every 2 hours if you are lucky, to travel 8 miles South to the nearest town, taking about an hour and costing about £5 per person return for adults and about £3 for kids. Then we wait until there is another bus, these ones run about every hour I think, to travel 3 miles East to the railway station at a cost of about £1.50 each - which takes about 20 mins. Then we have to catch a train to Edinburgh which takes about an hour and with a family rail card costs about £55. This way it would cost around £90 and about 6 hours travelling - not to mention the waiting, to use public transport. Our alternative is the car which would take just over an hour and a half each way and cost about £30 at most. We'd travel in comfort - a MUST for my OH, and save time and a lot of money. Where's the incentive to use public transport?

[Silver Ether]

I go to the local station about a month in advance ...talk to a nice person... and get sorted ... I have tried the online stuff and end up with tickets for wrong dates/times .. thats if I can manage anything... my son comes down from Glasgow and he teachers doctors how to use computers and the Internet and even he says its better to go ti the station to get sorted... it cost him £23 .oo return this time.

And I have had to stand all the way back from Edinburgh to Wolverhampton before now, and my fella had just had a hernia op bloody beardy branson.

[mrsflibble]

indeed. for me to get to my mum's house 37 miles away, it's either 35 mins or so by car or i can get there a few ways. I've given prices WITH my TOC discount 'cos I can't find any old tickets to work it out otherwise lol! basically, if you take off the bus far, what's left needs to be timsed by 4 for non-rail type poeple.

1. walk to local station, get train to upminster, link train to romford, then another train to Colchester. this takes 3 hours on a good day and costs £7, ok this one I could work out without tickets: £28.

2. get bus to Billericay, train to Shenfield, and another to Colchester. this costs £8.25 and takes about 2 hours or so.

3. bus to chelmsford, train to colchester. costs is around £9 ish, travel time is 1.5 hours. 2 at most.

4. bus to chelmsford, another to colchester, £12 cost, 2.5 hours travelling/waiting IF you get the busses that actually connect. This is impractical 'cos I visit my mum on her weekdays off and like to see my brothers and sister. to get connecting busses and be home early enough to eat before sleeping, I need to leave her house at 4.15pm.

I have started doing the bus to chelmsford, train to colchester thing more than the billericay route because with staff bus card offers a week's unlimited travel on local firstbus networks (anywhere in the country except london) is a fiver, so if I go on one journey that costs more than that the rest of my week is essentially free.
I take the bus to chelmsford, then get on a train to colchester. at chelmsford I buy a retunrn to colchester, plus a single from chelmsford to shenfield. mum picks me up from colchester north station 'cos it's really hard to get to her house on public transport from that side of the town. To get home what I normally do is get the train straight to shenfield where James picks me up on his way home from work.

[ina]

And this all just proves that folk without cars have to have much better organisational skills...

That should be an essential question in any job interview - how do you get from A to B by public transport?

[mrsflibble]

I think kids should be taught how to read a bus/train timetable and map. For me, both of these are essentials to every day living.

[ina]

I grew up without a car in the family - we always had a comprehensive timetable in the house (that was before internet times).

[mrsflibble]

I have paper timetables 'cos the internet way of doing things sucks when I'm in a hurry to find out my journey times.

[red]

I grew up within walking distance of the town centre, where there is a train station. later we moved to the middle of nowhere, where it is necessary to have vehicle to put your rubbish out. as a result.. I am fine about driving, walking and taking trains (apart from the cost!) but am fairly pants about learning to use the local buses. It seems like some sort of closed secret.. everyone knows how they work... added to that, it does cost more for a one way ticket into the nearest town from my house, than it does to take all of us in the car.. which makes it hard to take the green route...

at least now I am living in a village again, with shops etc.. i can walk places again..

[Annpan]

We have a 'ring and ride' service here which is billed as some kind of taxi service. But you have to fit around what other people are doing... so if a wee Grannie needs taking to the train station I can't get to the shops, or vice versa... also a 3 mile journey costs £1.20, they can only give a 30 min window of pickup so I gave up with it... it was a nightmare, and as red says you need to know stuff like it is a secret club

The commuting train in Glasgow used to stop just shy of the platform at central station... for 10 mins, then they would make you que up on the platform to get out of the station as they insist on manually checking all the tickets... I started walking to work instead

ok, flipping into GWR spokesperson here... they had some REALLY bad trains sold to them, (the Adilante fleet of HSTs) the government will only let them get rid of 4 sets (4 engines god knows how many carriages) or something stupid like that- give your sympathies to Hull trains here 'cos they bought them... they're not allowed to buy any more trains so they're having to use old rolling stock and also repair what they have got at a rate of knots, while still trying to keep to government targets and guidelines.

the adilantes had a rather worrying habit of spontaneously combusting, and seemed to be built out of spit and tissue paper from what I can gather.

According to the blurb we keep getting in GWR appology letters they send to staff, it's all set to change as they're re-doing the older diesel trains. just gotta hang in there a bit I'm afraid. they're trying the best they can, or rather they're trying the best the governement will let them.

Bull..... no other businesses get this level of help from the government to be incompetent... if McDonalds is full (standing room only) for breakfast and dinner every day they go and build a new mcDs next door... they invest... they speculate...they keep their customers happy because otherwise the customers go elsewhere.
Train companies don't care because most people have no reasonable alternative.

The trains should have never been privatised... it is a complete sham.


This is not a personal attack MrsF but this just really gets to me

Other countries seem to be able to have a decent train system.