first time ever on a train
Discussion
jamiebae said:
Today I had the (dis)pleasure of travelling on UK trains for the first time in about four years. Heading from Paddington to Reading I couldn't believe how bad the ride was, it felt like the rails weren't level and continued almost the whole way. On the return leg the train was 12 minutes late and as it cost me over £40 for a return ticket on a 25 minute journey I wasn't hugely impressed with the experience.
Could you of pre booked the ticket?Last night I went taunton-bristol return.
It cost £8 the trains turned up on time and arrived on time, I had a seat each way .
jamiebae said:
Today I had the (dis)pleasure of travelling on UK trains for the first time in about four years. Heading from Paddington to Reading I couldn't believe how bad the ride was, it felt like the rails weren't level and continued almost the whole way. On the return leg the train was 12 minutes late and as it cost me over £40 for a return ticket on a 25 minute journey I wasn't hugely impressed with the experience.
Probably wasn't the HST 125 then. The Adelante rolls all over the place on that stretchjamiebae said:
Today I had the (dis)pleasure of travelling on UK trains for the first time in about four years. Heading from Paddington to Reading I couldn't believe how bad the ride was, it felt like the rails weren't level and continued almost the whole way. On the return leg the train was 12 minutes late and as it cost me over £40 for a return ticket on a 25 minute journey I wasn't hugely impressed with the experience.
Standard class anytime return - £44.70Standard class off-peak return valid on the 0921 and later departures - £18.20
Try to arrange to go a bit later in future
rs1952 said:
Standard class anytime return - £44.70
Standard class off-peak return valid on the 0921 and later departures - £18.20
Try to arrange to go a bit later in future
9.30am meeting in Reading so off-peak wasn't viable. I guess I could have booked earlier but generally that's hard to do as plans change and I didn't know where I was going to be in the afternoon. Standard class off-peak return valid on the 0921 and later departures - £18.20
Try to arrange to go a bit later in future
£44.70 is crazy though, to illustrate this here's a comparable example from Switzerland. Zürich to Pfäffikon SZ takes about half an hour on a fast train and is about 30 miles away. A return ticket (actually a 24h travelcard) costs 29 CHF, valid on all trains for 24 hours. Even at the current exchange rates that's about £22. That's half the price!
jamiebae said:
rs1952 said:
Standard class anytime return - £44.70
Standard class off-peak return valid on the 0921 and later departures - £18.20
Try to arrange to go a bit later in future
9.30am meeting in Reading so off-peak wasn't viable. I guess I could have booked earlier but generally that's hard to do as plans change and I didn't know where I was going to be in the afternoon. Standard class off-peak return valid on the 0921 and later departures - £18.20
Try to arrange to go a bit later in future
£44.70 is crazy though, to illustrate this here's a comparable example from Switzerland. Zürich to Pfäffikon SZ takes about half an hour on a fast train and is about 30 miles away. A return ticket (actually a 24h travelcard) costs 29 CHF, valid on all trains for 24 hours. Even at the current exchange rates that's about £22. That's half the price!
Enough people want to go from A to B at a certain time of day who will pay £44.70 for the privilege - therefore £44.70 is the price. If they weren't getting enough punters on their train at that price to make it worthwhile they'd reduce the price (or withdraw the service, of course).
If it had been me going to such a meeting, I would have suggested to the client that 1100 would suit me better. You never know, they might change the time of the meeting
Indeed. London is a gigantic black hole which distorts all around it from house prices to transport costs, even the price of a sandwich :-) The price for a similar length journey at peak times on a little branchline somewhere away from London is likely to be under a tenner.
Other countries are not so centred around a single city and hence don't suffer the same distortion.
Other countries are not so centred around a single city and hence don't suffer the same distortion.
Flooble said:
Indeed. London is a gigantic black hole which distorts all around it from house prices to transport costs, even the price of a sandwich :-) The price for a similar length journey at peak times on a little branchline somewhere away from London is likely to be under a tenner.
Other countries are not so centred around a single city and hence don't suffer the same distortion.
Indeed again. Fishguard to Carmarthen, 42.75 miles (London to Reading is 36) the fare is £9.90 for an anytime return. They don't do off peak tickets - there's no need to give any more discount at that price Other countries are not so centred around a single city and hence don't suffer the same distortion.
Flooble said:
Indeed. London is a gigantic black hole which distorts all around it from house prices to transport costs, even the price of a sandwich :-) The price for a similar length journey at peak times on a little branchline somewhere away from London is likely to be under a tenner.
Other countries are not so centred around a single city and hence don't suffer the same distortion.
Southampton-London is also a expensive one,regardless of time of day.Other countries are not so centred around a single city and hence don't suffer the same distortion.
Although saying that for £65 two of us are going taunton-southampton-southampton-london-london-taunton, i think that's pretty decent value for money.
For those who claim you must be stupid to get on the wrong train this was the situation at Birmingham New Street this morning.
Panel on the side of the train faulty and not showing the destination
The signage over the platform next to the train
In fact the train on the platform was the 6.57 to Manchester Piccadilly.
There were no staff on the platform to ask. Several people got on the train and subsequently had to get off at Wolverhampton and return to Birmingham to catch the Edinburgh train. Of course this means that they will have missed it.
Its ok if you do the route regularly, you get used to this sort of nonsense, but for people who travel by train rarely, or don't use that route often its not that simple.
Panel on the side of the train faulty and not showing the destination
The signage over the platform next to the train
In fact the train on the platform was the 6.57 to Manchester Piccadilly.
There were no staff on the platform to ask. Several people got on the train and subsequently had to get off at Wolverhampton and return to Birmingham to catch the Edinburgh train. Of course this means that they will have missed it.
Its ok if you do the route regularly, you get used to this sort of nonsense, but for people who travel by train rarely, or don't use that route often its not that simple.
rs1952 said:
The point is really not the comparisons with other countries, but more that they are charging what the market will bear. In truth, they are acting in exactly the same way as Sainsbury's when they won't sell something for 75p if they know it will sell if they charge 99p for it. Market forces pure and simple.
Enough people want to go from A to B at a certain time of day who will pay £44.70 for the privilege - therefore £44.70 is the price. If they weren't getting enough punters on their train at that price to make it worthwhile they'd reduce the price (or withdraw the service, of course).
If it had been me going to such a meeting, I would have suggested to the client that 1100 would suit me better. You never know, they might change the time of the meeting
Yes, and when there's no alternative the market has to bear the higher price in spite of the poor service, the problem with railways is that in certain situations they have an effective monopoly and compared with any other reasonable metric the price charged is outrageous.Enough people want to go from A to B at a certain time of day who will pay £44.70 for the privilege - therefore £44.70 is the price. If they weren't getting enough punters on their train at that price to make it worthwhile they'd reduce the price (or withdraw the service, of course).
If it had been me going to such a meeting, I would have suggested to the client that 1100 would suit me better. You never know, they might change the time of the meeting
If I could start my day of meetings at 11am to save twenty quid on a train ticket I'd be a happy man
I had to get back to Switzerland that evening and was meeting some people who are extremely busy so I was happy with 9.30. Next time I'll take a hire car though, LHR > Paddington > Reading cost me £80, the only alternative being a bus which is too unpredictable to risk.jamiebae said:
Yes, and when there's no alternative the market has to bear the higher price in spite of the poor service, the problem with railways is that in certain situations they have an effective monopoly and compared with any other reasonable metric the price charged is outrageous.
If I could start my day of meetings at 11am to save twenty quid on a train ticket I'd be a happy man I had to get back to Switzerland that evening and was meeting some people who are extremely busy so I was happy with 9.30. Next time I'll take a hire car though, LHR > Paddington > Reading cost me £80, the only alternative being a bus which is too unpredictable to risk.
And that again is where our London-centrality causes issues. All the train lines run into and radiate out of London, hence your crazy journey going right into the centre and then right back out again almost the way you came. If you'd been able to go down from LHR to Reading it would have been a much shorter journey and you would not have been fighting all the commuters who actually needed to be in the centre of London ... If I could start my day of meetings at 11am to save twenty quid on a train ticket I'd be a happy man
I had to get back to Switzerland that evening and was meeting some people who are extremely busy so I was happy with 9.30. Next time I'll take a hire car though, LHR > Paddington > Reading cost me £80, the only alternative being a bus which is too unpredictable to risk.blueg33 said:
For those who claim you must be stupid to get on the wrong train this was the situation at Birmingham New Street this morning.
Panel on the side of the train faulty and not showing the destination
The signage over the platform next to the train
In fact the train on the platform was the 6.57 to Manchester Piccadilly.
There were no staff on the platform to ask. Several people got on the train and subsequently had to get off at Wolverhampton and return to Birmingham to catch the Edinburgh train. Of course this means that they will have missed it.
Its ok if you do the route regularly, you get used to this sort of nonsense, but for people who travel by train rarely, or don't use that route often its not that simple.
Point well made I think. Just to add, on the question of announcement clarity, the not so young amongst us, who can suffer from what used to be known as the "cocktail party effect" * can have difficulty picking out the details when background noise levels are high. Worcester Foregate Street being a good example. Panel on the side of the train faulty and not showing the destination
The signage over the platform next to the train
In fact the train on the platform was the 6.57 to Manchester Piccadilly.
There were no staff on the platform to ask. Several people got on the train and subsequently had to get off at Wolverhampton and return to Birmingham to catch the Edinburgh train. Of course this means that they will have missed it.
Its ok if you do the route regularly, you get used to this sort of nonsense, but for people who travel by train rarely, or don't use that route often its not that simple.
- No ambassadors or Ferrero Rocher were harmed in the writing of this post.
egor110 said:
Southampton-London is also a expensive one,regardless of time of day.
Although saying that for £65 two of us are going taunton-southampton-southampton-london-london-taunton, i think that's pretty decent value for money.
There are of course ways to reduce the costs, and buying advance tickets is the easiest. This does, of course, mean that you have to specify the date and the time of the trains you are going to be using in advance, and that isn't necessarily easy. From time to time I have used the train to go to Heathrow to get a flight - whilst I can specify my outbound train, I can't say whether the return flight will be on time if it runs at all, so I need a more flexible ticket. The upshot is that I book a first class advance ticket on the way up, and a standard class off peak ticket on the way back. The first class leg usually costs less than the standard class leg...Although saying that for £65 two of us are going taunton-southampton-southampton-london-london-taunton, i think that's pretty decent value for money.
The other way to save money, and to play the buggers at their own game, is to split the ticket, but to do that you either have to be a nerd who enjoys looking into these things, or pay somebody via one of the websites who specialise in this to find the cheapest ticket for you. I shall leave you to decide which category I fall into after posting a random example of the fare from Fishguard to Carmarthen last night ...
But on to an example:
Chippenham to Paddington - off peak fare £64.60
Chippenham to Didcot - off peak fare £15.00
Didcot to Paddington - off peak fare £25.00
So, by the simple expedient of walking up to the booking office and saying "an off peak return to Paddington split at Didcot" you save over a third of the price you'd pay if you bought a through ticket.
The only catch is that you have to use a train that actually stops at Didcot (the Revenue Protection Stasi take a dim view of you if they catch you on one that doesn't), but every other train between Chippenham and Paddington stops at Didcot so it's no great sweat to catch the "correct" one.
And this is by no means an isolated example, it goes on all over the country. I can go to Salisbury for almost "half price" by splitting the ticket at Warminster. I saved the best part of £2 on Wednesday by splitting a return to Weston Super Mare at Bristol. And so on.
You can go to the National Rail Enquiries website and try out some permutations for yourself. Happy nerding
I'm currently on the 12:51 Leeds to Manchester. It takes an age, I can't sit straight in the seat because my legs are too long, I can't open the minging sticky tray table because it's too low and hits my knees. No AC so it's sweltering and it's not a warm day. But at least it's cheapish at £15 return, to Rochdale.
The trains on my line would be vastly better if people didn’t decide to jump in front of them every week. I admit it’s not really the fault of the trains, but the franchise changes regularly and there is a lot of difference between train companies when it comes to getting the service back to normal. If people want to commit suicide, I do wish they would choose a different method.
Having spent the winter commuting weekly Ash-Gatwick and then Schiphol-The Hague, I was pleasantly surprised to discover train journeys don't have to be slow, late, cramped and so uncomfortable you need a chiropractor when you get off. Shame that was only on the Dutch end though. Double decker train every 15 minutes with airline style seats and just check in and out with a chipkarte rather than having to buy tickets.
Considering we invented the things we don't seem to have progressed the idea as far as some other countries.
Considering we invented the things we don't seem to have progressed the idea as far as some other countries.
blueST said:
Had the pleasure of a Pacer today. The seat opposite was no longer connected to the carriage floor. Looks like corrosion had eaten the bottom inch of one of the legs! Not sure if you can see the far left leg in this pic.
Yup that's about standard for a Pacer
Edited by blueg33 on Friday 15th April 22:17
CAPP0 said:
blueg33 said:
If you want to hate trains try the Northern Rail service from Stockport to Cheshire at 8.31am on a weekday.
I use trains all the time but the above is the most hateful I have ever been on, and I have to do it once a week.
May I suggest a week's course of "South Eastern Trains Therapy"? It works like this: you spend a week travelling on SE Trains during weekday rush hours. If further treatment is deemed necessary, yo can also be prescribed a few journeys after the hour of 2230 in the evening.I use trains all the time but the above is the most hateful I have ever been on, and I have to do it once a week.
Once the course is completed, you will find all of your Northern Rail travel to be blissfully delightful.
(Or you'll do what I did and buy a bike to commute on)
I can wholeheartedly endorse this. the course includes the observations of:
- Half of a four carriage training smelling of a toilet
- Electrostars with inferior seating capacity and no where to hold onto sufficiently when standing
- Lower speeds between stations since the 1980s
- Seats which normal humans cannot sit in without being at an angle and causing back pain
Atmospheric said:
CAPP0 said:
blueg33 said:
If you want to hate trains try the Northern Rail service from Stockport to Cheshire at 8.31am on a weekday.
I use trains all the time but the above is the most hateful I have ever been on, and I have to do it once a week.
May I suggest a week's course of "South Eastern Trains Therapy"? It works like this: you spend a week travelling on SE Trains during weekday rush hours. If further treatment is deemed necessary, yo can also be prescribed a few journeys after the hour of 2230 in the evening.I use trains all the time but the above is the most hateful I have ever been on, and I have to do it once a week.
Once the course is completed, you will find all of your Northern Rail travel to be blissfully delightful.
(Or you'll do what I did and buy a bike to commute on)
I can wholeheartedly endorse this. the course includes the observations of:
- Half of a four carriage training smelling of a toilet
- Electrostars with inferior seating capacity and no where to hold onto sufficiently when standing
- Lower speeds between stations since the 1980s
- Seats which normal humans cannot sit in without being at an angle and causing back pain
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