bike transport-london to scotland
Discussion
Biker's Nemesis said:
A thumb's up for Chas and his team. He transported 5 bikes for us to and from Brescia a few years back. Everything went as planned.A guy in a local group I'm in has just started the below company. Might be worth asking for a quote and also having the benefit of helping a new business:
https://www.bluehawklogistics.co.uk/
https://www.bluehawklogistics.co.uk/
zzrman said:
Biker's Nemesis said:
A thumb's up for Chas and his team. He transported 5 bikes for us to and from Brescia a few years back. Everything went as planned.
catso said:
zzrman said:
Biker's Nemesis said:
A thumb's up for Chas and his team. He transported 5 bikes for us to and from Brescia a few years back. Everything went as planned.phatmanace said:
interested in the approximate quotes people have had... how much for how far?
e. g for Scotland to down south somewhere, how much do people charge, approximately?
Thanks, ace
The "bike bus" has quoted me £460 all in for London to Aviemore and I am happy with that, feels like value, I did look at hiring whilst up there but my aim is really to get my bike up there as I have had it a year and in central London have not been able to really ride it. e. g for Scotland to down south somewhere, how much do people charge, approximately?
Thanks, ace
Cannot wait.
pneumothorax said:
The "bike bus" has quoted me £460 all in for London to Aviemore and I am happy with that, feels like value, I did look at hiring whilst up there but my aim is really to get my bike up there as I have had it a year and in central London have not been able to really ride it.
Cannot wait.
I've looked at hiring in Inverness before but it's either been very expensive or an NC 750 (I'd rather cycle). Cannot wait.
Pothole said:
I would have ridden it up for you for train fares...not sure how you'd have got it back down, though.
I often wonder how people justify spending huge amounts on getting other people to move vehicles around the country for them.I just bought a car on ebay after I won the auction for £600 less than I thought was a ridiculously low bid anyway.
Except the car was in Bedford and I'm near Edinburgh...
Easyjet got me to Luton for £37, the train into town was £11, the taxi to the guys door was £7, the fuel to drive it home while I listened to radio 4 was £60.
Years ago a drunken bid won me a Triumph Trophy in Torquey (true story!).
Again, a budget flight and a taxi got me there for less than £100 and I spent more filling the panniers with Somerset cider than I spent on fuel on the way back!
Caledonian Sleeper used to offer free transport of bikes. It was originally a condition of their franchise agreement.
It soon became very obvious that there was little space on the train and if you had to offer uncapped capacity to anyone who wanted it the service could in theory be required to carry hundreds of bikes every night (for free). More space taken up by bikes, the less space available to actual paying passengers.
There was a road service originally put in place where you dropped your bike at Euston and met it at the other end in the morning (at no cost to the customer if the train capacity was full) but as you'd expect, it cost an absolute fortune to provide an overnight London to Scotland shuttle, and vice versa, as it had to serve 5 destinations (Aberdeen, Inverness, Fort William, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and arrive no later than an hour or two after the train did. The bike transport was probably costing more to provide than the passenger was paying to go on the train.
It was a case of Transport Scotland specifying something in the franchise with all good intention (to encourage cycling and cycle tourism) without really thinking through the implications of delivering it if it became wildly popular - which it did once people got to know about it.
The requirement was negotiated out of the franchise agreement and now the operator is only obliged to offer free transit up to the capacity on the train - probably no more than 9 or 10 bikes per service, so first come, first serve.
https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-bikes/
It soon became very obvious that there was little space on the train and if you had to offer uncapped capacity to anyone who wanted it the service could in theory be required to carry hundreds of bikes every night (for free). More space taken up by bikes, the less space available to actual paying passengers.
There was a road service originally put in place where you dropped your bike at Euston and met it at the other end in the morning (at no cost to the customer if the train capacity was full) but as you'd expect, it cost an absolute fortune to provide an overnight London to Scotland shuttle, and vice versa, as it had to serve 5 destinations (Aberdeen, Inverness, Fort William, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and arrive no later than an hour or two after the train did. The bike transport was probably costing more to provide than the passenger was paying to go on the train.
It was a case of Transport Scotland specifying something in the franchise with all good intention (to encourage cycling and cycle tourism) without really thinking through the implications of delivering it if it became wildly popular - which it did once people got to know about it.
The requirement was negotiated out of the franchise agreement and now the operator is only obliged to offer free transit up to the capacity on the train - probably no more than 9 or 10 bikes per service, so first come, first serve.
https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-bikes/
Krikkit said:
.
That and you could save a lot of miles if you're on a contract - 5k a year takes a big hit if you're schlepping up to Inverness from London for the Highlands fun.
Yeah but...going over the agreed mileage doesn't really matter as most folk px/chop the bike in at the end of the contract and don't ever hand it back, in my experience anyway.That and you could save a lot of miles if you're on a contract - 5k a year takes a big hit if you're schlepping up to Inverness from London for the Highlands fun.
biggles330d said:
Caledonian Sleeper used to offer free transport of bikes. It was originally a condition of their franchise agreement.
It soon became very obvious that there was little space on the train and if you had to offer uncapped capacity to anyone who wanted it the service could in theory be required to carry hundreds of bikes every night (for free). More space taken up by bikes, the less space available to actual paying passengers.
There was a road service originally put in place where you dropped your bike at Euston and met it at the other end in the morning (at no cost to the customer if the train capacity was full) but as you'd expect, it cost an absolute fortune to provide an overnight London to Scotland shuttle, and vice versa, as it had to serve 5 destinations (Aberdeen, Inverness, Fort William, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and arrive no later than an hour or two after the train did. The bike transport was probably costing more to provide than the passenger was paying to go on the train.
It was a case of Transport Scotland specifying something in the franchise with all good intention (to encourage cycling and cycle tourism) without really thinking through the implications of delivering it if it became wildly popular - which it did once people got to know about it.
The requirement was negotiated out of the franchise agreement and now the operator is only obliged to offer free transit up to the capacity on the train - probably no more than 9 or 10 bikes per service, so first come, first serve.
https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-bikes/
Not sure we're talking about the same "bikes"...It soon became very obvious that there was little space on the train and if you had to offer uncapped capacity to anyone who wanted it the service could in theory be required to carry hundreds of bikes every night (for free). More space taken up by bikes, the less space available to actual paying passengers.
There was a road service originally put in place where you dropped your bike at Euston and met it at the other end in the morning (at no cost to the customer if the train capacity was full) but as you'd expect, it cost an absolute fortune to provide an overnight London to Scotland shuttle, and vice versa, as it had to serve 5 destinations (Aberdeen, Inverness, Fort William, Edinburgh and Glasgow) and arrive no later than an hour or two after the train did. The bike transport was probably costing more to provide than the passenger was paying to go on the train.
It was a case of Transport Scotland specifying something in the franchise with all good intention (to encourage cycling and cycle tourism) without really thinking through the implications of delivering it if it became wildly popular - which it did once people got to know about it.
The requirement was negotiated out of the franchise agreement and now the operator is only obliged to offer free transit up to the capacity on the train - probably no more than 9 or 10 bikes per service, so first come, first serve.
https://www.sleeper.scot/travelling-with-bikes/
Rubin215 said:
I often wonder how people justify spending huge amounts on getting other people to move vehicles around the country for them.
I just bought a car on ebay after I won the auction for £600 less than I thought was a ridiculously low bid anyway.
Except the car was in Bedford and I'm near Edinburgh...
Easyjet got me to Luton for £37, the train into town was £11, the taxi to the guys door was £7, the fuel to drive it home while I listened to radio 4 was £60.
Years ago a drunken bid won me a Triumph Trophy in Torquey (true story!).
Again, a budget flight and a taxi got me there for less than £100 and I spent more filling the panniers with Somerset cider than I spent on fuel on the way back!
If I was doing a touring holiday with to the Highlands with the wife we wouldn't be riding from London to Aviemore (say) in one hit - so that's four days getting there and back out of your holiday. That's £200 in hotels probably, plus the petrol and being on the M6 isn't part of the fun. I've got flights from Gatwick to Inverness for £25 before...I can see the appealI just bought a car on ebay after I won the auction for £600 less than I thought was a ridiculously low bid anyway.
Except the car was in Bedford and I'm near Edinburgh...
Easyjet got me to Luton for £37, the train into town was £11, the taxi to the guys door was £7, the fuel to drive it home while I listened to radio 4 was £60.
Years ago a drunken bid won me a Triumph Trophy in Torquey (true story!).
Again, a budget flight and a taxi got me there for less than £100 and I spent more filling the panniers with Somerset cider than I spent on fuel on the way back!
Gassing Station | Biker Banter | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff