I hate Rail Transport.....

Raymond Lin said:
i've sat on reserved seats when the guy who's seat it belong to never turned up (happens a lot).
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Yeah this is one thing you can do on busy trains - take a look at the 'From' station on the reservation ticket and if it's before you got on (i.e. they got a different train, or are sat somewhere else), or at/after the station you get off, you may as well sit there.

Worst that can happen is they had gone off to the toilet or something, in which case you can simply apologise and give up the seat, you haven't lost anything.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Well, I used to have to travel back from Brighton to Hereford. There are basically 2 routes.

1 - Go along the south coast via Southampton...never taken this as it took so long and the trains are uncomfortable

2 - Go straight to Victoria - tube to Paddington - then I have a choice of go via Newport (the south route) or via Oxford (the north route).

I've taken both the North and South about equal number of times as the time taken on either are almost identical. Except the Newport route cost about £10 more. Both route however are BUSY commuter routes, and I've often finish my tutorial on a Friday and then taken the train home that day. Which means lucky me get to go through London in rush hour along with all the suits. I knew this so i travel as light as possible, 1 bag usually and you just have to sit where ever you can. i've sat on reserved seats when the guy who's seat it belong to never turned up (happens a lot).

The whole journey is a minimum 4 hours discounting the 30-45 mins in the tube and any waiting time in paddington or Newport, it can be as long as 6 hours. I knew this before i set off, you just have to be calm and prepare for any delays.
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I spend an hour each way on the commuter routes. Its fustrating but the trick is not to get angry as theres nothing you can do about it. But 4-6 hours by train! I couldn't keep calm for that long!
 
What is the problem with booking online before you turn up? I have been doing it for 6 years and never had ANY problems.

I mean yeah, I'd love to turn up at Euston on a Friday night and queue for a ticket but I could really think of better things to do with my time.

I really can't think of any reason to turn up on the day and getting your ticket if you know you are going before had, why not just book it in advance, turn up and get on?

And besides, if you know you are going far enough in advance why miss out on cheap single fares? I got to Leicester from London for £5 couple of weeks ago, you can't do that on the day! (unless you don't pay!)

And you can still use your YP railcard to book online anyway. And if you've never been able to get a seat by not booking, attempt to go anywhere on the mainline on a Sunday night, it isn't going to happen!

I use http://www.thetrainline.com/ for my bookings, they have a full list of what the ticket meanings are on there when you click on them
 
fatiain said:
Never, ever book train tickets online, I'd rather have root canal work without anaesthetic.
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Yeah! never do it! use it to find your journey but buy them at the station much easier!

Rich
 
It's sickeningly easy to do train tickets online - been using thetrainline a couple of times a month for over five years.

Select your journey.

Select your ticket (descriptions given).

Pay.

Pick up tickets.

VOILA! It doesn't take a brain surgeon...

*n
 
Brum Man said:
What is the problem with booking online before you turn up? I have been doing it for 6 years and never had ANY problems.

I mean yeah, I'd love to turn up at Euston on a Friday night and queue for a ticket but I could really think of better things to do with my time.

I really can't think of any reason to turn up on the day and getting your ticket if you know you are going before had, why not just book it in advance, turn up and get on?

And besides, if you know you are going far enough in advance why miss out on cheap single fares? I got to Leicester from London for £5 couple of weeks ago, you can't do that on the day! (unless you don't pay!)

And you can still use your YP railcard to book online anyway. And if you've never been able to get a seat by not booking, attempt to go anywhere on the mainline on a Sunday night, it isn't going to happen!

I use http://www.thetrainline.com/ for my bookings, they have a full list of what the ticket meanings are on there when you click on them
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Even thou say i wanted to go home that weekend, it doesn't mean i could. Being at uni means you don't know if the tutor is going to set some work for next week so I might have to say at uni and spent the weekend in the library. Or there could be a change of plans in the social scene, you might find out there's going to be a uber party that weekend, or you simply dunno if you can afford to go home until that week (cost me about £50 on the train from Brighton to Hereford, that was before the price hike couple months back).

So the only time i have ever booked a ticket home was one trip home on Christmas break, but it turns out the train wasn't full and I found a table seat free so in the end i actually ended up sitting not where i was supposed to anyway. Since then I've not book a single ticket, the most is i get it from the station the day before to avoid any queues to get tickets on the day.
 
^^ That's a fair enough reason, it just seemed that there was a thing about booking tickets in advance from most that have posted that made out it was some sort of nightmare procedure that someone should never do, when in a lot of cases it can be very useful when planning a journey in advance.

Mind you, I just hate standing in the queue at train stations. I always seem to get stuck behind some pleb that has no idea where the hell he is going or how to get there and takes them about 10 minutes to get a ticket!
 
Brum Man said:
Mind you, I just hate standing in the queue at train stations. I always seem to get stuck behind some pleb that has no idea where the hell he is going or how to get there and takes them about 10 minutes to get a ticket!
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EVERYTIME !!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:

I go up, say "Open return to destination" (while holding up railcard pressed against the glass), hand over debit card. Sign/pin, grab ticket and go to platform.
 
As an update to this.

Went back to Bristol on Friday night.
Had to change at Birmingham, not a problem, except the train that was going to take me in to Parkway was about an hour late...... great.

Hoping that the return journey would be more successfull. The train was 5 minutes late leaving Parkway, and was loosing time. Meaning I missed the connection from Birmingham to Stafford. I asked when the next train would be leaving for Stafford. And was told the wrong train - nearly ended up heading to machester without getting to stop. Eventually after an hour wait I get a train back to Stafford.

I still hate rail transport.
 
penski said:
It's sickeningly easy to do train tickets online - been using thetrainline a couple of times a month for over five years.

Select your journey.

Select your ticket (descriptions given).

Pay.

Pick up tickets.

VOILA! It doesn't take a brain surgeon...

*n
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Thats what I was thinking, you could even just get the train you need to get iwth out a ticket and pay on there.

KaHn
 
The train network here is steaming sack of **** On the rare occassion I get a train, it usually costs me double what it does in a car, and nearly always takes me twice as long if i'm lucky enough not to get delayed because they "cant find the driver".
 
I gotta say I quite like taking the train.

I live in Edinburgh and often go up to Aberdeen to visit family. I always book on thetrainline.com and usually get the GNER specials for £18 return. I pick my tickets up at the e-ticket machines and get on the train, usually half empty. Its pretty simple and easy.

I hate taking busses as you can't get up and walk around and there is a lot less legroom.
 
DiscoKandy said:
The train network here is steaming sack of **** On the rare occassion I get a train, it usually costs me double what it does in a car, and nearly always takes me twice as long if i'm lucky enough not to get delayed because they "cant find the driver".
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Heheh my work collegue was moaning about that one this morning. One of the more 'interesting' excuses for a late train :D
 
London to Newcastle return but car ~ £100 and 6 hours each way by car.
Alternatively I can get a first class return on the train that takes just over 3 hours each way and costs ~£70.

Aye, it's a no brainer alright.

Call me crazy, You could always book on the phone you know, then you're getting someone else to do all the work for you.
 
Bristol Parkway always sucks for connections. When I was coming back from Swansea, I missed the connection by 20mins because of some problem with the train.
Don't usually have much trouble at New Street though as there seems to be quite regular trains to Stafford. However, I don't tend to ask people for advice, I just look at the various signs instead or look it up on my phone.
 
Always use thetrainline.com here to get my tickets from Sheffield -> Derby and I've not had a problem so far. Would drive except I don't have a driving license yet :p
 
[DOD]Asprilla said:
London to Newcastle return but car ~ £100 and 6 hours each way by car.
Alternatively I can get a first class return on the train that takes just over 3 hours each way and costs ~£70.

Aye, it's a no brainer alright.
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That's pretty cheap £70 and where's the cost savings if 2 or 3 of you travel by car. This is why I think Trains are a rip off. If 2/3/4 of you travel it is so much cheaper and most routes are much faster by car.
 
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