Please may I rant?

I can barely type as the seat pitch is not wide enough to open my laptop on this train - but thanks for the ironic powerpoint!

I am no fan of UK public transport as I consider it uneconomical, dirty, unpleasant, often hazardous and unreliable. However my company has been bitten by a green bug and is now insisting I use 'public' transport where possible.

I have not used public transport in over 5 years (except when abroad) and I am horrified by the lack of progress and the horrific cost.

For the record I left london at 2125 and am still barely near Wales by 00:55. On the way out this morning they had an 'overheated axle' and I missed my meeting at 10:00 by an hour.

They want over £100 for a return Cardiff to Paddington, and they suffer more breakdowns than the average Trabant.

I'll button it now, but, how DARE the gvt tax my MUCH more fuel efficient 45mpg Beemer when they can do barely more than guarantee fat cat bonuses for Rail Co's.

It is as cr@p and worse than third world as ever and I will have NOTHING to do with it anymore. You poor commuters (who already know this -despite your Oyster card to avoid punitive travel cost like visitors suffer).

Arghhhhh!

D

 

Surely your company will change their mind if it's costing them that much more and also you're missing meetings.

 

nah, the green company attitude will just be to get an earlier train

 

I take the train if I'm going into London and generally things run on time and are okay. If I go anywhere else, the train is expensive, late and generally inconvenient.

I had the pleasure of being in Sunderland last week and the cost of the train plus taxi was far more expensive than me driving. I actually like driving of course, which helps with the 6 hour journey ...

Steve

 

I sometimes go to London at short notice so can't pre-book a ticket. Turn up and pay Crewe > London return is £170 for standard class! If I drive down it costs circa £25 in fuel, £10 to park and £8 congestion charge (congestion charge - hah!). Even if you add another £20 for motoring costs (insurance etc), where is the incentive to use the train?

Sure the train is maybe 30 minutes quicker (taking into account getting across London on the tube (oh joy!), waiting at Euston etc) but driving I don't have to put up with the hoi-poley.

I had chance to pre-book yesterday but when I found my reserved seat for the trip down, the bloke in the other seat in the pair was so fat, he took half of my seat as well

 

I have to agree that Public Transport sucks. I will catch the train if going to central London but at over £120 it's usually cheaper to potter down the night before in the car and stay in a hotel a couple of miles away and arrive relaxed and refreshed for a meeting.

 

I made the mistake of using the train to get to wembly yesterday; there not a problem geting back a nightmare ridiculous system and its faster driving.

 

My boss always insists on catching the train up to our Manchester office (from Nottingham), I drive, he usually get's stuck at Stoke and it ends up taking him far longer and costing more than it costs me to drive. Of course he's then all flustered at being late arriving for meetings. Why do people put themseleves through it?

ETA: actually I know why my boss doesn't drive, he's trying to keep the mileage down on his new Merc SL

 

Public transport is an utter joke!
Hate it, rarely use it, only when I cant drive.

Pricing is certainly NOT an incentive to use it. All this pre booked, planned journies, pre payed etc.
So you cant just decide spur of the moment to go somewhere!

All rubbish. As for the tube...... dont go there!

 

But go to just about any country in Europe and it's a whole different story.

 

Hmmmmmmmmm, yes and no.

We have a property in France, around 30 miles SW of Limoges. The nearest station I can go to is 30 miles, Limoges, Aixe sur Vienne, or St Junien, the last two being on branch lines that only serve a few places very slowly.

However, fares are relatively cheap, the trains are clean and run on time and they are modern.

Buses: around 4 a day near us, long distances only. Bus stop 3 miles.

Taxis: expensive, and rare.

Alcazar

 

Like I said, whole different story, none of that applies to the UK

 

In the old days of nationalised transport it was all done for the sake of the user and not as a profit making organisation for the investors. The ticket prices were easily affordable, and even with older transport if the seats were less comfortable, you still got to your destination safely since the infrastructure was well maintained instead of penny pinching to save money for the shareholders.

It was necessary for the rail services to get subsidies to achieve this but the sums were small and well worth it for the general convenience of the travelling public.

Nothing seesm to be done for the welfare of the public any more, rather how much money can they squeeze out of the public for their own profit.

Les

 

I commute into London most days. I am blessed in that I don't have to take the tube. The main line into Euston isn't too bad as I get a seat virtually every morning but by the time we arrive at Harrow it's sardines for those that get on the train there.

The trains largely run to time and although the seats are not particularly comfortable, I can relax and read a book - something I wouldn't be able to do if driving.

I concede that it's not very nice at times: It's cold in the winter and hot in the summer - people who don't use deoderant should be shot. I've had to$$ers cough all over me, only for me to catch whatever they have had.

£2000 p.a. for the privilege (plus another £600 if you want the tube) but I arrive much less stressed than if I had driven and it takes be about an hour, door to door.

 

Audio Books

 

I travel from Bookham to Woking everyday and I am happy with the service it's just the cost that annoys me. It costs me £195 a month for the ticket plus another £35 a month to park at the station. Obviously I would prefer to drive to work but unfortunately there is no parking within a 20 minute walk.

The stop before mine is for Guildford College which I guess is at least some compensation...

 

Booked propped on the steering wheel and cruise control enabled whilst on the M40

 

You want to be careful doing that mate, you might spill your beer!

 

Les

 

I'll use the train if I go to London because its easy to get on at Crewe and then it's straight through to Euston. That's the only time I'll ever use public transport, I really dislike it. The prices however are stupid if you don't book in advance and travel at a reasonable hour (about £150 return the last time I went).
To be honest I'd rather spend 5 hours in a car than 3 hours on a train, at least there's some decent leg room and heating in a car. Oh, and the car's a lot cheaper too.

 

See above - standard day return Crewe <> Euston is £170 or £175 with Zone 1 underground. Then it's £6 per day to park at the station. Bargain!

 

I would have got a chauffeur drive car for that price with an evening meal and just possibly a hooker thrown in too.
hmmm that option or the train. let me think.

 

I'm very pleased that I no longer commute on public transport. It is for the most part a thoroughly unpleasant experience. The tube last summer was unbearable - we wouldn't transport cattle to a slaughter house in conditions like that.

There was a great piece on Pistonheads today about government plans to introduce speed restrictors on company cars to make them more 'green'!

 

Can't fault our public transport, the buses are spotless and run on time and very frequently, the S-Bahn trains are punctual to the second and clean and quite. The regional trains are punctual, clean and quiet. There is also a shuttle train that flits back and forth all day accross town and it is always there to meet the next train and start all over again, if for some reason the train is late it waits. Tickets are reasonable and you can get a ticket for 5 people to travel on for 12 euros I think or you can get a weekend train ticket that you can use to flit around the whole country on using regional trains rather than the ICE trains for about 21 euros. However you can only travel for 3 hours at a time, so you need to change trains every 3 hours or summat.

You lot really do need a revolution

 

Only time I go on train is to get to London as from Reading its about 25 mins on a fast train to Paddington. Normally £17 for a offpeak return travelcard (so can use tube). But if you get a Southwest trains card for £20 you save 1/3 so around £11.60 which tbh is not bad at all.

Simon

 

I was in Germany with work earlier in the year. Went from Frankfurt Airport to Wuerzburg and the train was nice. IIRC the ticket was about 55 euros. When train arrived on platform some funky steps came down for you to board. Seats were comfy with headphone sockets and powerpoints. Very clean and tidy. Wireless internet if you use T-mobile hotspots and one carriage for a bar which I was amazed at how you could leave your beer on a flat table and it not fall over lol.

Simon

 

I rest my case