The joy of commuting by trains in the UK: waking up early to check if the trains are running on time, or whether I need to plan a different route.
@neil it is deranged. My return to London isn’t as bad as yours (about £40), but if I want to take the family into Brighton (which is closer than London, and a much nicer place) it’s several hundred pounds and multiple hours to go by train, versus a 40 minute drive that costs less than a fiver in electricity (yes plus parking, but even that only adds about £25).
@neil the scary part is that they make Herculean efforts to ensure that the commuter trains run on time, because it affects the most people. (And most refund-savvy folks at that)
Travelling off-peak on trains is a disaster. Weekday afternoons services just evaporate. Weekends? Lol.
Of course, the answer is the extraction of profit, the lack of capacity and redundancy, the poor treatment of staff etc.
Glad I don't live in Leeds any more. Until recently, trains were still made out of old buses.
@neil I'm also commuting today and lucky to be far enough out to get a seat. Not sure how it will be on the DLR later
It was showing as "on time" when I left home.
Running two minutes late when I arrived at the platform.
Now delayed indefinitely, with advice to wait for the next one, assuming that that turns up.
No wonder people drive.
@neil I was once taking my bike on the train, but I ended up cycling the whole way as the train kept getting delayed indefinitely.
I messed up once! I had my folding bike with me, and the train stopped unexpectedly at Hayes and Harlington.
I had not appreciated just how far it would be to cycle from there to Westminster, but hey, I made it.
@neil like there’s never crashes or roadworks on the road.
@neil is this another case of "UK public transport used to be excellent and then Thatcher happened?"
£70 for my 45-ish minute trip to London and back today, with underground.
I prefer taking public transport, but sometimes the for-profit transport companies do make driving seem attractive. (Sure, there could be jams etc.)
@neil Ouch! Split fares any good? Mine goes down from about £83 to £67 if I get a batch of 3 journeys to take me from home to Victoria.
@neil The fares go straight to the DfT these days, and the TOCs yet to be nationalised are paid a management fee to run the franchise.
@neil yep, I have zero expectation of being able to get rid of the car in this lifetime - despite it being an easy walk to a major train station. 🙄
@neil 😱
And as it happens, I was reading the @terrybot earlier for a post, and this one came up:
I must confess the the activities of the UK governments for the past couple of years have been watched with frank admiration and amazement by Lord Vetinari. Outright theft as a policy had never occurred to him.
-- (Terry Pratchett, alt.fan.pratchett)
@neil apropos of rail journeys costing ~£70, though not involving London, obviously 😄
They've found the train!
Oddly enough, it was on the line where it was last seen.
So a few minutes late.
It was "due to the driver resetting a piece of equipment while stopped at Pewsey".
So perhaps they had to turn the train off then on again.
@neil Damn trains getting up and wondering off. So unreliable.
@neil flashbacks to the one time I had to get a season ticket and the reactions of the other people in the queue while I was making a £10k+ card transaction.
It was expensed in that case, but, whew
@neil so obviously the solution will be more subsidies for automakers
@neil same in Germany 😅
@neil And don't forget to pray it doesn't fall apart in the small time between you leaving the house and arriving at the station.
@gilester45 Aha, it was you who jinxed it! I thought as much :)
@neil Haha oops. To be honest I often forget to check GWR on my London office days, I just arrive at the station and play Russian Roulette with the departures board. Then swear loudly if my usual 0600 is delayed.
@neil Or indeed running at all, since it rained heavily last night, so chances are the track will be flooded AGAIN.
