British Rail

[zimzam]

This is a moan. Motorists are taxed to the hilt and soon will pay tolls for using major motorways, all with the aim of forcing us to use public transport. I saw last night that the SW train service is of course not running Xmas day or Boxing Day BUT 27th, 28th and 29th are running only as a Sunday service. Now go figure! I appreciate train drivers are entitled to a Xmas holiday but if there was a normal service and maybe a few more trains at this time then more people would use the train service in preference. People want to visit friends and relatives and have a drink or two so a train is a good alternative.

Example - from my home to bristol airport is a 2 hour drive and 92 miles at a cost of about �12 in petrol. if I went by train I have to drive 9 miles to the station, get a train taking me 50 miles in the wrong direction, change trains twice and get a taxi from bristol station to the airport. The train fare is about �34 travelling time 4 hours and that is on a normal daily service timetable, so it would be 6-7 hours on the sunday timetable, then add cost to get to my rail station here and get a taxi at the other end of my journey. Who on earth wants to travel by train?

[ugly_bob]

why are they running sunday service 27th/28th/29th? they're not bank holidays.

It cost me �69 one way from York to Stevenage on an off-peak ticket. That's ridiculous. And it took the same 3 hours as it would have done to drive once I had waited for the train etc.

[mushroom25]

according to their website, SWT are running a Saturday service. Portsmouth is blockaded (bus to petersfield/fareham), reading-portsmouth services aren't running to reading and there's work at Byfleet affecting local services, otherwise their network looks pretty much OK.

[zimzam]

Try the Virgin Network in the South West. I assure you on the news last night we were informed that we have a Sunday service. I live in the boonies now and gone are the days I used to commute from Portsmouth Harbour to Waterloo daily - Maybe my moan should be geared to the services in just this area?

[mushroom25]

just tried virgintrains - they are running a more or less normal service 27th-29th on their cross country routes.
http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/travelling_with_ us/our_network/timetables/default.aspx
FGW local services are also operating to a saturday timetable.
I don't doubt what was said on the news, but it's defo incorrect.

[freak_unique]

Ugh im equally as annoyed as you are with trains, centraltrains have decided to go on strike , so no trains at all on xmas eve, and new years eve and new years day may be a severly poor service if we are lucky! if not thern there may be no trains if staf dont volunteer to work!!!

[zimzam]

freak_unique, I think you have understood my moan.....why should we opt for trains that will take longer (irrespective of this time of year) to reach our destination and cost us far more in costs and travelling time than it does to get in a car and simply drive there direct! If tickets were cheaper I would actually use a train and would not mind the extra time in travelling, but right now I don't feel disposed to spend double in money and treble my time to travel on a train to go anywhere. The railways are a business but if they would only consider small profit, quick return and lower their costs I would use a train in preference. At Christmas time when people would like to drink (and therefore not drive) and would probably opt to use a train they are scuppered with the sunday timetable and also the exorbitant high cost. Where is the sense?? I actually worked out that to visit friends in my car would take me 2 hours travelling and �20 in petrol - to go by train would cost me �60 and to come home the same day would give me aq mere 20 minutes at my destination ( their local station) before I needed to get a train back home!

[mushroom25]

when you quote 2hr travelling to bristol airport, do you add in the 30mn necessary to arrive from the remote car park? or, if you park on the airport itself, do you include the high cost of the car park per day in the equation?

notwithstanding the cost of public transport vs a car, there are still times when the train does it for me -
- if the train is late and I miss my flight, I can claim on my holiday insurance. If my car breaks down or I get stuck in the traffic & miss my flight, tough.

[lady_p_gold]

Well of course there is no such thing as British Rail and the competition is supposed to make it better, but it often doesn't. However am I right in thinking that if you bought your tickets ahead, a bit like Easyjet then they would have been much much cheaper ???