Public transport in the sticks

[Charles Morgan]

sucks.

I had a hand op so for 4 weeks afterwards couldn't drive. I caught the bus into Slough once to go shopping - £9.20 return to go 3 miles and back.

Then I had to go for an eye test at High Wycombe - the pupil is dilated so you can't drive for six hours. A shame because it is only 15 mins drive but two hours on the bus with all the changing. Or it would be if the bus hadn't come 5 mins early so I missed it.

Then I had to pick up my new XM in Harpenden today (30 miles away). Just under 2 hours rail and underground, but the local bus arrives about a minute before the train is due, so you have to wait 30 mins. Well, that is if it is on time. I stood at the bus stop for an hour. 3 and a half hours to do a route that takes 30 minutes in a car.

If only the local minicabs could find my house...

 

[guydewdney]

I used to live in central Slough and work on the trading estate. Once, just once, I tried the bus. waited 45 minutes, got charged about a fiver, journey was 10 minutes, could have walked in half an hour, was late for work.

never again

Until last weekend, had to get back from wolverhampton. Train station in Middle-Of-Nowhere had gert big signs saying that unless you have a ticket you will get a 1000 pound fine. No ticket office or machine. No directions. No signs. Train itself, to be fair was air-con'd and not too bad. Arrive at the hell-hole that is brum new street. Find machine to buy ticket, all easy. Nothing then to tell me where to get, when or how to get the train that I have just bought a ticket for. Aimless wander like a zombie. Second or third choice of 'exit' following do I find a bank of led signs with train routes. Find train I need. Platform 12B. Ahha. Nope. No signs for 12B - signs for 0-11 yes..... ask muppet at ticket checking desk (behind which is signs telling you where to go - but too far to read unless you pass the aforementioned muppet) - ask where 12B is - he says -"we dont do platforms"... huh? Find a sign the size of a packet of fags with "12----->" on it - so follow it to the right. Get told no - its round the corner. Find sign for 12A, nothing for 12B. Eventually wander down dead end looking corridor to find hogwarts - no - 12B. literally NO signs. well, none that I could see.

wait on platform. sign says 1- cardiff 2 - penzance (mine) 3- terminates. Right, headphones on and listed to historical documentary about the templars. Look back up - 2-penzance has disappeared! arrrrgh! Luckily just a glitch, and train arrives only 20 minutes late.....

sod that for a game of soldiers.

 

[trapperjohn]

Trains and Buses, our daughter refers to them as "peasant wagons" She would rather drive her Renault Kangoo than take a bus !!

 

[Chrishazle]

Same in our neck of the woods. A couple of years ago we needed to train to London and beyond to collect the 968 cab. Bus from here to Ashford Station for 2 cost over £5, 24 hours parking in Ashford station £4 - no contest! Left car at station and collected it on the way home.

 

[guydewdney]

out of interest, why, with a single hand op, couldnt you drive? there are plenty of adaptations out there for disabled drivers - even tetraplegics (ie with no or limited 'grip'). My wife drives with one hand for steering, the other for throttle/brake (paraplegic - ie legs dont work)

unless you didnt feel safe, in which case I applaud your self sacrifice for others.

I had carpal tunnel done last year, just used her steering knobble thingy.

 

[Piff]

Year before last decided on summer holiday, flight from Gatwick.
Thought we would take the train -just as cheap as driving & airport carpark.

Journey to Gatwick eventfull as trains late & limited time to cross London to connect to Gatwick train - but ok.

Return - straight from airport to Gatwick express into London in early hours of morning. Tube station for connection to Liverpool Street closed
Asked passing official to be told tube network closes overnight & to try busses.
Out of station to bus layby. waited & bus eventually arrived - train/tube ticket not valid
Helpful bus driver allowed us on and told us where to get off.
Liverpool Street - no trains to Ipswich until approx 7.00am (can't remember exact time). Tickets we held were for off peak travel. Enquired at ticket office & were advised to wait until off peak times or pay a supplement to take 1st train of the day to Ipswich.

Paid the supplement as had already waited hours.

Public transport is not all that it is supposed to be

 

[abecketts]

Had to use the train to go and collect out E240 from near Haywards Heath, needed to persuade the boss to drop me at Westbury Station 9 miles away, train to Salisbury change to a train to Basingstoke and then change for a train to Clapham Junction and then change to Haywards Heath. £28 all in was not too bad but the 3 hour journey was a little challenging. If any of the connections had gone wrong then it could have added 30 mins to each step of the journey. The trip home was much nicer.

 

[davidjpowell]

As a rule I find trains not too bad, if a little expensive. I do wish they would clean the loo's more often though. It's when you can smell them from inside the carriage that it get's unpleasant.

Of course when it goes wrong they do struggle to cope. We had it travelling down to London when a train had pulled down 2 miles of overhead cables. Got there in the end.

Had similar issues to Pif returning from Gatwick. I missed the obvious connection, believing the route that I'd been given to go via Gatwick Express would be correct. Would have made far more sense to get the Luton train, that stops in St Pancreas, next door to Kings Cross....

 

[johnsco]

My last three attempts at using the train from Yorkshire to London have been a disaster of utter frustration.
I could write a book !!
Never again ... If I can help it.

 

[Ted]

I use buses/trains etc about once a year.
I have always been pleasantly surprised.

Megabus cheap/cheerful, reliable and on time.
Airport buses cheap, well equipped, on time and excellent drivers
Trains - always pretty much on time but expensive. The train from St Pancras to Ashford is particularly impressive.

 

[baxlin]

Must use my bus pass more often...............

 

[grober]

Advocates of public transport [ and railways by definition have to be included in that] tend to base their analysis on the "hub and spokes" model-- where people from various disparate origins all converge on a single central destination. This works reasonably well but woe betide you if you wish to travel directly from one "spoke end " to another further round the rim. The fixed configuration and direction of travel of public transport systems are both its strength and weakness. A fact often overlooked by its advocates.

 

[brucemillar]

In Kent I believe that we no longer have First Class seating on the buses (disgraceful). Also they have done away with the Times Newspaper on the upper deck (viewing gallery).

I live in he sticks. One of the last buses that came by crashed into the rather quaint village bush shelter (I am not making this up). Two years on there is still a pile of bricks and roof tiles to denote where the bust stop is.

The Locals got together and now run a "Community Bus". This is driven by local volunteers. To qualify for free transport you must be able to demonstrate a healthy whiff of wee & mothballs.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Having lived in London for years you get used to the notion of there being buses, tubes, trains and taxis on your doorstep that take you all over in relative comfort.

The trains here are not bad (if only there was a sort of train M25) but there is no coordination with local bus routes - whichever train it is, the bus arrives a minute before or after it has left - so you end up getting there half an hour in advance, and because you can't rely on the bus turning up on time, you end up allowing an hour to travel 2 miles.

As to why I couldn't drive Guy - I was advised not to, and a month without driving was hardly a burden!

 

[Satch]

Bus service from my village simply does not exist.

This is of course hotly disputed by the powers that be, i.e.

Theory

Runs once per hour to nearest town with railway station, 5 days per week, 07.15 to 18.15, providing a " robust and viable transport link for the local community"

Reality

Impossible to get on the 07.15 or 08.15. They do not stop, having been filled to capacity at earlier stops, mostly schoolchildren.

Later buses run at random or not at all owing to "unforeseen driver and/or vehicle shortages".

What should be a 10 minute journey into town takes a timetabled 57 minutes, because bus operates on a one way circular route.

Cash bus fare £6.70

Via local Minicab: £5.50-£6.00

Net result is that outside the early morning & mid afternoon school rush, any bus that does run has a few bus pass holders or nobody on board.

 

[brucemillar]

So here is another conundrum in Kent.

My daughters are eligible for a "Kent Freedom Pass" brilliant idea aimed at getting kids to use public transport and stop mums blocking the roads on school runs.

My daughters both have a "Kent Freedom Pass". So what possible problem could there be with such a well thought
out scheme?


Hmmm. Medway declared itself not to be in Kent and therefore will not allow the Kent Freedom Pass to be accepted on it's buses. A quick check on any maps since map making began will show you that Medway is indeed in Kent. Our local MP agrees it is in Kent and so do the people of Medway. That is apart from Medway Council who decided that Medway may well be "in" Kent on the Map but it is not in Kent if you are a Council. So my daughters (along with many others) cannot use the Kent Freedom Pass and are back in the car twice a day to get to and from school.

So well done Medway Council and your empty heavily subsidised Bus company.

To anybody heading into Kent please be sure to pay attention at the Medway Border Crossings.

 

[st13phil]

London's public transport system is so different to that elsewhere in the country as to be irrelevant as an indicator as to whether public transport is any good or not. With a few exceptions, if you live outside London public transport is dire and totally inadequate. Something that its advocates would do well to experience before demanding further anti-car legislation.

 

[Sp!ke]

The thing is that public transport is so expensive that it is cost prohibitive even if it was efficient.

Who can afford to take the train anywhere anymore? I booked a one way ticket from Pool back to london a couple of years ago and it was £90 each (for 4)

 

[Satch]

London's public transport system is so different to that elsewhere in the country as to be irrelevant as an indicator as to whether public transport is any good or not. With a few exceptions, if you live outside London public transport is dire and totally inadequate. Something that its advocates would do well to experience before demanding further anti-car legislation.

Since they all seem to live in Islington, Hoxton or Cla'am, not going to happen.

A friend of mine has a stepdaughter who is rabidly anti car, a spoilt, gobby little cow with no sense who usually lives with her natural father, strangely enough an academic whose field is Mass Urban Transport.

So last Christmas & New Year she and her equally right on boyfriend accept an invitation from mother and my friend but insist they will not fly or drive as there is perfectly good public transport available.

Fair to say she was less than impressed with the rail journey to Inverness, which was a nightmare of drunken overcrowding on the first leg and missed connections thereafter.

Having also declined the offer of being picked up from Inverness and being well late the shortcomings of the available public transport links to Gairloch became very clear:

http://scottishhillsbybusandtrain.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Westerbus.pdf

Now you can get a taxi for about £100 ish if you book, but if you pitch up at 23.00 on a Friday night expect to become a victim.

She moaned for days but still put all the blame on there being "too many cars because of low taxes on cars", because if there were far less, then it was absolutely obvious that better public transport links would simply be put in place.

 

[pipmk]

Trains and Buses, our daughter refers to them as "peasant wagons" She would rather drive her Renault Kangoo than take a bus !!

Lord, that must be a hard choice to make, Kangoo or bus,guess the decider was having to pay on the bus.