4 ms·

£100 a month? It’s £200 return for a day for Bristol to London - and that’s if the train gets you there, and doesn’t dump you somewhere outside of Chippenham be

£100 a month? It’s £200 return for a day for Bristol to London - and that’s if the train gets you there, and doesn’t dump you somewhere outside of Chippenham because it’s the wrong kind of sunny today and the rails have buckled, or it’s cold and the rails have frozen, or it’s raining and the train is poorly with diesel cholera. All of these are acts of god, of course, so aren’t compensatable events.

rich_sasha 5y ago
There’s also “leaves on the track”, my personal favourite. Sometimes I struggle to believe trains were invented in the UK!
- cosmodisk 5y ago
  This one,albeit sounding funny,is a pretty serious issue: leaves get crushed under the weight of a train and eventually form a teflon like film on the tracks, which makes it very slippery. Not an expert in this area,so no idea how it's dealt with in various countries. My favourite is: the carriage is deflated. People couldn't stop laughing when told so, but what it meant in reality is that the support cushions deflated and the carriage can't have passengers on board.
  - kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
    Most systems with wet leaf problems use sand dispensers for added traction.
    - madaxe_again 5y ago
      And there’s the rub. Is that network rail’s problem, or the operator’s? Network rails’s rails... operator’s train wheels, leaves in the middle. The leaves are undefined, and are therefore probably nobody’s problem but the passengers’.
slifin 5y ago
Yep just wanted to echo this I live in Bristol and have been stung by outrageous tickets prices too many times It's buses or coaches only now, I'm not surprised everyone drives here
- yakshaving_jgt 5y ago
  The last time I had to travel from London to Bristol and back, I rented a car from Heathrow airport and it cost me a quarter of the price the train would. It takes the same amount of time, but the car is more comfortable and worse for the environment. The system is so broken in the UK.
petepete 5y ago
£100 per month for six miles each way when bought as a season ticket. A Bristol to London season ticket is £1300 per month for ~120 miles each way. Bargain!
thorin 5y ago
Something like 160 pounds at peak time from Nottingham to London. Service is good but it's just inconceivable that private individuals would be paying that, all the travelers are on expenses or are self employed contractors/consultants. When I started working and up till about 2005 the same journey was about 40 pounds - a massive increase!
7952 5y ago
Problem is that there is massive pent up demand. Cheaper tickets mean more people travelling longer distances to work when there isn't capacity. The last thing we need is even more regular commuting to London from outside greater London. This demand is caused by high house prices and lack of opportunities outside of the SE. Trains are a sticky plaster that gives lots of subsidy to middle class commuters whilst local bus services are cut. Distance is also environmentally problematic regardless of mode of transport.

rich_sasha 5y ago

There’s also “leaves on the track”, my personal favourite. Sometimes I struggle to believe trains were invented in the UK!

cosmodisk 5y ago
This one,albeit sounding funny,is a pretty serious issue: leaves get crushed under the weight of a train and eventually form a teflon like film on the tracks, which makes it very slippery. Not an expert in this area,so no idea how it's dealt with in various countries. My favourite is: the carriage is deflated. People couldn't stop laughing when told so, but what it meant in reality is that the support cushions deflated and the carriage can't have passengers on board.
- kevin_thibedeau 5y ago
  Most systems with wet leaf problems use sand dispensers for added traction.
  - madaxe_again 5y ago
    And there’s the rub. Is that network rail’s problem, or the operator’s? Network rails’s rails... operator’s train wheels, leaves in the middle. The leaves are undefined, and are therefore probably nobody’s problem but the passengers’.

slifin 5y ago

Yep just wanted to echo this I live in Bristol and have been stung by outrageous tickets prices too many times It's buses or coaches only now, I'm not surprised everyone drives here

yakshaving_jgt 5y ago
The last time I had to travel from London to Bristol and back, I rented a car from Heathrow airport and it cost me a quarter of the price the train would. It takes the same amount of time, but the car is more comfortable and worse for the environment. The system is so broken in the UK.

petepete 5y ago

£100 per month for six miles each way when bought as a season ticket. A Bristol to London season ticket is £1300 per month for ~120 miles each way. Bargain!

thorin 5y ago

Something like 160 pounds at peak time from Nottingham to London. Service is good but it's just inconceivable that private individuals would be paying that, all the travelers are on expenses or are self employed contractors/consultants. When I started working and up till about 2005 the same journey was about 40 pounds - a massive increase!

7952 5y ago

Problem is that there is massive pent up demand. Cheaper tickets mean more people travelling longer distances to work when there isn't capacity. The last thing we need is even more regular commuting to London from outside greater London. This demand is caused by high house prices and lack of opportunities outside of the SE. Trains are a sticky plaster that gives lots of subsidy to middle class commuters whilst local bus services are cut. Distance is also environmentally problematic regardless of mode of transport.