I now commute by train - 50% of the time!

My job has relocated so I have tried the train as it looked cheap and easy. Quite a big thing going on over the last few years trying to get more people to use public transport. So far in six days I have had 3x delays and 2x cancellations. Fortunately I had my mountain bike and had to ride from one station to the next (7 miles) to get a connection. It was minus 4 so I was not pleased.

Public transport stinks and now I know why most people take the car or bike. I will try it one more week then throw in the towel.

Rant over, have a nice day peeps

trains can be a real pain. I used to do an 80 mile each way comute by train 5 days a week, and when there were delays it really got me down. Bear with it though mate - i think this has just been an unusually bad week. I always found that they would run on time almost everyday for a couple of months and then u'd get the wrong type of leaves, or a some rain or something and they'd be delays and cancellations for a week before things got back to normal.

Bloody hell..! Which train line do you use? If its the West Coast main line then its just having a bad week or two (after a plane crashed into the tracks and now power line faults). It might not be so bad once it gets sorted.

Public transport is ok....when it works! When it doesn't work then blimey it really doesnt and makes your journey hell.

Hope the next week isn't so bad for you.

Maria

our rail links and lines were predominantly built 100 years ago, so its no wonder they can't cope. the infrastructure is poor at best, as you say the government want us to use public transport more but why would you when its permanently shocking?

japan has a fantastic train service as we know, wanna know why? cos its modern! whats the answer? shut up, i've just come on here to moan. chuck loads of money at it, and i mean billions. but that aint gonna happen cos joe modern dont want to have a hike in taxes

Originally Posted by keithd

the government want us to use public transport more but why would you when its permanently shocking?

and expensive. and goes the long way round. Example..it takes me 1.5 / 2 hours to get to hillingdon hospital by train. It takes 40 mins by car.


Maria

Originally Posted by Miss Alpinestarhero

and goes the long way round.

Maria

exactly! we need more door to door trains!!

[Gazza77]

Originally Posted by SV-net

My job has relocated so I have tried the train as it looked cheap and easy. Quite a big thing going on over the last few years trying to get more people to use public transport. So far in six days I have had 3x delays and 2x cancellations. Fortunately I had my mountain bike and had to ride from one station to the next (7 miles) to get a connection. It was minus 4 so I was not pleased.

Public transport stinks and now I know why most people take the car or bike. I will try it one more week then throw in the towel.

Rant over, have a nice day peeps

Strange, I have used the train for nearly 3 years on a daily basis, and it's rarely that bad. Most problems we suffer are caused by pikeys stealing the signalling cable, which whilst annoying I do appreciate is beyond the control of the train co.

In fact, in my 9 journey so far this week I have been on time every time which if I can make it home ok tonight must be some sort of record.

If I could get a session ticket that let me travel only the time I need then that would help. As I don't go to Nodnol every day of the week or travel all days of the week I'd have to pay a whole month and waste some of it. Its no good just using a train as I would be a hour late for my Monday morning early shift.

Trains are better than buses, but really they're both utter crap. I've been having to rely on buses all my life (except for a glorious 2 years where me ma had a car lol) and I really hate the things. Takes me 2 and a half/going on 3 hours to get to YC's house when actually its only really half an hour over the hill on the bike, gah. Wish I could afford to drive, I will ride in the summer dammit!

Trains are perfect for if you are travelling to and from major cities, and if it's long distance.

For local travelling, it's rubbish!
I live on one side of Manchester and commute to the other side of Manchester - not that hard a task in theory when there are train stations within 5 minutes walk of my home and my work, however it means getting a slow local train from home to near Manchester, and transferring to another slow local train from near Manchester to work, and takes roughly an hour and a half!!!

I can do the same trip, during peak rush hour!, in 40/60 minutes in my car, baring in mind it's a 25 mile journey... and also do it in 30 minutes when I go in on the bike!

Although it might mean that including wear and tear on the car/bike, it works out more expensive, I'd already be paying to own the car/bike anyway, so with the cost of the train being more expensive than my cost of petrol, it really isn't even worthwhile financially unless I got rid of both - which I'm just not going to do anytime soon...