To think that if you haven't booked a seat on a busy train

[MrsSchadenfreude]

You don't stand huffing loudly about young people having no manners and children should be sitting on their parents' laps, and leaning heavily on people who have reserved seats? Train to Cornwall, Bank Holiday weekend, was never going to be empty.

The rules usually state that if the reserved seat is not taken up a few minutes after the train leaves the relevant station, then it is fine for someone else to occupy that seat. Equally it is easy to look at the ticket reservation and see what part of the journey it is reserved for - so again fine to sit in that seat for a different segment of the journey.

jacks11
For example, cinema tickets are cheaper for children but they still take a seat. Should children be turfed out if an adult wants to watch a fully booked showing? If not, why not?
I don't disagree with some of the points you have made, but the analogy you make here doesn't really stand up as obviously for a cinema screening only as many tickets are sold as there are seats. Obviously if only as many train tickets were sold as there were seats then the problem would disappear (apart from those nitwits who think that their suitcase is entitled to a seat) but then there would be no such thing as an open ticket.

Threenme YANBU OP but I'm useless! My bum would literally burn if I was sat down and an elderly person was stood next to me!

Literally? No it wouldn't. Unless you genuinely do spontaneously self-combust, and surely then it'd only happen the once...

I fucking hate that train (live in Cornwall).

Tickets on seats clearly show the part of the journey the seat is reserved for - so fine to sit on it outside that time. Also, if reserved seat isn't taken up, it's usually obvious in 5 mns after the train leaves the station.

Shots fired: You are right it would not literally burn I was speaking metaphorically, what a fool I am! I hope your Monday is better for pointing out my hideous faux par!

Faux pas

(Mental image of ladies on trains randomly going kaboom like popcorn is quite funny** and did indeed make me chuckle today!)

Then you should get out more

Not big or clever shots

Guess my attempt at silly humour didn't work then

Sorry for any offence caused, was just being lighthearted.

My journeys on the London/Manchester and London/Leeds runs are always booked weeks on advance and I book a table seat. And sure enough, the family group shows up insisting that they must have a table and that people's like me don't need to sit at a table, we can have a seat back in our faces, why are people so selfish?

On both routes there is an unreserved coach. But the moment the platform is announced that gets filled, tables of course first, by fit people with no children in tow. It would, wouldn't it?

My friend found her resrrved table seat occupied and the woman in it refused to move. My friend then sat on the table and proceeded to fart repeatedly on it it worked though, as the woman did move

When I'm travelling alone I choose an airline-style seat.

I'd rather have "a seat back in my face" than find myself sharing a table with 3 people who are together and want to talk.

But that's my preference - if anyone prefers a table seat and can book one, then it is theirs to sit at.

I remember boarding a London to Glasgow train at 36wks pregnant, had a seat reservation in 1st but as we boarded staff announced the overhead thingy showing seat numbers was broke so just to "sit anywhere as we're quiet" - I picked a random seat in the 1st class carriage that I had a reservation for.

45 minutes into the journey the overhead things came on, guy and his wife in their 50/60s got up from where they were sitting literally 2 rows down, came along the carriage and demanded that I move from their seats. I shit you not, there were 5 of us in the carriage and all other seats were "unreserved" 😳😳

People turn into funny creatures as soon as they board public transport........

I need to know if anyone got off at Taunton OP!

It is nt possible to reserve a seat, some people travel at short notice and or do nt know which train they are catching, often due to work commitments. Contrary to what's on this thread I see the child free as important as families,

Everyone is equal Northern, which is why you won't find me moving my boys for you. If you were injured or pregnant enough to pop I'd surrender my own reserved seat for you.

Contrary to what some people think, age doesn't offer anybody dibs on seats.

Sparkle, do calm down ! One person got off at Taunton and his seat was taken by a man whose two kids had been squeezed onto one seat - he then had the littlest one on his lap. It was luck that he got that seat as he just happened to be standing right by it when the chap got on. More people got on at Taunton and it was completely rammed until we got past Plymouth. We got off at Redruth, and there were still no spare seats at that point, but only a couple standing (and the guard told them there were seats further down the train if they wanted a seat).

Pp - something similar happened on a train I was on. An elderly blind man was accompanied onto the train and given a seat near the exit. Even though the carriage was virtually empty someone made him move out of "their" seat. He told them hecwas getting off at the next stop and he didn't want to get disoriented but apparently no other seat would do.

I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times someone has reserved the seat I am sitting in.

How do you know that they were not there but perhaps were too intimidated or shy about asking you to move?

I have no issue in people sitting in reserved seats that are not claimed but in my experience people get on and sit down at the start of the journey hoping no one will turf them out.

You can still book seats even with open returns. You just need to ring, or tweet, the train operator anything up to two hours before the train departs. On Cross Country you can do ten minute reservations on some trains via text.

If all the seats apart from Coach F are reserved on the busiest weeks of the year they should put more coaches on.

If only it were that simple.

Most trains in the UK are fixed formation multiple units (meaning there is no seperate loco and the train's engine is mounted under the carriages) so you simply can't go adding an unpowered carriage willy-nilly.

Sometimes units run in multiple (two units connected together under the control of one driver) when this doesn't happen on a busy or oversubscribed service, it is because platform length is the limiting factor, there's no point having a twelve car train is most of the stations on the route can only accommodate 4 cars. Not only would it be chaos getting on and off, but it is likely that a long train would be sitting across the points at the entrance to the station, blocking all other trains from coming in and out.

So when platform lengthening does occur, it can be prohibitively costly, as it has to be done on most if not all stations on the route (regardless of if there's demand at that particular station) and requires expensive, costly remodelling of junctions just outside stations.

Fair enough
The point is that the train companies need to manage supply and demand more efficiently, prioritising public need over profit
Changes to reservation policy/ticket sales/communications at busy times/different timetabling etc etc. Whatever. Plus investment.
(goes without saying the people actually on the trains should be decent to each other)

@ALittleMop The point is that the train companies need to manage supply and demand more efficiently, prioritising public need over profit

I think what you mean by this is make train travel cheaper for the masses, when they want to travel, at leisure peak times like BH weekends? But doing that would just make things worse! (Apols if I have misunderstood.)

This market is the only one that has the flexibility to choose off peak travel times, unlike the commuters who pay the big bucks for the work peak services because they don't have that luxury of choice.

southwest1 It's not often that you get s hard nugget of usable and valuable information on MN but your last post does just that and I thank you!