To be really funking fed up of the shit train services in this country

[Medschoolmum]

I paid £170 for an advance ticket for a trip into London this morning. Journey of around 1.5 hours. Booked a seat with a table so that I can work on the train. Got up 45 mins earlier than usual to get to the station on time. Parked at the station for an exorbitant sum. Arrive to be told that train is delayed by 22 mins. Annoying, but OK, I have built in additional time. Not a massive issue.

After waiting for 10 mins, they announce that the train is cancelled. Not stopping at my station because they are running late. (This is not some tiny village station with one person on the platform BTW- it is a substantial sized station with loads of people waiting for that train.

We are informed that the next train will depart half an hour after the original scheduled train. This will mean that I'm a bit tight on time but should just about make it to my meeting on time. This is why you build in a buffer zone, right?

So now the next train is delayed as well, who knows when or if it will arrive. When I finally manage to get on the train, it's clearly going to be heaving. No chance I'll get a seat. And in the meantime, I'm still sitting here in a dingy waiting room drinking crap coffee.

The last time I took a train was around 10 days ago. That one was also cancelled for a different reason. I was delayed by around 40 mins.

I know I can claim back the ticket cost etc, but how on earth do they get away with charging such extortionate prices for such ridiculously unreliable services? I used to live overseas in a country where the trains were much cheaper, cleaner and ran like clockwork. Why are we so incapable of doing the same?

I'm not convinced that nationalising them is going to fix the problem either... the days of British Rail weren't exactly much better.

I am so fed up of this shit show.

Agreed.

Appalling service but extortionate tickets.

It is the usually story with privatisation: profits are what matters and the money goes to shareholders/directors with little being invested in running a decent service.

The government should continue to champion remote working, rather than let dinosaur employers force staff back into offices. WFH meets avoiding this commuting nightmare and not spending so much of your salary on travel...

@Ineffable23

Good to know, I’ll definitely check out stats for any specific journeys I’m thinking of in Germany.

That surprises me too about France. Maybe I’m seeing other countries transport through rose tinted glasses but again I’d have assumed their trains had minimal delays.

I was in Lisbon for a few weeks a while back and I found their train/metro system reliable and good value but wasn’t there long enough to really know for sure.

They're greedy AF. My line on Great Western Railway has introduced a ban on off-peak travel OUT of London from between something like 4pm to 9pm because of "rush hour". They were directing everyone to "upgrade" their tickets to peak, which was bollocks as when you did that you just had to buy a peak ticket rather than pay the difference. It was literally extortion. And it's put me off travel into London on a weekday because by the time I've got there I only have a couple of hours before I need to start thinking about leaving.

The government should continue to champion remote working, rather than let dinosaur employers force staff back into offices. WFH meets avoiding this commuting nightmare and not spending so much of your salary on travel

Precisely. I think it’s absolutely shocking that UK employers, many of whom are not paying their staff well are demanding they go back into the office. Civil services wages for example have been falling behind inflation for so long but the Tories (and now labour) suddenly insisted on 3 days a week in the office despite the cost of living crisis. It seems like it was more to appease Jacob Rees Mogg and the Daily Mail.

I have a friend who’s a fairly senior lawyer and she went from WFH in the pandemic to working 2 Days a week in the office to having to work 5 days a week.

If specific people are taking the piss while working from home they should be dealt with but a blanket policy for everyone to come back under the current circumstances is appalling.

I’m very fortunate that as a reasonable adjustment my work allow me to work remotely. Even pre-pandemic I only worked 2-3 days a week in the office. But I know things can change which is partly why I’m keen to get my driving license in case I need to go to the office more in the near future or if I change job and they’re not as flexible.

They need to sort out public transport and wages first before dragging us all back into the office unnecessarily- and how does this fit in with the UK supposed green agenda??

Same in Sydney. Moving back to the UK was a culture shock!

Apparently there’s a sale on train tickets. I looked at tickets from my town to London and wasn’t that impressed but maybe others can find bargains.

Another thing that bothers me is that if a train is delayed you are refunded, but if there are so many refunds they’ll presumably need to put prices up, so there’s nothing spare to improve services , so there’s more delays ….. and round and round we go, nothing gets any better !

I had the sale message flag up on my Trainline app as well but nothing included from my local station. Not much of a saving if you have to drive to a station miles away to get a cheap train ticket. Especially as the train will undoubtedly be cancelled or running hours late which means it’ll be packed and you end up standing for hours!

Exactly - even for those who do find a good bargain it doesn’t mean they won’t face delays or crowded trains. Even if I’m buying something at a “discounted” price I still want a good experience.

Good point about the delay repay - no doubt we the customers are paying the price for this one way or the other.

I could get £60 instead of £80 fare in the rail sale. Not much to get excited about really!

Oh actually saves £8 🤣

Was the car free and no running costs ?