On the rare occasions I use public transport I remember why I usually don't

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Packed to the gills despite it being very late at night, drunks, no working toilets, filthy, seats too small, migraine inducing lights. Still got half hour to go.

Vive la car

Yesterday I had to travel on the train from Birmingham to Woking via Basingstoke. I can't even begin to explain how upset I got. I set off and everything ok until I reached Basingstoke. The lift was not working and I'm disabled so really struggled to get up 2 Flights of steps with luggage. It took me about 10 minutes to get up those steps and I knew it would affect my mobility for the rest of the day. I got on the train to Woking and had to stand until after about 5 minutes I had to go down on my knees and a person did offer me their seat. On return journey in afternoon I set off from Woking and got to Basingstoke arriving on platform 3 the one with broken lift. The train to Birmingham was 50 minutes late then 3 minutes before it arrived they announced it would now be going to platform 4. I struggled to go down 2 flights of stairs along with a lady with a baby in pram with a toddler and a lady on crutches. We made our way to lift for platform 4. We all missed the missed train by about 3 minutes. I rang helpline for assistance. They told me they would come within 10 minutes. No one came. I rang again to request assistance and was told someone would come soon. No one came. Then a new announcement said the train I needed would be coming in to platform 3 in 6 minutes. I was still on platform 4. I realised I could get lift off of platform 4 but couldn't get up steps to platform 3 again. I found a person and requested help. Told nothing they could do. They couldn't mend lift. At this point my asthma started getting worse and I couldn't breathe. I rang DH who set off on a 2 hour trip, 4 hour round trip, to collect me. I stayed on platform 4. After about 1 hour an announcement said a train was coming to platform 4 to go to Birmingham New Street. This was over 2 hours after I should have left Basingstoke. DH had by this time got towards Oxford. I had to ring him and say turn around and drive back to meet me at Birmingham. Today I have been so exhausted I haven't been able to move at all. My back is in a lot of pain. I never want to go on a train again ever. I am so angry about how I was treated and the only support on offer was to put me in a taxi to Reading just to get rid of me at Basingstoke. Dh checked and said there were no earlier trains at Reading so no point going there.

One blessing of trains is that you never have to worry about parking. We headed to Whitstable once for a day out. Couldn't park. Had to go somewhere else.

@Itcantbetrue

The boards were not displaying any correct info and one of my biggest bug bears....inaudible announcements.

Start using the "enthusiasts" diagram apps. These show the positions of trains live and you can click on them to see the train origin/stops/destinations, and with practice/experience you can start to work out for yourself what's happening, what's causing any delays/blockages, etc.

They are pretty good at showing platform numbers long before they appear on the destination boards at busy stations like Euston or Kings Cross, so you don't have to wait in the concourse and then be part of the mad scramble to the platform - you can be stood at the platform gate and be first on!

What's more is that you get a better idea of what's happening rather then the blatant lies and information vacuum provided by on board staff or station platform staff.

So many times, I've seen trains on departure boards showing as "on time" when I know full well they're heavily delayed or even cancelled because I've traced the incoming train which itself is delayed or cancelled, so it's impossible for it's next run to be on time! Knowing that has given me options, i.e. take an earlier/slower train or divert to a different station to get a different train line to the same ultimate destination.

You can also avoid being "got rid of" by station announcers who tell you to go to "station x" on "train y" because of disruption, but you know from the app that the trains through that station are also cancelled, and all they've done it for is to fob you off and get you off "their" station!

But what if you struggle to park at your origin station before you even get on the train?? Not everyone lives in walking distance to a train station and not every station is well served by public transport.

I was on a midday train (emr) recently on the way to an airport and a young man pulled a knife on the member of staff who asked to check his ticket and was clearly on some kind of drug. There were two staff members on the train besides the driver and they were both incredibly brave and managed to isolate the guy and move the other passengers to a different part of the train until the heavy duty police arrived. I had huge admiration for them, but you do wonder what would have happened if there had not been two members of staff. Quite often, travelling home on a late night Thameslink train, no staff members ever walk through the carriages, and as you get closer to the last few stations they do start to empty out - you can feel very vulnerable.

I love a bus journey. Hated the tube as a commuter, though.

The Trainline app is fantastic at telling you the platform numbers and arrival times. This side of things has really improved. Fantastic for short sighted people.

Also delay repay seems to work pretty well, in my experience.

OTOH at 8 am on my very narrow road there was an argument between two drivers as to who should back up and one of them got out and threatened the other with a crowbar

Shit happens on any form of transport

I live in London so this is never going to be a problem for me. Having said that I grew up in a little village in Somerset and we got to Bath Spa by bus.

I also don’t really understand the pricing on buses. A One way ticket from Oxford all the way to Cambridge on Stagecoach was recently put up by the government from £2 to £3. How can this possibly be sustainable. No wonder bus routes are closing down.

I agree, yesterday I was picking friends up from a local station, train delayed by 45 minutes on departure, and another family member was on a train from a northern city, connection cancelled, left stranded, thankfully was able to pick them
up from a town 45 minutes away, their alternative would have been a £60 taxi. So expensive as well. One hour journey from my local station into London, one way fare varies from £30 up to £75. Standard class, and it’s not unusual for train to be cancelled at short notice. This weekend they have cancelled some services on Sunday as they don’t have enough drivers.

Currently on a very overcrowded two coach train between Sheffield and Manchester. Not all the passengers were able to get on at Sheffield and they had to leave the catering trolley on the platform.

Given that there are no trans Pennine trains through Huddersfield this weekend they must realise that there will be more passengers going via Sheffield?

Oh, and the aircon isn't working.

The govt subsidise the buses! The bus firms aren't relying on the £3 per journey as their only income source! Same with OAP bus passes.

I don't think any means of travel is ideal.

Walking - you can't because people park all over the pavements.
Cycling - everyone objects to cyclists
Driving - people drive really badly and try to crash into you and there are massive traffic jams
Buses - get stuck in traffic jams
Trains - people won't respect the quiet carriages and the trains are unreliable
Planes - security, airports and noisy passengers.

I might just stay at home...

Trams are ok.
Boats are ok when they don't sink and you don't get norovirus.

@caringcarer

That's absolutely disposable and dangerous !
It's the last min change of platforms that's horrendous .

Id go to MP with that story and maybe fail

It's beyond awful

Why can't we have good trains like they have in Japan? We should have bullet trains between all the major cities and normal fast trains everywhere else.

They would still be carting around badly behaved Brits instead of Japanese people, who have very strong social rules about how to behave in public.

You sound lovely, also nice to know you are thinking about the environment.

There’s nothing environmentally friendly about a smokey old service bus, belching out fumes with a couple of folks sat on it. There may be swish new electric buses in cities, that are well used but in the countryside this isn’t the case.

I’m not particularly bothered about the environment per-se and neither are the vast majority who proclaim to be.

Snobby.

Basically the government is paying the difference

EMR must be short, that one should have gained coaches at Nottingham. They usually have four or six coaches between Nottingham and Liverpool.

158s have notoriously unreliable aircon. Apparently it was alright when the refrigerant was CFC-based. The units were built down to a price and weight specification. I met the designer once, he referred to them as "garden shed engineering", I quipped that they were more like greenhouses. I spent Saturday afternoon loading cases of water onto 158s at my operator.

@DdraigGoch thank you for the explanation. Going home on TPE train today. Normally we use TPE but the rail upgrade means that Huddersfield station is closed at weekends.

They have better trains.

I've been on plenty of electric buses in rural areas. Usually they're far cleaner inside than most people's cars...

On a TPE train now. 6 coaches, not busy, clean, aircon works, free Wi-Fi and sat with a cup of tea from the catering trolley operated by a very polite young man. Oh, and we left on time.