student travel between York and Bristol

[BubbaHorovitz]

If you have a student in one city and live in the other, what do they find is the best route via public transport between the two?

The direct, cross-country line looks the most sensible, Bristol temple meads to York in just under 4 hours, no changes (or one change at Birmingham) but how reliable is that route? And is it easier to go via London?

The cross country line is a bit notorious but if you can do it direct in under 4 hours that'll be quicker than via London in all but exceptional circumstances. I regularly go across London (from a couple of stops closer on the GWR line) and up past York on LNER and I reckon a minimum of 25 minutes to get from Paddington to KX by the tube. I like to allow myself 45 mins if I can as the GWR trains are almost always a few mins late into Paddington.

There might be a direct coach but it will take longer.

Yes, I found the coach line. It costs barely anything but takes 6 + hours. It might be an option when DC is feeling low on funds.

CrossCountry are appalling and should have their franchise removed. But unfortunately if you’re stuck down in the West Country it’s the Trainline that’s quickest to get north.

But it’s crowded expensive hugely unreliable and many passengers are rude and uncivilised - probably because conditions are so bad.

It’s nicer and often cheaper to go via London and use LNER to get to the north east. For the Northwest you need to go via Euston.

I am stuck using CrossCountry for a lot of my business travel and the university doesn’t allow first class tickets to be used. I do a lot to try to avoid CrossCountry.

Book ahead for slightly cheaper prices and use a student railcard. And reserve a seat otherwise it’s common to have to stand from Bristol to Birmingham.

@LittleBigHead Thank you this is really helpful. The thing I was most concerned about was my kid being stuck in Birmingham trying to find a train connection and missing it / it taking all day on Cross Country. Will take onboard your advice.

Cross country is fine, quite a few stops but not had issues. Most students use the buses though, national express is great, I use them all the time. If based in Bristol and wanting a day out in London it’s a really frequent service and right into the night

DD is at uni in York, we’re just before Birmingham so she gets that train backwards and forwards regularly. The direct train is every 2 hours on average. It’s quieter during the week, Friday to Sunday can be extremely busy. I’d definitely advise booking a seat and making sure he sits in it. (DD has got very adept at telling people sitting in her seat to shift these days). Also agree with getting a railcard, she saved several hundred last year as she’s a regular train traveler.

If you can book a train that goes straight through from Bristol to York, with a seat reservation the whole way, she’ll be fine. There are CrossCountry trains where you go straight through, no changes

She’ll need to be assertive with the idiots who inevitably sit in reserved seats and not succumb to sitting elsewhere.

But be aware that CrossCountry regularly cancels trains and gives no information about alternatives. I was working in Plymouth the other day and trying to get back north on a lateish train. Which was cancelled three stops before mine. So I had a connection that got me home at midnight. No help - I had to check it all myself.

Id recommend getting an app that predicts train times and platforms ahead of the actual information boards at each station.

And don’t book the last or second last train of the day if at all possible- I’m often squeezing as much as possible out of a trip and don’t have that leeway in my working day but a student will be able to be
more flexible.

FWIW Realtimetrains can show you the recent historic data of trains, you can see which ones have been troublesome - obviously not a guarantee of future performance. I mostly use it to check trains I am about to catch, or when my DD is coming home from Uni I can see of she will be late (or cancelled, as TPX often seem to do round here)

Long distance coaches are really comfortable these days, so I would not rule that out.

Thank you everyone.
@LittleBigHead
Yes these kinds of scenarios where there's sudden cancellations etc is what I was mostly worried about.