Train ticket bollocks

[Badger]

Well id be sensible about it and not drink loads before going on, or i would go before getting on the train. Could also use an alternative way of getting along the line if you honestly think you may need the toilet (use the Southampton train to Havant and change there for another Southern train to Portsmouth about 5 minutes later - both have toilets).

Really? I'm probably not alone in saying that my body doesn't run on a precise time schedule, even if I do go for a piss just before I get on a train it doesn't mean I'm not going to need to go again during the journey because I didn't really need to piss in the first place. Is the correct approach to make sure you are dehydrated before boarding the train? If I pay £20 for a train ticket I shouldn't then be expected to alter my dietary routine for the 2 hours before I travel.

As for CHANGING trains to take a piss, we're not living in the third world FFS.

 

[sten_super]

I'm pretty sure I've told this tale on here before, but here goes;

Whenever I've bought a ticket to London from the machines in Cambridge station, there are two options (both marked London Terminals). One costs £15 and the other £18 (with a network rail card). The only difference is that the £15 one says, in small letters, 'NXEA trains only'.

The issue is that there are different companies running the Cambridge-Kings Cross and Cambridge-Liverpool Street services - so the £15 ticket is only valid to Liverpool Street. However there's no indication of that on the machine, and shed loads of tourists must make that mistake all the time (my wife, not a frequent train traveller, often does). It's deliberately designed to be confusing (I assume) so that they can issue their share of penalty fares. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

As for CHANGING trains to take a piss, we're not living in the third world FFS.

You are when you cross the border into Hampshire

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

With that sort of ability to pass the buck, you are going to fit right in as a railway employee.

Hardly passing the buck, just saying if people stop blaming the TOC for literally everything (can see on Twitter a lot that lineside fires, signal failures etc get blamed on Southern for example, when its nothing to do with them). Who is the company that "maintains" the rail network across the country ? Cant give more investment either, as then it will mean more stupid fare rises and more money coming from taxes.

I'm sorry, but you really are a f***ing idiot. You do not have to drink loads to need a piss, or eat loads to need a dump, within an hour of not wanting to.

Course not, in an ideal world all trains will have toilets and a high amount of seats - cant always happen though. Be happy - they will probably be gone in a couple of years !!!

A lot of trains in London dont have toilets, the same for Liverpool, some in Birmingham and other large cities - they manage perfectly fine. The 313 trains have NEVER had toilets fitted and it would cost too much to have them fitted now, considering they are over 30 years old and will probably be withdrawn soon. Think it would of been better to use the 313s in London and keep the other ones down here myself.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

Really? I'm probably not alone in saying that my body doesn't run on a precise time schedule, even if I do go for a piss just before I get on a train it doesn't mean I'm not going to need to go again during the journey because I didn't really need to piss in the first place. Is the correct approach to make sure you are dehydrated before boarding the train? If I pay £20 for a train ticket I shouldn't then be expected to alter my dietary routine for the 2 hours before I travel.

As for CHANGING trains to take a piss, we're not living in the third world FFS.

Was just a suggestion if you really want a toilet on your train Journey time is basically the same anyway.

Cant believe some people getting so worked up because a train doesnt have a toilet, be happy you actually HAVE a train to run the service (well, when they arent breaking down of course).

 

[Brian Fantana]

I'm pretty sure I've told this tale on here before, but here goes;

Whenever I've bought a ticket to London from the machines in Cambridge station, there are two options (both marked London Terminals). One costs £15 and the other £18 (with a network rail card). The only difference is that the £15 one says, in small letters, 'NXEA trains only'.

The issue is that there are different companies running the Cambridge-Kings Cross and Cambridge-Liverpool Street services - so the £15 ticket is only valid to Liverpool Street. However there's no indication of that on the machine, and shed loads of tourists must make that mistake all the time (my wife, not a frequent train traveller, often does). It's deliberately designed to be confusing (I assume) so that they can issue their share of penalty fares. Absolutely ridiculous.

As another Cambridge resident, I can certainly vouch for how irritating this is. It is so easy to buy the NXEA tickets if you are in a rush at the machine.

 

[Badger]

Was just a suggestion if you really want a toilet on your train Journey time is basically the same anyway.

Cant believe some people getting so worked up because a train doesnt have a toilet, be happy you actually HAVE a train to run the service (well, when they arent breaking down of course).

No, it's not people getting worked up about the lack of toilet, it's people getting worked up about the REASONS given for not having toilets and the RIDICULOUS solutions that are being given for avoiding needing to take a piss.

 

[Titanic]

If this was France... people would just piss on the seats, until the train companies re-instated toilet facilities.

We get the services we deserve. We are pathetic as consumers, and get treated like shit as a result

 

[Simster]

I'm sorry, but you really are a f***ing idiot.

Think it would of been better to use the 313s in London and keep the other ones down here myself.

Point proven.

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

No, it's not people getting worked up about the lack of toilet, it's people getting worked up about the REASONS given for not having toilets and the RIDICULOUS solutions that are being given for avoiding needing to take a piss.

Not ridiculous at all - an alternative is there - its not as if your wandering around Havant for an hour waiting for a connecting train - ITS 5 MINUTES BEHIND !! Both trains have toilets, so if for example you are infirm - you could use this service. Although of course it doesnt help if your disabled or elderly. Not my reasons/solutions either - these were the ones given by Southern (some ill admit are a load of crap, but when they have their hands tied by the DfT, what can you do ?)

 

[Simster]

Not ridiculous at all - an alternative is there - its not as if your wandering around Havant for an hour waiting for a connecting train - ITS 5 MINUTES BEHIND !! Both trains have toilets, so if for example you are infirm - you could use this service. Although of course it doesnt help if your disabled or elderly. Not my reasons/solutions either - these were the ones given by Southern (some ill admit are a load of crap, but when they have their hands tied by the DfT, what can you do ?)

So where is the solution for going for a piss if you've bought a train ticket that is only valid for one particular train?

 

[keaton]

The arguments about train ticket prices confuse me. If it's too complicated why don't you just pay for the regular ticket?
If they get rid of all the anomolies all that's likely to happen is you'll lose ways to save money

It's cheaper to buy pretty much everything online if you know where to look (books, cds, cars, insurance, flights, hotels, etc) Why when it's trains does it become a massive issue?

 

[HawkTheSeagull]

So where is the solution for going for a piss if you've bought a train ticket that is only valid for one particular train?

There isnt one. I wouldnt sell advance tickets for the trains without toilets myself in case you need it and have to get off, in this case its almost as if they want you to actually want a piss, get off at say Chichester and then need to buy a whole new expensive ticket. Although if your train has a toilet, theres no problem.

 

[The Large One]

Cant believe some people getting so worked up because a train doesnt have a toilet, be happy you actually HAVE a train to run the service (well, when they arent breaking down of course).

Jesus wept.

 

[Simster]

Jesus wept.

Is that what he told you? I heard he pissed himself after an hour on one of Southern's shit trains.

 

[Badger]

Is that what he told you? I heard he pissed himself after an hour on one of Southern's shit trains.

I think we're being a bit unfair, it's early days for trains in the UK and there are bound to be teething problems.

 

[Colossal Squid]

Really? I'm probably not alone in saying that my body doesn't run on a precise time schedule

Is it a Southern train?

 

[Colossal Squid]

Out of interest how do people find these fare anomalies? I know they exist as I hear about them so often but I've no idea of how I check myself that the ticket I'm buying can't be done cheaper if I separate the journeys, short of looking up the respective prices of every possible journey combination between my starting point and destination.

Why is there no clever dick website that can automatically input all of these possible variations for you so as to calculate the very cheapest fare possible? When we are talking about price differences amounting to £30 and above then it strikes me there is easily room to run such a service AND take a commission on finding these cheaper fares. I only ask because I have absolutely NO IDEA how to fathom the ticketing system as it currently stands.

As an aside I recently had the misfortune to have to travel to East Croydon and back by train. On the return journey I was waiting at East Croydon station (not a particularly comfortable place to be spending any amount of time), keeping an eye on the digital display device which was suposed to inform me as to when I could expect my train. First the expected arrival time changed no less than SIX times, and on each occasion it changed at least a full minute after the time it had previously said it would be due to arrive (i.e. at 4:24 it was still saying "Expected 4:23"). Then the same train was announced as cancelled before duly turning up, some 35 minutes late. On attempting to board said train I wasn't lucky enough to be one of the THREE people waiting on the platform who managed to cram themselves on. The rest of us waiting passengers looked on bemused as every last millimetre of space was devoured leaving us with absolutely no hope whatsoever of boarding. And this was OFF PEAK.

Luckily however there was another train due shortly afterwards (not originally advertised) and so after cursing about not being able to board the already late train I'd expected to be able to get home on the display boards updated with news of this second train which kept me from kicking off to railways staff about the shambles so far. This second train was subject to THREE platform alterations, from 6 to 5, then back to 6 and then over the bridge to 4. Of course the platform alteration that told us the train would be now departing from platform 4 came as the train had just pulled into this platform, leaving everyone on platform 6 (from where it had been previously advertised as scheduled to depart from) to run across the footbridge in a desperate hurry to catch this train. Did the sympathetic railway staff hold the train at this platform to allow for all the passengers having to run across ample time to reach it? Did they f***. I was completely out of breath by the time I boarded and only just made it myself. Then as we pulled away I was able to lip read the foul language coming from those passengers who hadn't made it. AND WHO CAN BLAME THEM?

Total f***ing shambles. You could argue that this was a particularly unlucky series of events which was unreflective of the service as a whole but of course this would be BULLSHIT. As this very thread attests, this is far from unusual and it is a DAILY occurrence that rail passengers are royally shafted up the wrong'un.

It beggars belief it really does

 

[34064 Fighter Command]

What do you expect from something that is 30 years old ?

Some of the electrical equipment on those trains is a lot older than that, the traction motors date back to the 1960's. You can't expect them to last indefinitely without replacing them.

The simple fact is that if the equipment is obsolete, because spares aren't available, and new components are no longer manufactured ( because technology has changed ), then they're going to start breaking down.

The Class 442 Wessex Electric is based on the British Rail Mark 3 carriage bodyshell, and has a number of features which distinguish it from the slam-door units it replaced:

Vehicle length is 23 m (75 ft), as opposed to 20 m (66 ft).
All vehicles are air-conditioned, and have powered internal doors and external plug doors.
Units consist of five vehicles, and operate as 5-car or 10-car trains, replacing 4-car units which operated as 4-, 8- or 12-car trains.
Maximum permitted speed is 100 mph (160 km/h).

As was common on the British Rail Southern Region, many electrical components – including traction motors and electrical control gear – were salvaged from the Class 432 units they replaced. For this reason the older 4REP and 4TC units had to be withdrawn before their replacements were built.

 

[British Bulldog]

Hardly passing the buck, just saying if people stop blaming the TOC for literally everything (can see on Twitter a lot that lineside fires, signal failures etc get blamed on Southern for example, when its nothing to do with them). Who is the company that "maintains" the rail network across the country ?

Bit of a cop out trying to blame Network Rail for all the delays during disruption, Yes they are responsible for the track and signalling but it's still the toc's responsibility to arrange any changes to they're services and in my experience Southern are the worst and the slowest to react to any incidents. During incidents on the line it's Network Rails job to try and keep the trains moving no matter what Toc they belong too, But it's a job thats been made a lot harder since privatisation because you have to wait for company's like Southern to decide what you can do with they're trains every time rather than just getting on with keeping the trains moving.