Confusion Over Train Fares, Barriers and Call Centres
The railways are very much the media’s target and a big storm seems to have been kicked up in the last few days over what constitutes off-peak travel. The only off-peak set of rules that bother me are those out of Kings Cross on First Capital Connect, where the cheaper tickets are not available on trains leaving the capital between 16:30 and 19:00. But even that can always be bypassed by taking a Cambridge train from Tottenham Hale. I also think that if I buy an off-peak return ticket from Newmarket or Dullingham, then I can use the ticket on the forbidden trains, as I bought the ticket on National Express East Anglia. It is not too onerous and I haven’t been delayed yet.
One issue I do have is at Cambridge, where if I’m travelling from Newmarket, I can’t pass through the barriers to do my shopping in the Marks and Spencer in the station. You used to be able to do this and it was a reliable way to get my supper. And whilst on the subject of ticket barriers, if I buy a London Travelcard on the train between Newmarket and Cambridge, then it tends not to work the barriers on the London Underground.
Usually though when I book on-line for a long trip, I don’t have any issues with off-peak or not, as I choose the route and time and this then tells me what trains I can catch and what the prices are. The system works well.
One thing that could be done is to make it more obvious on some web sites, where the train I’m going to catch is going. For instance, if I’d known that my train to Crewe was going on to Chester, I might have changed my plans before I left. As it was, it wouldn’t have made any difference to me, but others might want to perhaps go a little further to see great Aunt Emma.
But one thing the web sites don’t do is allow the purchase of multiple tickets.
On Saturday, I’m getting up early and taking a train from Whittlesford Parkway to Tottenham Hale, as I’m going house-hunting in the morning in Islington. I’m then taking a train out of Liverpool Street to Ipswich for the match against Bristol City. Then after the match it’s back home via the train from Ipswich towards Cambridge. I will have to purchase three single tickets, as I can’t buy these tickets on the web and pick them up at the same time at Whittlesford, where there is a collection machine. It is all the more extraordinary in practice as all trains are the same company; National Express East Anglia.
I did try their call centre and because my voice isn’t that good, the guy on the phone couldn’t understand what I was trying to do. He thought I was trying to get from Whittlesford to Liverpool. The answer to that is probably the old one about not starting from there!
So today, when I go into Cambridge to play tennis, I’ll buy the tickets at the booking office.
Looking at Ipswich Town’s fixtures for this season, I can see several of these multiple trips looming. For instance on the eleventh of September I am going to Portsmouth and on the way, I’ll be breaking my journey to Fratton at Micheldever to have lunch with a friend. So it will be a single from say Cambridge, Whittlesford or Dullingham to Micheldever, another to Fratton and then another from Fratton back to home.
The solution to these multiple trip problems already exist. It’s called a OysterCard. But then I’d need to register my Senior Railcard in some way to get the discount on the trains. Alternatively, we could use scannable tickets like they do on Eurostar or Italian trains.
Let’s hope that a new system replaces the current mess soon. I’d prefer some form of scannable ticket, that I can print before I leave. These tickets could also carry additional information. But please not let’s make it a phone app, as these phones are just not robust enough for someone who drops them like I do.
Funding the Arts
David Lister wrote this provocative article in today’s Independent.
He argues that cutting arts funding may be a good thing, especially as some institutions like the Royal Academy, Glyndebourne and the Lowry in Salford, seem to manage better without it.
He asks hat should the Royal Opera House gets as much subsidy as it does, when the companies based there never perform in the regions and does London really need four Symphony orchestras.
He also attacks the highly-paid time-servers on the boards of the various quangos that adminster taxpayers money an proposes more democracy in how money is allocated.
I agree with nearly everything he says.
Back to Square One
I had thought that I’d found a house to move to in Canonbury in North London. But it failed the survey yesterday, and so I won’t be buying it.
But at least there would seem to be lots of suitable places for sale in the area to the east of Highbury and Islington.
So I’m going to start looking again.
I would really love to live in de Beauvoir Town, as C and I nearly moved there years ago, but instead we went to the flat in the Barbican.
I remember that we looked at a house owned by the writer, Alun Owen. Strangely, I’d met him before when he was a guest at dinner in the Liverpool University hall of residence, where I lived in my last year at University. Owen is probably best known for his screenplay for the first Beatles film, A Hard Day’s Night!
Thoughts on the East London Line
I’ve now had three trips on the East London Line and you can see how it is fitting into the fabric of society in East and South London.
Obviously, there are things still to be done, like the connection at Dalston to avoid the short walk between the two stations. Talking to a policeman at Norwood Junction after the Crystal Palace trip, he said that people aren’t sure yet which station to use for various places. So perhaps, Transport for London need to put up similar route finders on the Overground, as they have on bus stops. This would direct football fans going to Crystal Palace to Norwood Junction for example.
What happens too, if say people from say Liverpool or Manchester arriving at Euston station ask how they get to Crystal Palace for the football or somewhere else in the area served by the East London Line. You could walk to Euston Square and take the Circle Line to Liverpool Street and walk to Shoreditch High Street, the Metropolitan LIne to Whitechapel, or the Northern to London Bridge and the Jubilee to Canada Water. The choice is yours, but not easy for a non-expert. I think this illustrates the problem outlined by the policeman at Norwood Junction; the East London Line needs time for people to get used to how and where it runs.
If I take my example to its logical conclusion, you could ask why people from the north don’t use Watford Junction and possibly Willesden Junction to change to the Overground. You wouldn’t have changed to the old North London Line, but now it’s a very much better and a lot more comfortable than it used to be. So I would feel that we’ll see some developments and changes to make this easier. It would also effectively add capacity to Euston, by removing those, who perhaps wanted to go to Richmond, Islington or South East London from the station.
I’ll end this post by looking at the positives. Everything is clean, the staff seem competent and happy in their work, the trains seem to run to time and as at present there are always staff on the trains, there seems no sign of any trouble.
Perhaps, though my journey back from Norwood Junction on Saturday summed up the line. The train was fairly full, but there were still enough seats for those who wanted one and the train was cool and well-ventilated. It was much better than doing a similar journey on the Underground.
It will be interesting to see how it performs during the Olympics. But at least we know it will probably be there!
Rabbits in the City
I saw these yesterday in Spitalfields.
Rabbits in Spitalfields
I really like to see jokey and frivolous street art! Especially sculpture, as my uncle was a good one!
London Underground and Overground Interchanges
As I have gold older, I’ve tended to avoid some interchanges between lines, as they are either difficult or they make the journey longer. Now after my strokes, I’m a bit more careful, as some stations are a bit claustrophobic and just too busy.
I was also got on this train of thought, by a friend, who has to get King’s Cross and Gerrards Cross regularly. Usually, they end up taking a slow taxi up Marylebone Road. I thought there must be a better way. In some ways it’s a pity that when they built the new Wembley, that they didn’t find some way to connect the Chiltern, Metropolitan and Jubilee Lines in the area, as this would have given access directly from places like Aylesbury and High Wycombe to the City and East London. As yesterday, I had to go to Oxford Circus I did check out the Bakerloo Southbound to Victoria Northbound connection and I think it is up one short escalator, a few steps and then down another escalator. But you wouldn’t do it with a heavy bag!
I think it illustrates how you must get to know your interchanges in London. Here’s a few of the things I like and dislike.
Access to the Northern Line is much slower than the other lines at Kings Cross, now that they have virtually rebuilt the interchange. So I usually avoid it.’
Green Park always seems to be a slow interchange, as you walk for ever.
Bank is not for the faint hearted, especially as there are a lot of works going on at the moment.
In fact these days, I’ll often look for a bus route that does the transfer and perhaps avoids the difficult stations.
How Much Do London Black Cabs Cost?
I am trying to buy a house in London and wondered how much it would cost to get there in a black cab from various parts of the city.
I searched the Internet and found this site. It is excellent!
Has the Party for 2012 Begun?
I have been watching the European Athletics Championships from Barcelona and enjoying them tremendously. It seems to me that the athletes, who seem to be performing better than they usually do, are enjoying themselves immensely.
Is this the 2012 effect, because everybody wants to appear at their own Olympics? But it all bodes well especially as I suspect it isn’t just the athletes who are getting ready for the Games.
And talking of the Olympic party in 2012, is it going to be a bit different from the original plans, due to the multi-national and multi-racial nature of the UK.
Let’s take the Irish! They are a very keen sporting nation and have had quite a bit of success in the past and like to support their athletes. So London will also be Ireland’s games as well, as they will never get closer. There will be one hell of a party if any of their competitors strike gold.
I suspect too that other nations, with large immigrant commnities in the UK, will also join in and hopefully create a very vibrant Olympic atmoshere.
A Strategy for Over-60 Visitors to the UK!
Travel when you get older can get strenuous and tiring. But on the other hand, a country like the UK, where there are plenty of pretty good small hotels, restaurants with rooms and B&Bs in addition to expensive ones where you can really pamper yourself, is probably the ideal destination for the senior tourist.
I have just had it confirmed by a man close to the Fat Controller at ATOC, the trade body for the train operating companies, that Senior Railcards are available to anyone with the appropriate fee of £26 for a year, on production of a passport, which proves they are over 60. Holders get a 33% discount on all Standard and First Class tickets. So you don’t need to do too many trips before you have reclaimed the fee!
As an example of what you can do, take my trip to London from Cambridge last weekend. I visited the Olympic Park, Canary Wharf, Croydon and the National Gallery, all in a few hours on a ticket that cost just £21.10. If I’d wanted to see a play or have a meal, then I would have had time and my train ticket would still have cost the same.
My only problem with this sort of Awayday is getting to the station, as I can’t drive and taxis are just too expensive. But stay in Cambridge, Oxford, Reading, Bristol, York, Liverpool, Coventry or any one of a number of historic cities and towns, with plenty of attractions of their own, perhaps a nearby airport to get there from outside of the UK and good rail links to lots of other places worth visiting.
Another thing that should be mentioned is that the UK has one of the youngest train fleets in the world. On all the trains I used on the trip last weekend, not one was old and decrepit. Two were old, but very comfortably refurbished.
Remember too, these things about the UK.
- A lot of national and many local museums are free.
- Most major towns and cities have a decent live theatre.
- We have some of the best restaurants in the world. But if you are on a budget, it is generally not a problem these days, especially if like me you like Indian or Chinese food, as every B&B owner knows where the best local ethnic restaurants are.
- The shopping ranges from the expensive and swish down to some of the best street markets in the world.
- For those who like walking, we have them at all levels of difficulty. My favourites are to go up Primrose Hill, walk along the Thames and explore Hampstead Heath in London. But there are endless and many walks that are easily accessible from train stations.
- If you like horse racing, we have dozens of tracks from the grand to the somewhat quaint. All are different and few are the boring ovals, you find in many countries.
- You can choose times that fit or don’t fit in with annoyances like children going to school, harassed commuters as they go and come back from work and those dreadful flying midges in Scotland. This web site has details on the latter.
Hopefully, this blog will detail some places to go.
Chaos In Trafalgar Square
I left the National Gallery and walked down the side of the square to the Trafalgar Studios to get details on Shirley Valentine.
According to another bus stop, from outside the theatre, i should have been able to get a bus to King’s Cross for the train home. But works in Whitehall meant that the bus stops had been suspended. So I walked towards Parliament Square to find a bus to take me somewhere in the right direction.
Five minutes later, I found a 24, which would take me to either Leicester Square or Warren Street.
I boarded and then spent forty-five minutes stuck in a traffic jam caused because car drivers couldn’t turn up the Strand or use the bus lanes because of road works. So they just illegally parked or blocked the buses instead of retreating south down Whitehall. The chaos wasn’t helped by all of the tour buses trying to do similar things. So we just sat and waited and fried. A lady in a burqa told me she might faint, but luckily we limped to Leicester Square and we all got out safely.
The Anonymous Widower 