Buying Tickets To Scotland
Next weekend, I’m going to Edinburgh and Glasgow and then down to Bolton to see Ipswich play.
All journeys were booked on-line in First Class and purchased using my Senior Railcard. It cost me £64.31 for the trip up using East Coast on Thursday and £57.45 for the split journey down using Virgin.
The journey down is probably cheaper, as it is effectively a typical Premium Economy journey in First Class on Saturday.
As I can now collect tickets from my local station at Dalston Junction, I was able to collect the tickets, whilst taking a constitutional walk to the pub in the evening.
Would people use the trains more, if it were easier to pick up tickets?
Does The RMT Care About Passengers?
I travel on trains a lot and I’ve never had anything but courtesy and fair treatment from railway staff in the UK. I’ve even had one or two, break the rules in my favour, when perhaps I’ve made a mistake. One actually said, that it was his company’s policy to put customers first, when the rule breaking was minor.
But today, there is a story on the BBC about the RMT protesting about the possible closure of the Underground ticket office at Whitechapel. Here’s the opening paragraph.
Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) are protesting at Whitechapel Tube station against the possible closure of ticket offices.
Now I’ve just returned from Palermo to London by train and I only used a ticket office once. And that was in Geneva, where I couldn’t find a machine to sell me a ticket for Paris!
i’ve only used a ticket office, once in the last three years on the Underground and that was to get a free ticket wallet.
If we’re honest, I think it is true to say that ticket offices are virtually redundant, but station staff definitely aren’t. Stand by the barrier or on the platform on any Underground station and you’ll be surprised at how many people ask questions or request help as they pass along.
Bob Crow is reported as saying this.
The threat to the ticket office at Whitechapel is a line in the sand as far as RMT is concerned and we will fight this plan tooth and nail.
I don’t think many of those on the overcrowded Dalston Omnibus on a day, when the RMT call a strike, will agree.
The RMT has also got into the stupid row about a possible third class of travel on trains. The story is reported here in the Daily Mail, who are very negative. This is in the article.
Bob Crow, left wing leader of the RMT transport union said: ‘Now we know, the door is open for the train operators to introduce third passenger class as and when it suits them.
Incidentally, I travel third class regularly on trains. It’s called Premium Economy and very good it is too, on Eurostar.
You could also argue, that First Class at the weekend, is much more of a Premium Economy class, than a true First, on many trains.
The Excellent Italian Rail Ticket Machines
Buying rail tickets in Italy is easy and it is true to say, I’ve never failed to buy a ticket, when I needed one.
They are very easy to read and navigate and work in several languages. Here’s a picture of a machine working in English.
The Excellent Italian Ticket Machine
One big difference between Italian machines and those in say Germany or Sweden, is that when you change the language, they change the destination names. Note how Genoa in this screen is shown as the English spelling.
I suppose it helps that Italian is a language which uses a pure Roman alphabet like we do, with no accents, umlauts or cedillas.
Ticket machines should use plain characters to help tourists.
Full Function Ticketing On The Overground
As I came up the stairs at Dalston Junction station, this morning, I thought the ticket machines at the station had been updated for ticket collection.
Full Function Ticketing On The Overground
So after I’d bought my ticket to return from Sheffield on Saturday on-line, I visited the station and picked it up. Not only does the updated machine deliver on-line tickets, but you can buy a ticket to any station in the country.
A similar machine is in operation at Dalston Kingsland station, but not at Highbury and Islington station.
This development will make some of the journeys I do a lot easier, as I now have a convenient place to pick up on-line tickets.
Often big improvements can be made to travel, by doing small improvements all over the place. I suspect, this was just a software change.
To And Around Vasteras
I then took the train from Stockholm to Vasteras, so that I could meet up with the rest of the party and the guide at Vasteras Airport.
The trip was totally without incident and after getting a bus to the airport, we all met up easily.
The only problem I had, was buying a ticket for the bus, which needed to be paid for with coins. Surely, it’s time we had a Europe-wide ticketing standard, so that buying bus tickets is easy.
All London Underground Ticket Offices To Close
This claim is being made by the trade unions in London and it’s reported here on the BBC.
Except for main line stations, you rarely see anybody at the ticket offices. But then they can be busy, as this post shows.
So just on my personal observation, there seems to be a need for some reorganisation of the ticket offices.
One of these could be making sure that passengers arrive in London with a ticket for the Underground.
Modern Railways this month also had an editorial about the rows that are about to happen, when trains in London go for driver-only operation.
I think there is going to be a lot of argument in the next few years.
But honestly, when was the last time you visited a ticket office on the Underground to buy a ticket?
I think I bought an Oystercard about four years ago. I’ve bought one since and that was from a machine.
Rescued By Eurostar
I hadn’t got a ticket for Eurostar, as let’s face it, what good would it have done me, as I didn’t turn up in Brussels at a date and a time, remotely near anything I could have expected.
So when my number was called after a wait of a few minutes, I approached the ticket counter with more than a little apprehension. After my luck, I fully expected to be told that as it was a Friday and the start of the school holidays, that no seats were available until Tuesday at the earliest.
But the pleasant lady smiled broadly, like air hostesses do in adverts, except that she meant it, and said she could get me on a train in an hour for €190. Expensive, but then it was a last-minute walk-up and what else could I do, as I can’t swim? I then asked how much Premium Economy was and she said €204. So I paid the extra fourteen euros and within an hour I was on my way back to Blighty. Incidentally booking now for next Friday, I’d save somewhere around £80.
On the train, I got a fulsome apology for not being served a gluten-free meal, but I knew that to get one, you have to book in advance. But at least the food was infinitely better than the rubbish you get on German trains, where gluten is compulsory in all snacks.
The train had a very unusual passenger.
A Very Unusual Passenger
The balloon was tied to a child’s buggy. It did give one of the stewards a bit of a fright, as he came through the door.
I was of course, on time in London. But let’s face it, Eurostar have one great advantage. With the exception of the Channel Tunnel and various junctions, it is a virtually straight line largely under their control. So could we expect that HS2 will be a more reliable railway than the West Coast Main Line? I think the answer will be yes!
Buying My Ticket To Copenhagen
The Swedish ticket machines appeared to be very comprehensive, but trying to buy the ticket to Copenhagen was very difficult, so in the end I queued up and bought it from a person, who was very helpful and spoke English better than myself.
Swedish Ticket Machines
My first problem, was that like the touch screens in IKEA at Edmonton, my fingers had the wrong dampness to make them work. But by changing to another machine, I was able to work the system.
Then I found the problem, that turned me towards buying a ticket from a person. Although, I was using the machine in English, the place names were still in Swedish. How many of those who speak English as a first language, know how to spell Copenhagen in Swedish.
I’ve always felt that every town or city, should only have one name and those that live there should choose it. That way, we would probably all know the town names that didn’t confuse.
Free Travel For Children Cuts Road Injuries
This story in the Standard tells how in London, giving children and teenagers free Oyster travel cards, has cut the number involved in road accidents. The research was performed by the reputable London School or Hygiene and Tropic Medicine and as it is published in a learned journal, it surely is to be trusted.
Just as those over a certain age get free bus transport, this research surely says that all those under a certain one should too! In London the eligibility is stated here for what is called a Zip Oyster. it also gives child fares on the Underground, Overground and the DLR
I’ve Just Joined The Tate
I want to go to the Tate to see the exhibition called Lowry and the Painting of Modern Life.
To avoid the queues for this sort of exhibition, pre-booking is a good idea. But as I might want to go with someone, what day do I choose?
On checking the Tate website, I found that if I joined as a Member+Guest, it only cost me me thirty pounds more than joining for just myself. And you get to jump the queues!
So I did! So I only need to go to a few exhibitions with friends, often from outside London, to make the whole exercise extremely good value. As in the past, I’ve gone to several exhibitions at the Tate, with both C and friends, I doubt that the membership won’t be used profitably.
The Anonymous Widower 