Great Western and cycles....

Quoted message said:

I'm sure it's all been said before but i'm just venting. According to
their First Great Western Website (pretty well hidden) "Cyclists who
want to use our trains to carry their bikes are very welcome".

The leaflet for download then goes on to make it clear that, actually,
we're not.

Almost as much fun as I had booking the bike on my train back from
York..

Book single ticket on line at a good price. It is not possible to book
bikes online.

Phone the ticket office - in India. No they cannot book bicycles, I
have to do that at the station.

Go to the station. That is a GNER train and we are first Scotrail. I
have to go to a GNER station. In Edinburgh.

I was not impressed and waved the booking confirmation (done through
the FSR website) at the clerk who after much sucking of breath etc.
managed to book my bike on the train.

On the other end of the scale. I bought a walk up single in Durham last
year. Ten minutes later the train arrives and the guard already knew my
bike was booked on.

...d

Quoted message said:

- not on Thames valley trains at peak times (and of course I've no idea
what the route of my train is when i book it - i just know where i'm
going from and to)

Basically peak trains on busy routes

Quoted message said:

All of this means I couldn't actually get my bike on the trains i'd
booked because one of my journeys (Paddington to Great Malvern on a
Friday afternoon) is classed as a peak Thames train.

Friday afternoon out of London would be classed as a busy route, you'd
have to have a pretty strange idea of the reality of train travel if
you didn't think that.

Paul Weaver said:

[email hidden] wrote:

Quoted message said:

Friday afternoon out of London would be classed as a busy route, you'd
have to have a pretty strange idea of the reality of train travel if
you didn't think that.

the leaflet, if you've found it, says:

Turbo Train services
During peak times, local train services throughout the Thames Valley
are very busy.

a) i'm not sure how i'm meant to knwo whether my route uses a turbo
train
b) i'd not have thought Paddington to Great Malvern was a "local train
service" (it's a direct train)

David Martin said:

Go to the station. That is a GNER train and we are first Scotrail. I
have to go to a GNER station. In Edinburgh.

Try another day. We recently booked tickets to Peterborough with GNER and
booked the bikes in Dundee without a problem. Only odd thing is that for
the out tickets we got a printed page as confirmation, and when we
booked for the return a couple of days later we got proper tickets for the
bikes...

Roos

Quoted message said:

Paul Weaver said:

[email hidden] wrote:

Quoted message said:

Friday afternoon out of London would be classed as a busy route, you'd
have to have a pretty strange idea of the reality of train travel if
you didn't think that.

the leaflet, if you've found it, says:

Turbo Train services
During peak times, local train services throughout the Thames Valley
are very busy.

a) i'm not sure how i'm meant to knwo whether my route uses a turbo
train

Generally slow trains are "turbos" (heh), but obviously you'd have to
be a train nerd to know that unless you regularly use the line

HOWEVER

ALL services out of London in the PM peak are busy, and taking a bike
between 4 and 7PM just isn't a good idea, and it probably banned
anyway. Taking a folding bike on some services out of paddington (the
~1755 first stop Ealing) is impossible, a lot of the time people are
left standing on the platform (at least when I used to use it)

Basically, to take a bike, or ridicuously bulky bike-sized luggage, on
a train, you should avoid the London peaks at a minimum, other commuter
lines get equally busy tooo (Transpennine Manchester - Leeds for
example)

Quoted message said:

b) i'd not have thought Paddington to Great Malvern was a "local train
service" (it's a direct train)

The line through Evesham is an oditty, it's part of network southeast,
not intercity, even though it goes furthur than many intercity
services. Waterloo to Exeter is similar.

Quoted message said:

All of this means I couldn't actually get my bike on the trains i'd
booked because one of my journeys (Paddington to Great Malvern on a
Friday afternoon) is classed as a peak Thames train.

Condolences. I whinged fairly recently about my own FGW experiences -
booked a reservation, (this was a rush hour train) but there was a
shorter train than normal on and a rather flustered guard apologised
but told me I couldn't get on.

I've taken to cycling the 25 miles to work on days when my bike would
otherwise need to be transported (very pleasant this time of year).

FGW are cancelling half their services at my local station (Severn
Tunnel Jct) and any rhetoric coming from the government about
sustainable transport policy ought to be shoved up their [censored].
</frustration>

On 16 Jun 2006 03:58:42 -0700 someone who may be [email hidden]
wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

- impossible to book a cycle reservation online

Sadly the ability to do this was removed a year or two ago. Some
have asked for it to be put back.

Quoted message said:

- not on Thames valley trains at peak times (and of course I've no idea
what the route of my train is when i book it - i just know where i'm
going from and to)

I would have thought that a rough idea of where the Thames Valley is
would be a part of most people's education in the UK.

Quoted message said:

- compulsary reservation on trains marked with a cycle symbol in the
train times book (which i don't have access to of course)

Given your first point this doesn't sound a particular problem.
Stations and travel agents should have the booklet.

Quoted message said:

All of this means I couldn't actually get my bike on the trains i'd
booked because one of my journeys (Paddington to Great Malvern on a
Friday afternoon) is classed as a peak Thames train.

Rather a lot of people leave Paddington on a Friday afternoon and so
the trains are busy. I would like it to be possible for everyone who
wants to take a bike, but this will not be happening soon.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

David Hansen said:

I would have thought that a rough idea of where the Thames Valley is
would be a part of most people's education in the UK.

And if you are a visitor from overseas - or do we not want them clogging
up our railways with their bikes?

--
Tony

"Anyone who conducts an argument by appealing to authority is not using
his intelligence; he is just using his memory."
- Leonardo da Vinci

Quoted message said:

The line through Evesham is an oditty, it's part of network southeast,
not intercity, even though it goes furthur than many intercity
services. Waterloo to Exeter is similar.

No its not. Network Southeast hasn't existed since 1994 (I used to work
for them). The Evesham services are now part of First Greater Western's
long distance services (what used to be called InterCity). Waterloo to
Exeter is now part of South West Trains services.

On 16 Jun 2006 06:13:32 -0700 someone who may be "Paul Weaver"
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

The line through Evesham is an oditty, it's part of network southeast,

Not since privatisation. One of the worst aspects of privatisation
was the destruction of Network South East, which was just starting
to get the various bits of local railway around London working
together. All that work was lost long ago.

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

On Fri, 16 Jun 2006 18:04:44 +0100 someone who may be Tony Raven
<[email hidden]> wrote this:-

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I would have thought that a rough idea of where the Thames Valley is
would be a part of most people's education in the UK.

And if you are a visitor from overseas

I tend to go to a suitable shop and buy a map of countries I'm
visiting. Although few have anything like the sort of maps one sees
of the UK there is usually something with the major rivers marked
on.

Quoted message said:

or do we not want them clogging up our railways with their bikes?

Quite the reverse. As I said and you snipped, "I would like it to be
possible for everyone who wants to take a bike, but this will not be
happening soon."

--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000/00023--e.htm#54

GazK said:

Quoted message said:

The line through Evesham is an oditty, it's part of network southeast,
not intercity, even though it goes furthur than many intercity
services. Waterloo to Exeter is similar.

No its not. Network Southeast hasn't existed since 1994 (I used to work
for them). The Evesham services are now part of First Greater Western's
long distance services (what used to be called InterCity). Waterloo to
Exeter is now part of South West Trains services.

Technically yes, but until April it was part of the "commuter routes"
of Thames Trains, later FGWL. The ex-NSE area is still treated
differently