Trains to London

[Dour]

i like the new St Pancras

I hate it. It might be shinier but it seems an extra half hour walk through a crowded shopping arcade.

 

[bocadillo]

Just reading snippets of this post has reinforced my view that rail travel in England is horrifically expensive.


Are these the types of prices designed to get people out of cars? If so someone needs sacking.

Public transport in Britain is not subsidised by anywhere near the same amount as it is in many other countries. And it doesn't seem to me that either of the major political parties have the desire to move the burden of the cost from the consumer to the taxpayer.

I don't know what makes you think that prices are designed to get people out of cars. During the peak hours, the hours when it would be really useful to get people out of cars, trains are already running full (and in some areas full +40%). There is simply no capacity to take any more passengers during these hours. Some corridors are full for most of the day from about 7 in the morning until 7 at night (Birmingham and Manchester to London); some have barely a seat spare at weekends (Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh to London) etc. Reducing the fares can not increase the number of people who travel by train at these times because there is just no room for them.

On a similar note, I realised after taking the bus to work for the first time today that it is massively cheaper for me to drive to work than use the local transport. On to and from work alone I only spend £6 a week, to use the bus would be £3.40 a day.

Arriva can go **** themselves.

Do you really think it only costs you only £6 a week to go to work by car?

 

[bocadillo]

I hate it. It might be shinier but it seems an extra half hour walk through a crowded shopping arcade.

I recognise your "half hour walk" as being a facetious comment, but it is true that the east midlands platforms are much further away from Euston Road than they were and much more difficult to get to.

As you will realise, I normally travel through the station on a Saturday when the station is thronged not only with the shoppers but also with the tourist - Chinese, Japanese, American; all with their ****ing cameras clicking at every angle of the revitalised station - I even saw one from Yorkshire one week!

Whichever way you come into the station you are liable to be delayed by people who just seem to be wandering about and who just love to change direction just as you've decided which side of them to pass. And with EMT now closing the barriers upto 2 minutes before train departure time, this delay can be critical.

If you are entering the station from Euston Road, my tip would be to keep to your left and to get onto the upper level at the first escaltor. It always seems slightly less crowded up there.

If you are entering the station from the Kings Cross side, near the old east midlands platforms, again keep to your left and walk under the arrival and destination boards - everybody else is standing on the right looking at them so your way should be clear.

I am told that things should be easier once the new tube northern ticket office is open next year - let's wait and see.

 

[bocadillo]

...it's only about 3 stops on the bus I just cannot believe the price of bus travel these days.

If it's only three stops, why would you catch the bus. Most days you would be able to walk it in the time you wait for a bus to come.

 

[Hazzman]

Do you really think it only costs you only £6 a week to go to work by car?

It normally costs me twenty quid for a week's worth of petrol for work and a day trip to Coventry. It's nearly touching twenty pounds now for the week spent on bus fares and train fares and that's with a couple of lifts.

 

[bocadillo]

It normally costs me twenty quid for a week's worth of petrol for work and a day trip to Coventry. It's nearly touching twenty pounds now for the week spent on bus fares and train fares and that's with a couple of lifts.

So there are no other costs involved in running a car? Just the cost of the petrol?

 

[Darth Vodka]

I recognise your "half hour walk" as being a facetious comment, but it is true that the east midlands platforms are much further away from Euston Road than they were and much more difficult to get to.

As you will realise, I normally travel through the station on a Saturday when the station is thronged not only with the shoppers but also with the tourist - Chinese, Japanese, American; all with their ****ing cameras clicking at every angle of the revitalised station - I even saw one from Yorkshire one week!

Whichever way you come into the station you are liable to be delayed by people who just seem to be wandering about and who just love to change direction just as you've decided which side of them to pass. And with EMT now closing the barriers upto 2 minutes before train departure time, this delay can be critical.

If you are entering the station from Euston Road, my tip would be to keep to your left and to get onto the upper level at the first escaltor. It always seems slightly less crowded up there.

If you are entering the station from the Kings Cross side, near the old east midlands platforms, again keep to your left and walk under the arrival and destination boards - everybody else is standing on the right looking at them so your way should be clear.

I am told that things should be easier once the new tube northern ticket office is open next year - let's wait and see.

it's St Pancras International now...not some dingy thoroughfare for midlanders, it's gonna be full of tourists...

on the plus side, leicester to paris is one change

 

[Lako42]

Do you really think it only costs you only £6 a week to go to work by car?

Certainly not, however I dont only use it for work, If I take ionto account my other journeys it's both cheaper and easier.

If it's only three stops, why would you catch the bus. Most days you would be able to walk it in the time you wait for a bus to come.

Because the weather in this Country is absolutely terrible, I have to look representable at work and to walk/bike would make me look/smell like a scruffy ****.

If I drive im warm, comfy and have longer in bed, Lovely stuff.

 

[Lako42]

Public transport in Britain is not subsidised by anywhere near the same amount as it is in many other countries.

Another drawback to this declining country.

 

[Jeff]

Another drawback to this declining country.

If tax went up to pay for public transport I bet you'd be the first to complain.

 

[bocadillo]

If tax went up to pay for public transport I bet you'd be the first to complain.

I bet BG would beat him to it.

 

[Lako42]

Do the countries with cheaper public transport have higher tax?

There would be no need for an increase, im pretty sure the Government wastes money in other areas where it could be recouped.

Eastern European countries have a cracking rail system and it's cheap even when buying on the day of travel.

 

[Boy Genius]

If tax went up to pay for public transport I bet you'd be the first to complain.

No, I ****ing would.


Why should tax payers money be made available to make public transport cheaper?

 

[Boy Genius]

I bet BG would beat him to it.

 

[bocadillo]

:icon_wink

 

[Boy Genius]

..... and now for some info on the trains....:icon_bigg


Is the last train back to Leicester on a Friday 23:15, or is there any after midnight?

 

[Jeff]

Is the last train back to Leicester on a Friday 23:15, or is there any after midnight?

The last train is 23:15, unless you wait until the new timetable comes into effect in a couple of months, when there will be a train at 00:15.

 

[Boy Genius]

The last train is 23:15, unless you wait until the new timetable comes into effect in a couple of months, when there will be a train at 00:15.

no, I am in London on the 31st of this month. With a bit of luck 23:15 might just do.

 

[Jeff]

Do the countries with cheaper public transport have higher tax?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Income_Taxes_By_Country.svg

Eastern European countries have a cracking rail system and it's cheap even when buying on the day of travel.

What is the average salary in those countries?

 

[highland fox]

no, I am in London on the 31st of this month. With a bit of luck 23:15 might just do.

You had better leave the Ball by 12 midnight or else you will turn into a Pumpkin Cinderella