From the category archives:

Tickets

Still commuting

June 4, 2009

No updates on here for a while, but that’s not to say the service has been markedly improved. Admittedly it’s not usually as bad in the summer as the winter, but we’ve still had our fair share of delays. It’s surprising how often it happens on a Monday morning or, as we’ve just had a couple of bank holidays, Tuesdays. Always the first day back.

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Tickets, at last

January 28, 2009

So the saga of our advanced tickets has finally drawn to a close. The reason we could get tickets but not seats on the train we wanted was that the booking system had apparently broken down. I’m not sure I entirely believe that as I’m sure it gave me the option of seats on earlier trains.

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Sorry, no seats

January 23, 2009
Thumbnail image for Sorry, no seats

The saga continues. We’ve been trying to buy tickets to get to Darlington for Easter. Not difficult, you wouldn’t think. After all, it’s still months away, and the train operators like you to buy early. That’s why they give you a discount.
Well, after weeks of it looking like it was going to cost £200 to [...]

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Advanced savings?

January 9, 2009

We want some tickets to Darlington three months from today, so we marked the calendar to book them right now, the first day they went on sale. And you know what the price for just getting there is? ��199 for the two of us.

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Bye bye ticket clerk

January 2, 2009

On the day that rail prices have risen by an average of 6%, train operators look set to reap even higher revenues by confusing vulnerable passengers.

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Season tickets

December 14, 2007

My poor season ticket. It runs out at the end of the year, and as today is my last day at work I’ve been holding off getting a free replacement.
This happens every year. The cardboard tickets they dole out don’t have the stamina to be taken out of a wallet six times a day (into [...]

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Ticketless tickets

October 23, 2007

Chiltern Railways is rolling out a new phone-based paperless ticketing system. Initially testing with 50 passengers, the company plans to roll it out across its whole network in two months’ time, before possible nationwide use.

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Higher rail prices = higher rail subsidies

July 23, 2007

The total amount paid in fares by rail passengers has doubled since privatisation to more than £5 billion a year. But the total subsidy has risen even faster, reaching £6.3 billion last year, four times what British Rail received in a typical year. (Source: The Times)
If there were every any figures to damn the whole [...]

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