Train travel yesterday.

[UNDERHILL1927]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

What's wrong with all the 7s or all the 3s? ****ing uber? Posh student ****

Uber is far cheaper and easier to arrange, even for a 41 year old 😀

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Uber is far cheaper and easier to arrange, even for a 41 year old 😀

was only pissing around.

Don't think we get uber in the valleys just pray for a taxi

[UNDERHILL1927]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

was only pissing around.

Don't think we get uber in the valleys just pray for a taxi

Haha I know mate. More likely to get a unicorn than a train that runs at the moment

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Haha I know mate. More likely to get a unicorn than a train that runs at the moment

Ain't caught one for a while tbh

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Indeed almost certainly not "simple", but clearly beyond the capabilities of the managers of these services.

Beyond the capabilities of the manager of these services but within the grasp of a poster on this messageboard.

I look forward to your proposals in how extra carriages can be added ad hoc without affecting further services. You seem to know how it all works. Glad to have your expertise on here.

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Beyond the capabilities of the manager of these services but within the grasp of a poster on this messageboard.

I look forward to your proposals in how extra carriages can be added ad hoc without affecting further services. You seem to know how it all works. Glad to have your expertise on here.

Made me chuckle that did

I did 6 months down in Canton at arriva it's not as pkain sailing as the public seem to imagine it to be.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Made me chuckle that did

I did 6 months down in Canton at arriva it's not as pkain sailing as the public seem to imagine it to be.

I know more about the bus industry from family working in it. It's hilarious sometimes when you hear passengers talking about bus failings. Not a clue!

[Jordi Culé]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59518933

Nothing to worry about, it’s all in hand.

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

I know more about the bus industry from family working in it. It's hilarious sometimes when you hear passengers talking about bus failings. Not a clue!

Brother in law is a fitter for what us now TfW, you are right swap and change train/bus but its not as simple as the public think when they revert to type and just start moaning and ranting.

[Wozza16]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Fair play covid has screwed TFW pretty much 1 year into its contract, think a lot of people have unreasonable expectations that things would change overnight. It'll be interesting now that the new trains will come online next year, the massive under investment in the Welsh railway system is crazy.

Normally a rail operator would come in and take 1-2 aspects of the business, TFW has had to come in as a new body, improve infrastructure, stock, customer service and operations, new HQ, electrification etc after the shambles of Arriva and the contract Westminster gave them

[NYCBlue]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Do you have to wear a mask on public transport?

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Do you have to wear a mask on public transport?

In the article above it said yes.

I've not used it for yonks..

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-59518933

Nothing to worry about, it’s all in hand.

Well, either the situation has completely changed in the last four months or he's not got a bloody clue.

Reading some of the replies on this thread, it's almost as if some think we should be grateful to have any trains at all - my own view is that TTL should never have got close to being awarded the contract if what I saw on Saturday is the best they can offer even after making an allowance for Covid.

I'm pretty sure I'm right in thinking that, unlike other Valley Line routes, the service from Treherbert to Cardiff Central only operates along that route and does not go on to places like Barry, Bridgend and Penarth like others do. Therefore, for that service anyway, I see no reason why they could not ensure that all trains running on a Saturday three weeks before Christmas consisted of four carriages.

I turned up at Treherbert station on Saturday at around midday to catch my first train in over a year and, having given up on trying to buy a ticket from the non responsive machine on the platform, groaned to myself when I saw that the approaching train only had two two carriages. Pre Covid, I used to use such trains to get to matches regularly and knew how crowded a two carriage train got, so I was expecting it to be bad, but it turned out to be worse than any I caught pre Covid - if I knew that a two carriage train was too small for the requirements of this particular service, why on earth didn't the person who authorised such a small train?

The line to Treherbert is a single track from Porth onwards apart from at Ystryd station which has two platforms where trains can pass each other. Invariably, this leads to short delays while the other train makes its way to the only place where they can pass, but there was none of that on Saturday on either journey because there was not another train coming from the other direction - like so many others, it had been cancelled.

I was on one of the new trains for both journeys and in terms of getting squashed like sardines (that Tory councillor in the link is spot on based on my experience on Saturday), they are no different from the old ones - as mentioned in my first post, people gave up trying to get on the train at Llandaff because it was so crowded.

Is it unreasonable to expect a size of train which is able to fit demand? Is it reasonable to expect advertised trains to actually run and not be cancelled at short notice?

As for masks, I'd say about seventy five per cent of passengers were wearing them and that the huge majority of those who weren't were under thirty - I'm not too bothered about the possibility of catching Covid having had my booster ten days before travelling, but, if I can describe it this way, I've not been in a more Covid friendly situation than when I was on that crowded train from Treherbert on Saturday (to be fair, the other three trains I caught weren't as bad as the first one).

[the other bob wilson]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

One other thing, because I didn't see a ticket collector on either journey I didn't have to pay a penny in fares (the fact I tried to buy tickets from the machine at Treherbert station proves I was not trying to dodge payment). It happened about half of the times I'd travel to and from games pre Covid as well. The truth is that, unless you're getting off at Cardiff Central or Queen Street where you have to have a ticket to get out of the building, it's so easy to travel on these trains without paying - I'm not complaining because I reckon it's saved me around £100 since I moved up here, but just think of all the money the operators are missing out on, money which could be ploughed into trying to avoid the sort of situation which arose on Saturday.

[dembethewarrior]

Re: Train travel yesterday.

Well, either the situation has completely changed in the last four months or he's not got a bloody clue.

Reading some of the replies on this thread, it's almost as if some think we should be grateful to have any trains at all - my own view is that TTL should never have got close to being awarded the contract if what I saw on Saturday is the best they can offer even after making an allowance for Covid.

I'm pretty sure I'm right in thinking that, unlike other Valley Line routes, the service from Treherbert to Cardiff Central only operates along that route and does not go on to places like Barry, Bridgend and Penarth like others do. Therefore, for that service anyway, I see no reason why they could not ensure that all trains running on a Saturday three weeks before Christmas consisted of four carriages.

I turned up at Treherbert station on Saturday at around midday to catch my first train in over a year and, having given up on trying to buy a ticket from the non responsive machine on the platform, groaned to myself when I saw that the approaching train only had two two carriages. Pre Covid, I used to use such trains to get to matches regularly and knew how crowded a two carriage train got, so I was expecting it to be bad, but it turned out to be worse than any I caught pre Covid - if I knew that a two carriage train was too small for the requirements of this particular service, why on earth didn't the person who authorised such a small train?

The line to Treherbert is a single track from Porth onwards apart from at Ystryd station which has two platforms where trains can pass each other. Invariably, this leads to short delays while the other train makes its way to the only place where they can pass, but there was none of that on Saturday on either journey because there was not another train coming from the other direction - like so many others, it had been cancelled.

I was on one of the new trains for both journeys and in terms of getting squashed like sardines (that Tory councillor in the link is spot on based on my experience on Saturday), they are no different from the old ones - as mentioned in my first post, people gave up trying to get on the train at Llandaff because it was so crowded.

Is it unreasonable to expect a size of train which is able to fit demand? Is it reasonable to expect advertised trains to actually run and not be cancelled at short notice?

As for masks, I'd say about seventy five per cent of passengers were wearing them and that the huge majority of those who weren't were under thirty - I'm not too bothered about the possibility of catching Covid having had my booster ten days before travelling, but, if I can describe it this way, I've not been in a more Covid friendly situation than when I was on that crowded train from Treherbert on Saturday (to be fair, the other three trains I caught weren't as bad as the first one).

It couuld be possible, Bob, that the Treherbert train doesn't just run back and forth Treherbert and Cardiff Central all day. Some services are terminated at central station, could it be that there they are re routed, and someone somewhere in an office behind a computer has a bit more of an idea what's going on?