Booking a bike with GWR... Oh the saga

[bikingdad90]

Could you join the enterprise car hire scheme that is about £9pcm and then hire a car for a day. Pick up from one location and drop off at another location? Might work out cheaper than a train?!

https://www.enterprisecarclub.co.uk...MI2dXogLvZ9wIVlZftCh39VATrEAAYASAAEgJ64fD_BwE

 

[matticus]

A folder isn't really appropriate for off-road up and over Dartmoor and Exmoor though, is it?

No it's not! I think we all feel your pain, Mr Rivers.
At the same time, Norah's suggestion for a completely different strategy has merit - or rather, *I* think it does, so I've been trying out those stoopid tiny-wheeled things, for this exact reason. (I'm 9 months into the project so far, so destined to keep battling The System with my proper bike for a while, in all likelihood.)
Like all strategies, there are pros+cons - you can't do the same kind of riding with a folder. But things like bail-out options become a lot easier.

 

[vickster]

No it's not! I think we all feel your pain, Mr Rivers.

Rivers is not a Mr

 

[mudsticks]

On a weekly basis, I book my daily bike space on the train from my home station to Bath Spa for work. It's an IET service to London Paddington so without a booking I'm chancing being able to take my bike on the train. In August, I'm headed to Plymouth for some bikepacking over Dartmoor and Exmoor. Can I book a bike space? Nope, but I can't book a bike space on ANY train from Bristol to Temple Meads to Plymouth, (can't book from home to temple meads as it's a local service). I have checked many times and dates, and apparently they are all "fully booked". No matter if I check tomorrow, next week, next month, etc. I even picked a couple of days and tried EVERY service, and nothing. So I phone GWR to try and book, explained the situation and said no matter what I tried everything was booked and surely that can't be right....

Just that it was likely they were all booked up- I highly doubt the 200+ services I looked at were booked up. I was bored during my lunch break. I just think it might be unbookable services.

I've had this quite often on GWR services heading west from Exeter, it seems to get worse the deeper you go into Cornwall

On some of the legs I could book my bike on other parts ..
"Not bookable"

In the end I just go anyway .

And I've never not got to where I'm going..


There maybe something in what one poster has said about them changing rolling stock quite often.

I've been on 'unbookable for bike' trains on GWR with massive great guards vans into which you could load Nelly the Elephant and her attendant circus, with very little difficulty..

It's really annoying isn't it, because it's definitely going to put off those people not happy with 'just winging it'

Where is our integrated public transport system please??

 

[matticus]

Rivers is not a Mr

Sorry @rivers

 

[matticus]

On some of the legs I could book my bike on other parts ..
"Not bookable"

In the end I just go anyway .

I might be dense, but I can't tell the difference (online) between:
- Not bookable, and
- Bookable but full of bikes. Too slow, looooozer!

If you know it's the former, it makes more sense to take a chance. Sometimes. And if you know (from previous trips) what kind of train to expect.

 

[ColinJ]

Taking bikes by train in the UK is awful on some services but fine on others.

I have avoided the issue for my Devon trips by buying a bike to leave down there at my sister's retirement cottage. I had my first holiday down there with a friend who drove us down with our bikes.

Not much use for a one-off trip by rail though... How about hiring a bike down there?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Just a thought (and you've probably already thought of this anyway, but here goes) could you take slower trains that don't require reservations? This might involve changing.

eg today the 11:55 from Bristol Temple Meads to Penzance, calls at Plymouth 14:32 (This is the 11:00 from Cardiff Central to Penzance) does not require reservations according to National Rail Enquiries. But I'm a complete idiot so I may have got some things wrong.

Of course it could be a bit nail biting as you could get unlucky and be told that there's no room for your bike, as it's first come first served.

Edit. A bit more digging on https://www.opentraintimes.com/ suggests this is a class 158 DMU (Sprinter).

Edit. And I've even found a picture of the weedy bike storage in a GWR class 158. It's at 7:44 in this Youtube video.

 

[T4tomo]

Taking bikes by train in the UK is awful on some services but fine on others.

I have avoided the issue for my Devon trips by buying a bike to leave down there at my sister's retirement cottage. I had my first holiday down there with a friend who drove us down with our bikes.

Not much use for a one-off trip by rail though... How about hiring a bike down there?

The point is though we shouldn't have to and I think @rivers was looking to do a one way trip, which make returning a hire bike a pain in the backside, without getting into expense and ability to hire appropriate sized lightweight gravel bike somewhere in the UK.

We do a few cycle weekends away but always just pack the bikes into the car and hire a cottage and do circular day rides, with train logistics being one of the reasons.

On a separate point is a village missing its trike riding idiot?

 

[ColinJ]

The point is though we shouldn't have to...

Which is what I was responding to with...

Taking bikes by train in the UK is awful on some services but fine on others.

That was the short version... Things can be so bad on some services that I would not even contemplate trying. And yes, it is NOT acceptable!

Even if you manage to get a booking, you can be stuffed if there ends up being a rail replacement bus (rare to be able to take a bike on).

The t&c of Trans-Pennine state that even if you make a bike reservation, they don't guarantee to take the bike!

I had a reservation on a train from Coventry to Leeds once but found my space with an unreserved bike in it which the train manager was not interested in dealing with.

 

[mudsticks]

I might be dense, but I can't tell the difference (online) between:
- Not bookable, and
- Bookable but full of bikes. Too slow, looooozer!

If you know it's the former, it makes more sense to take a chance. Sometimes. And if you know (from previous trips) what kind of train to expect.

No me neither..
It's a deeply inscrutable system.

And even when you phone up to ask if it's possible to book a bike on that leg, the operative won't necessarily know either..

They'll either be breezily confident, or else caution against risking it .

It's a gamble right enough..

But when I've explained these difficulties to the train manager/ guards person - driver even, at the actual time they've usually been very helpful / accomodating .

Maybe it's just my natural charm / good looks/ and fabulous bike that does it for them.. 😇

 

[Dogtrousers]

But when I've explained these difficulties to the train manager/ guards person - driver even, at the actual time they've usually been very helpful / accomodating .

I've found this too. But I'm very unwilling to advise anyone else to take a risk. "Go on, you'll be fine, they won't mind you shoving your bike in the area by the doors" because if I did, then that person would get unlucky and meet the Jobsworth From Hell.

 

[mudsticks]

I've found this too. But I'm very unwilling to advise anyone else to take a risk. "Go on, you'll be fine, they won't mind you shoving your bike in the area by the doors" because if I did, then that person would get unlucky and meet the Jobsworth From Hell.

Absolutely, we're all grown ups who hopefully know our own comfort level with risk or uncertainty.

I'm just telling my own experience, and how I've found it

 

[rivers]

Could you join the enterprise car hire scheme that is about £9pcm and then hire a car for a day. Pick up from one location and drop off at another location? Might work out cheaper than a train?!

https://www.enterprisecarclub.co.uk...MI2dXogLvZ9wIVlZftCh39VATrEAAYASAAEgJ64fD_BwE

Train is already booked and at £24, likely to be less than petrol to get there.

 

[rivers]

Taking bikes by train in the UK is awful on some services but fine on others.

I have avoided the issue for my Devon trips by buying a bike to leave down there at my sister's retirement cottage. I had my first holiday down there with a friend who drove us down with our bikes.

Not much use for a one-off trip by rail though... How about hiring a bike down there?

One way trip- meeting the wife in Ilfracombe at the end. Plus, I'm 5'2" with a 46cm bike that I've had fitted and made/about to make many changes from the stock set-up. I wouldn't want to a do a trip over several days that I have no idea if I would be comfortable on.