The Pain of Trains

[Wolf616]

I've become so obsessed with cycling that pretty much everywhere I go now I take my bicycle - including weekends away where the only chance I'll get to cycle is to and from the train station. My friends and family are increasingly looking at me as if I'm barmy, but that's not what bothers me.

What bothers me is that booking train tickets with a bicycle is an absolute pain in the bum. It's not so much the act of booking - some sites have online reservation capabilities and others you have to ring (the latter is a little annoying as in this day and age you'd expect online booking - particularly for giant companies like Virgin) - but rather the fact that I often have to book multiple singles if there are any changes to make as the Advance tickets often leave you less than ten minutes to make a connection. Considering getting your pannier-laden bike around a train station and onto a train is not the fastest thing to do, this seems a little bit unfair - particularly as sometimes multiple singles cost far more than the single Advance ticket.

Does anyone know of a way around this beyond phoning the company EVERY time I want to book a ticket that has changes in the journey? I can't seem to find anywhere on any of the websites that allows you to change the time of the connecting train...

 

[Joffey]

Get a Brompton?

 

[mjr]

the fact that I often have to book multiple singles if there are any changes to make as the Advance tickets often leave you less than ten minutes to make a connection

Why's that a fact? You can select "Extended station change times" in Journey Preferences in the "Mixing Desk" booking website used by most train operators these days (for example, Southern use it). You can book most tickets on services of most operators on any booking websites (things like megatrain are exceptions) so the occasional rubbish website (Virgin) shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Also, I'm pretty sure that if you have allowed at least the minimum change time (built into the booking systems as long as you're not splitting the journey at that station, shown in the old paper timetables and probably on the station info on the National Rail website) and still miss the connecting train, then they should open your ticket from Advance to Anytime as soon as you ask.

 

[Wolf616]

Why's that a fact? You can select "Extended station change times" in Journey Preferences in the "Mixing Desk" booking website used by most train operators these days (for example, Southern use it). You can book most tickets on services of most operators on any booking websites (things like megatrain are exceptions) so the occasional rubbish website (Virgin) shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Also, I'm pretty sure that if you have allowed at least the minimum change time (built into the booking systems as long as you're not splitting the journey at that station, shown in the old paper timetables and probably on the station info on the National Rail website) and still miss the connecting train, then they should open your ticket from Advance to Anytime as soon as you ask.

Thanks, that's exactly the information I wanted to know! I'm very happy to stand corrected.