Great Western Coffee Shop

Over the next few weeks, I'll be travelling widely, gaining many experiences ... and I'm starting this "travelogue" thread as a bit of an experiment - see how it goes / see if it's read. 

I hope to highlight successes, and failures in transport - public and private.  In England and beyond.  So that we can learn from the best, and beware of the worst.

Today - starting from my home town of Melksham in Wiltshire, and travelling up to the flat lands of Cambridgeshire.   Problem number one to overcome as I head up the "A350 corridor" as it's known between Trowbridge and Chippenham is the complete lack of buses on a Sunday, and of trains until after 5 p.m., by which time I need to be well on my way.

Dear reader, come back tomorrow morning to see how I've overcome that initial little problem, and how the rest of my journey across the rest of the northern home counties has gone.

I'm travelling this week - and intended to write a long and detailed travalogue;  I'm sampling a wide variety of modes of transport, and linking them together as most appropriate for my journey needs, and at the same time looking and learning - the bad and the good.  Alas - a hundred other things to do, a spectacularly buoyant group of delegates making for rewarding but tiring days, and a need for sleep as I come to the end of a very long series of busy weeks, have rather conspired against.  But here are some notes.

** Sunday 23rd June. Melksham to Cambridge.

For a town of 25,000, Melksham has an incredibly poor public transport service - nothing that met my needs, so I found myself choosing between taxi, lift to Chippenham (35,000 and with plenty of public transport on a Sunday), and driving all the way.  I had the luxury of a lift on offer, so took that.

* Journey Planning

Cambridge is one of those places where "If I was going there, I wouldn't choose to start from here" where "here" is home.  At best, it's into London and out again by public transport, which radiates like spokes of a wheel from the capital.  And the ingoing spoke was fine.   The outgoing spoke was broken, with Network Rail doing work on the main London to Cambridge line, and the options on offer being either a train and bus ride, or the suburban train from Liverpool Street which peters out - after stopping at many places - at Cambridge.   Neither attractive (and those who look for an extension of suburban electric trains to Westbury should beware - people may not want to use a service with 12 + stops on the way). So I decided to take the train to Oxford and then the express coach service that I've often wondered about.

* Ticketing

There's a booking office at Chippenham.  Except ... it was closed (should have been open, but it's partchy) and ony ticket machines on offer.  "Destintion Oxford" I select, and get a whole screen full of options, all over 20 pounds.   Odd - if I go on the next train, there's supposed to be a cheaper fare than that.  "More fares?" asks a button, and I press it.  Another load of Oxford fares, again all over 20 pounds.   Some say "anytime", others say "Any permitted Route", others say "Not London" ... what I really want is a Super Off Peak Single to Oxford, route Not Reading.   And it ain't there.   Ho hum - I refuse to by a ticket that gives me joyride to Reading and back at 24 pounds ... and reselect just to Didcot.  11.70 - much better, and just a few miles short.

The train arrives ... 14:55.  On time.  Open door and wait for people to get off - except they don't; the train's full and standing off peak.   But I found a seat, and checked my fares online (my own mobile connection - this train doesn't have an internet connection of its own).  I've paid 11.70 and I should have paid 13.60 to Oxford.  Or I could buy a 5.50 Didcot to Odford ticket.   Will I have time at Didcot? Just 7 minutes for the change, and explaining to do.  Never mind - I catch the train manager with a ticket machine around her neck and ask her to sell me an upgrade.   She offers me an upgrade to the 24.30 ticket that's valid via Reading. "No thank you - I want a via Didcot" - "Oh - you mean a not via Reading?" she asks.  "I have a 5.50 single from Didcot to Oxford" she bargains.  "No - I would like an upgrade ...".  "Let's see what we can do" she says, and I pay her my extra 1.60 and get a fascitating ticket - perhaps for my collection if the barrier doesn't swallow it.   Come to think of it - which ticket SHOULD I put in the barrier at Oxford?

There's an obligation on staff at ticket offices to offer you the cheapest individual ticket to mee the journey requirements that you give them.   I'm afraid I find it scandalous that there's no rule that a ticket machine - the only way to buy tickets because First hadn't staffed the station when they should have - can be programmed to make the most sensible fare on the next train impossible or near impossible to find, and only offers more expensive products.   Why the heck would I want a ticket I can use via Reading on a Sunday when all the connections are at Didcot?   And why would I want an anytime ticket when super off peak is valid anytime on a Sunday.   What a great way to rip off the public.  Or perhaps I shouldn't complain - perhaps I should celebrate that other people inncocently pay more that they need to, helping fill the railway's coffers so that my fare can be or a more manageable level.

Anyway - finishing the ticket story. I decided to use the excess in the barriers at Oxford.   Failed, of course - "Seek Attention". The chap on the barriers has obviously been sought out by a group of very tempremental and very muscular looking youths just ahead of me, and a colleague was coming over to help.  "Won't take my ticket" I said to him as he passed, and he let me though without even taking a look.

All this ticketing business rather ate into my journey enjoyment .. I'll come back and write about that to follow.