[Closed] Virgin Trains RANT!

BlobOnAStick - Member
By far and away the solution that is least inconvenient to the railway company, and damn the customer, is to insist on reservations and stick to it.

Interesting reading and, I'm sure, all valid points.

But I'm really not seeing why, [i]on an empty train,[/i] designated bike storage aside the guard couldn't have just let him take the bike and stash it in the corner where pushchairs and such usually go. Especially when the alternative, as far as he knew, was for our esteemed colleague spending the night on a park bench.

So basically, if you need to travel with a bike, try and avoid Virgin as much as possible, due to a series of poor/non bike friendly decisions over the years.

That sound fair?

Btw I don't agree with the argument about there being a risk of the door being off the platform - if it were, we wouldn't be able to press the button would we? However if the cab is accessible from that spot then that's fair enough - would be a bad idea to open that up to the public. Still a stupid train design though.

Anyone remember those great big guards' vans where you could stick any amount of bike and stuff in a big cage?

It still isn't over btw - I left my phone at home, and the email with directions to the site didn't come through.. given up for now and having a coffee whilst I try to find where I need to be.

Anyone remember those great big guards' vans where you could stick any amount of bike and stuff in a big cage?

Mercifully, First Great Western still use the old intercity type trains on the Cardiff/ London service, which have a proper compartment for bikes at the front of coach A, and you don't need a guard to get on/ off. No dount electricifcation of the line will see the introduction something much worse for cyclists..

Whilst I sypathise with the OP being left behind (which really shouldnt have happened and worth complaining about), bike reservations have been required since the 90's at least and isn't something new.
However its completely unjustifiable to leave a passenger behind, esp if its the last train north.

BlobOnAStick, with that type of can do attitude, you should get a job with Virgin trains.

Thanks Fourbanger! Compliments indeed! 😀

I'm merely pointing out why there are rules around this particular issue. If there was anything I could do to change the situation, then I would be doing it.

You can use Virgin Trains with a bike as much as you like, just make the reservation.

I've been seen with a Tkey many a time, mostly nobody asks, but once a guard/ticket gadge came up and asked me when he came for tickets later and asked if I was the one who let themselves onto the train, I said 'yeah I work for Nexus Metro in the north east so carry it around as its useful!' he said yeah, but just don't get seen by station staff.

I actually did work for nexus and half their units are actually operated by the things!

Also had lots of chats with TFL & transport police over the years because of my hobbies, but thats another matter, and generally they are sound, bar the odd one.

4) If you don't have a reservation, nobody knows you are there so the chances of being over-carried are significant - a reservation ensures that all parties are informed. Train Managers and Station staff have notification that you are there. (I expect someone will be along in a minute to state that they had a reservation and this happened anyway.....)

I've got off a train at Lancaster with my bike, to be informed by the station staff that someone at Euston [i]should[/i] have told them I was there, but didn't. Which seemed odd to me because one of the members of staff at Euston instantly jumped on me and asked me for my bike reservation when he saw I had a bicycle.

In any case, the biggest pain in the arse for me is actually getting hold of a bike reservation. As far as I can gather, you have two options. Option 1, going to Euston station and sorting it all out at the ticket office in one go (not all that convenient for me and I live in London, and significantly less convenient for others I'm sure). Still, this is what I'll be doing next time, as before I went to option 2 and it was much harder than it should have been.

Option 2 is to ring up Virgin and book it all over the phone (no bike booking is available online). However, to do this the ticket agent had to take all my details, then go through and talk to the back office to make sure there was a bike space free, then come back to me, actually book my train, then go back and talk to the back office again to finally book the bike on. However last time, the bike spaces actually ran out in between her checking and booking the train for me, leading to somewhat less convenient journey times. I know it's all first world problems etc., but I wouldn't mind having to have a reservation if it wasn't such a PITA to acquire one.

Pro-tip:

east coast website lets you:

a) book for any train
b) book a bike reservation online!

The other way that Virgin (and other companies) could reduce the likelihood of there being no spaces when you turn up unannounced with your bike would be to provide more spaces.....

[b]BlobOnAStick[/b] thanks for that - I had no idea about the difficulties (apart from getting off once aboard!), so I'll be less lax in future 🙂

Trains here don't insist on reservations. They have areas on the modern trains like SWTrains do where the seats fold up and you can stand bikes. On older trains they have hooks so you can dangle them from the roof and two sets of seats for the riders (so basically a quarter of a carriage just for bikes and riders right behind the driver or at the other end of the train). Hasn't appeared to cause drivers to die, people to fall of platforms, the four horsemen to descend on the country nor the fall of civilisation.

So I'm guessing it's not beyond the wit of the train people in the UK to make their trains bike friendly. The problem is they don't give a shit.

I've been seen with a Tkey many a time

So I'm guessing it's not beyond the wit of the train people in the UK to make their trains bike friendly. The problem is they don't give a shit

The bike carriages should be in the middle of the train so there is none of this cant get off because the platform is too short. B*ll*x.

Hopefully when they design the next set of trains they will take this into account but they probably wont.

The other way that Virgin (and other companies) could reduce the likelihood of there being no spaces when you turn up unannounced with your bike would be to provide more spaces.....

Absolutely. I've never understood why demand for a service seems to always be seen as a problem, rather than an opportunity. If I knew that taking my bike on the train was going to be a painless and straightforward process I would probably spend a shedload more money on travelling by train rather than on driving.

I loved the bike carriages I saw in Germany. Big empty carriages with fold down seats around the edges. Anyone can use the seats, but if bikes come on they take priority.

The trouble is a lot of the UKs long distance routes are running close to capacity, with a limit on how long the trains can be.
The comparison with SWT / Southern, however is a little unfair as many of their services run half hourly or less and generally only take 90mins end to end. Virgin / East Coast / First Great Western have considerably longer routes running on lower frequencies.
So do you:-
a) Carry half a carriage of fresh air around on every trip to cater for a minority which generates little or no additional revenue?
or
b) Fill that same train with as many seats as possible to maximise revenue and capacity?

Or they could change the stock depending on time of day. Why should you have to reserve a spot on a train on a weekday evening when the trains are often half empty?

More likely c) start charging for bikes.

You can use Virgin Trains with a bike as much as you like, just make the reservation.

No you can't, because they don't have enough spaces for bikes.

atlaz - Member

Or they could change the stock depending on time of day. Why should you have to reserve a spot on a train on a weekday evening when the trains are often half empty?

well they have these great big depots with carriages and stuff in them where they can store them. they have this thing called planning where they can work out what rolling stock is needed and when

they have this thing called planning

You seem to be confused. We're discussing rail companies.

Trouble is if the stock is sat around all day its not earning its keep, so effectively costing the TOC. (They rent most stock from ROSCOs so if its not earning its costing!)
Thats why most maintenance is done at night, outside peak times. So aside from a few spare sets (to cover for breakdowns etc) there isn't much spare stock lying around.
Not like the 70's or 80's where there was lots of spare stock all over the country.

As someone already mentioned above - why not have seats which can be folded up to allow bike son and down when not required?

Southern trains (annoying website packed full of tracking cookies) have a booking thing online for bikes, and you can see the availability on different trains, but you have to check some obscure box early on.

Hopefully when they design the next set of trains

Hah, I'll probably be dead by then. FGW trains are 50 years old if they're a day.

no trains on west coast mainline due to landslide at Carlisle and around trhat area,and the east coast mainline is also closed.

NR have no idea as to when both are going to reopen

Which reminds me - I need to book the train on my return journey.

Molgrips, the HSTs were first introduced in 1977, so you're only 15 years out.....

I won't use Virgin trains on principle - even if I don't have my bike. A small protest I know, but it makes me happy.

For information, this is a bit of a shocker from Arriva Trains Wales' website:

Carriage of bicycles is always at the discretion of train staff, even if you have a reservation

That could cause some issues..!

So now I have a choice - get home at say 7.30pm but travel on an Arriva Trains crappo train for 2.5 hours, or stay later, get more done, travel in first class and get home at 9.30... hmm...

I was given the same info from First Transpennine when I called to book.

me: "So I can't actually reserve a space for my bike"
person: "Yes you can. But you might not be allowed on"

me: " So I can't actually reserve a space for my bike"

etc

etc

etc

when is a reservation not a reservation?
.
..
...
....
sorry were you waiting for a punchline?

Same experience here.
Four of us travelling Edinburgh-Carlisle a couple of years back to do the C2C, huge intercity train virtually empty, I'd sorted the reservation for bikes, and had the paper confirmation with me.
Guard - it's not on my system/I haven't been informed, you aren't getting on. Delayed us enough that we couldn't get on the train.
Utter prick, who very nearly got throttled.
FTM

You see this is the problem, there is no flexibility for this sort of problem whatsoever.
Virgin staff would never ride cheeky trails. "It says 'ere you can't, so you can't"

Train companies look for an "ability to follow rules and procedures" when they recruit staff. It's not supprising then that you get a lot of jobsworths on the job.

At our place theres guards who seem to have more trouble with the punters than most, they are the ones who see everything in black and white.

I think you cyclists should all b*gger off (and take commuters, mums with prams, scroates, p*ss heads, ale trail ars*eholes, race going ar*eholes etc with you) and leave us to play trains in peace 😉

Leeds by any chance? 😉

Guess what?

Go on, guess. I'll give you a clue, I'm not currently on the 1717 to Birmingham New St.

That's an amazing coincidence. Nor am I!

Srsly mate, that's pretty shocking. Put in a formal complaint.

It was cancelled...

The lady booked me on the next train which would have had me spending 3 hours on the crappy Arriva trains from Crewe, so I opted for the 1817 which is a spanking new train and very lovely inside. Worth the wait 🙂

And my new 3G dongle is working very well indeed with NDIS drivers, rather than my old PPP one.

Imagine my disappointment, etc.