Train Ticket Site On Wrong Track
I have been endeavouring to use online facilities to sort out planned train journeys in the past couple of weeks, and have been rather underwhelmed.
The most pressing issue is that for a journey I wanted to make, between Solihull and the North East of England in a few weeks time, these enquiries failed miserably to present me with the best fare options.
If I had gone ahead and booked the first journey offered, I would have paid about half as much again as I needed to.
Where the rail enquires site suggested that I should purchase a pair of advance singles, which even tied me to pre-specified trains, I have saved a substantial sum by persisting until I sorted out the cheaper Off Peak Return fare, which allowed greater flexibility of travel times.
My second gripe concerns transfers between stations.
The system decides that it takes eight minutes to get from Moor Street to New Street. It does not suggest that if your train gets to Moor Street a minute early and you can leg it in five minutes to New Street, you could catch an earlier one.
Similar issues affect transfers through the London Underground system.
What would be really helpful is a picture that combines extracts from the old-fashioned timetables into the way the current web-based systems present the options.
However, I should end on a positive. The live train tracking facilities at www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ldb.aspx are extremely helpful.
If you are meeting someone from a long distance train, you can see the latest expected arrival time and stay up to date with progress from station to station along the route.
