Monday 8 March 2010

Cheating, greedy bastards

I mailed Virgin Trains and Cross Country to ask what counts as 'peak time' - none of the rail companies makes this information easily available. Virgin didn't bother to reply, but I got this galling reply for Cross Country:


Peak Hours are generally between 04:30 and 09:30 and again between 15:30 and 18:15 from Monday to Friday. All other times are Off-Peak. I hope this helps.
Thank you once again for taking the time to get in touch. 


Unbelievable. 04.30 a.m. 'peak'? Nonsense. Nationalisation NOW!

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

This situation was the norm a long time before privitisation.

Nationalisation isn't nearly far enough. How about this: if you are using the train to get to work, are a pensioner or a child, your journey is free. If you are using the journey for leisure or are a tourist then you pay a small fee.

But where will the money come from? STOP BUILDING ROADS. It's so easy isn't it? When you think about it.

Or... instead of spending billions on a high speed rail link between London and Manchester, why not just improve/subsidise the current services?

Until climate change actually forces us to stop thinking about big shiny prestige-projects and start thinking about just making peoples lives less shit you have no chance of getting a cheap train in the morning. When the oil runs out and the sea levels are rising, if we avoid a nuclear war (and that's a pretty big if) then you can look forward to cheap public transport.

ps Have you looked at coach prices? You can often get a good deal because no-one likes coaches.

The Plashing Vole said...

Damn, I actually agree with every word, except for your financial model - which wouldn't work, unfortunately.

I'd ban urban cars. Just ban them. Provide each street with a few golf carts for anyone with luggage and tax people to pay for trams and buses. Free bikes for every household.

We can become Scandinavian, we just don't want to. One day…

Anonymous said...

It works easy. You get a free pass between your home and place of work. If you use it on your days off so what? If you simplify things they tend to work.

As for banning cars. The environment and the economy will take care of that for you. Too many people, not enough resources.