car hire v train prices

[simonhill]

No!

All those problems came as a result that the OP doesn't trust using a credit card and internet booking, plus paranoia about flying with a bike. Add to that a lack of planning for the return journey and unfortunately you are asking for trouble.

Spontaneity is not easy with a bike. In the circumstances the OP did OK. He got home in one piece, had the joy of cycling in London and has a good tale to tell.

[mjr]

Spontaneity is not easy with a bike.

Well, unless you're happy to pedal it I know what you mean. Having a non-folding bike makes trains a lot less flexible.

[TonyR]

Spontaneity is not easy with a bike.

Well, unless you're happy to pedal it I know what you mean. Having a non-folding bike makes trains a lot less flexible.

Its not that big a problem. Yes, there are some limits on your spontaneity unless you are prepared to risk it but I am spontaneous with trains and a bike all the time without problems. I'm just a little more selective in my spontaneity and only had a problem once with a walk up on a Virgin West Coast train. I do try to avoid the more provocative situations though like trying to be spontaneous on a rush hour train into London for example.

[tyreon]

I think all my stress and worry would disappear if I could travel by coach: front and rear bicycle carriers on each vehicle. Enough to carry,say,4 bikes. A 2 minute job to load 'em. No more chocca guard's vans with limited storage space. No more unsecured,bumpy++ rail rides. Maybe cheaper £££ too. Where's CTC promotions?

[tyreon]

Whoops! Must have taken the wrong tablet...woz coming across as seemingly normal! Back to basics: There is set to be an increasing use of automatic ticketing coming to many(railway) stations soon. To the tech savvy,you're fine,continue to chillax...for those of us a little behind,bit wary,not tech savvy,visually impaired,dare I say,'a little slow',maybe somehow 'disabled',you are about to enter a labyrinth of xxxx: this machine doesn't accept £,only cards. The machine doesn't work. Phone this number. You haven't a mobile phone,sight not too good,foreign: tough luck,think you will be paying more. The RMT have raised these issues...not me(and I am not a member of RMT). With less staff to help confused,foreign,disabled customers...we will be expected to pay more. That's without the bike!

On the bright side: On southern trains I have it 'from a good source' that you can travel free at the weekends after,say,6pm. There's few,if any booking offices selling tickets. On the train,'act out'(drunk like),a lorra lorra guards secrete themselves away from hoi polloi for fear of being assaulted. I don't blame 'em.

I am sorry I am not tech savvy enough to search and link the railway manager telling complaining member-of-public automatic ticket machine workings were (purposely?) made to increase revenue. (It's out there somewhere)

[mjr]

I think all my stress and worry would disappear if I could travel by coach: front and rear bicycle carriers on each vehicle. Enough to carry,say,4 bikes. A 2 minute job to load 'em. [...] Where's CTC promotions?

We could really do with CTC helping to overcome the problem of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency's "we do not on principle accept cycle racks on the front of British PSVs"!

On the bright side: On southern trains I have it 'from a good source' that you can travel free at the weekends after,say,6pm. There's few,if any booking offices selling tickets. On the train,'act out'(drunk like),a lorra lorra guards secrete themselves away from hoi polloi for fear of being assaulted. I don't blame 'em.

That's a risky tactic. I think I know other guards on Thameslink Southern and Great Northern lines have called the British Transport Police to detain such people, one of BTP's headline priorities is "preventing rail staff assaults" and the BTP don't have their hands full of town centre drunks like some local police do on weekend evenings.

[AlaninWales]

In support of tyrson: http://www.deloitte.co.uk/mobileuk/assets/pdf/Deloitte_Mobile_Consumer_2014.pdf
"More than two in three UK adults – about 35 million people – now have a
smartphone. This is eight percentage points higher than in 2013, with the biggest
rise in penetration among 55 year-olds (see Figure 1)."

This is an upbeat message aimed at convincing firms that mobile is The Future.

I can't easily reproduce Figure1 here, but that celebrated rise in smartphone ownership in the 55+ agegroup is from 40% to 50% - in other words half of the population in this bracket do not own a smartphone (nor do something approaching 30% of the whole population). Smartphone ownership does not correspond to smartphone usage either. As highlighted, use can be a problem for the visually impaired (apps and websites are generally still not well designed for their use) and the technically challenged will always be with us. Why should someone like my wife be excluded from the benefits of our 'inclusive' society simply because she has a dis-affinity with technology: That doesn't sound a very inclusive society to me. The response that such people can be simply 'left behind' like those who resisted rail travel appears rather arrogant: An "I'm all right Jack" attitude Sad.

[PH]

What percentage of the population has no access to the internet? And by access I'd include having a friend who would do it for you. Tyrson obviously has, so I don't really see you point.

[TonyR]

On the bright side: On southern trains I have it 'from a good source' that you can travel free at the weekends after,say,6pm. There's few,if any booking offices selling tickets. On the train,'act out'(drunk like),a lorra lorra guards secrete themselves away from hoi polloi for fear of being assaulted. I don't blame 'em.

That's a risky tactic. I think I know other guards on Thameslink Southern and Great Northern lines have called the British Transport Police to detain such people, one of BTP's headline priorities is "preventing rail staff assaults" and the BTP don't have their hands full of town centre drunks like some local police do on weekend evenings.

And travelling without a ticket is an absolute offence i.e. there is no excuse in law unless the ticket office was closed and the TVM was not working at your departing station.

[AlaninWales]

What percentage of the population has no access to the internet? And by access I'd include having a friend who would do it for you. Tyrson obviously has, so I don't really see you point.

16% of households last year - a still significant number of individuals http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rdit2/internet-access---households-and-individuals/2014/stb-ia-2014.html

[PH]

What percentage of the population has no access to the internet? And by access I'd include having a friend who would do it for you. Tyrson obviously has, so I don't really see you point.

16% of households last year - a still significant number of individuals http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rdit2/internet-access---households-and-individuals/2014/stb-ia-2014.html

The question was

What percentage of the population has no access to the internet? And by access I'd include having a friend who would do it for you.

I had access to the internet for several years before I had it at home.

[AlaninWales]

What percentage of the population has no access to the internet? And by access I'd include having a friend who would do it for you. Tyrson obviously has, so I don't really see you point.

16% of households last year - a still significant number of individuals http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rdit2/internet-access---households-and-individuals/2014/stb-ia-2014.html

The question was

What percentage of the population has no access to the internet? And by access I'd include having a friend who would do it for you.

I had access to the internet for several years before I had it at home.

<sigh> Yes, I am sure you are of the 'with-it' generation. Yours would have counted presumably as a hoiusehold with access to the internet (which does not necessarily mean 'has the internet at home').

There are many who are not of your generation and should not (IMO) be penalised for wanting to book and travel by the methods they are used to.

When trains were invented, life got easier, better and richer for most people. For the holdouts who saw it as self-evident that anyone travelling faster than 20mph would die, and so insisted on still travelling by stage coach, life got a lot more difficult. Similarly, the internet has made life – and especially travel – much simpler and more flexible for most of us. We give out our bank details online, and our bank balances don’t suddenly vanish. It’s not hard or unduly complex. But if you refuse to engage with today’s world, your life is going to become increasingly difficult…

Around 16% of households have no access to the internet. Many households who do have such access will have individuals who do not engage well with technology. That those who welcome technology simply dismiss these people in such terms shows an uncaring attitude.

[TonyR]

What percentage of the population has no access to the internet?

16% of households last year - a still significant number of individuals http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/rdit2/internet-access---households-and-individuals/2014/stb-ia-2014.html

Don't understand the figures in the link:


In Great Britain, 22 million households (84%) had Internet access in 2014, up from 57% in 2006.
Fixed broadband Internet connections were used by 91% of households.

How can more households use fixed internet connections than have internet access?

[PH]

<sigh> Yes, I am sure you are of the 'with-it' generation. Yours would have counted presumably as a hoiusehold with access to the internet (which does not necessarily mean 'has the internet at home').

Please don't sigh at me, how rude.
According to your link, one of the reasons households are without internet is "Have access to the Internet elsewhere"
A household means just that, not the individuals within it.

[AlaninWales]

<sigh> Yes, I am sure you are of the 'with-it' generation. Yours would have counted presumably as a hoiusehold with access to the internet (which does not necessarily mean 'has the internet at home').

Please don't sigh at me, how rude.
According to your link, one of the reasons households are without internet is "Have access to the Internet elsewhere"
A household means just that, not the individuals within it.

A sigh is rude? Oh well, pardon me for breathing said the paranoid android (which he didn't anyway)
I'm terribly sorry that the government didn't collect figures to directly answer your question. You are of course perfectly correct that household ¬= the individuals within it: A household may have access (one of the with-it generation in the household) and contain several individuals who do not use or trust the internet. As I said, dismissing them as not worthy of consideration in the travel booking process is self-centred and arrogant and uncaring.
If you want more accurate figures, may I suggest researching them yourself? As someone with access to the internet, I'm sure you can do so as easily as you can look up the best and cheapest rail fare for your destination.