Is Your Journey Really Necessary?

One aspect of public transport I've yet to mention is one of the oldest surviving modes: the taxi. I've decided to tackle this issue for a couple of reasons, which I'll discuss in more detail below. Even though we've come a long way from the era of the hansom cab (invented in 1843), the basic principle remains the same as it did in Victorian times. Let's take a secenario from one of Conan Doyle's famous stories: a bloke sits around in Baker Street in a black horse-drawn vehicle, chain-smoking, chatting to the other drivers, drinking tea and reading a paper. Suddenly Holmes throws open the door of the vehicle, leaps inside and shouts, 'Whitechapel, my good man – and ride like the wind!' The driver has done The Knowledge, of course, so finding his way through the foggy streets isn't a problem. Holmes pays him when they reach their destination and goes off in search of whichever ne'er-do-well he's pursuing. Meanwhile, the driver presumably sit...

This kinda forms a supplement to my previous entry. That outlined the difficulties posed by having so many different transport operators in South-east Wales, and no overall structure to make ticketing easy and affordable. My friend and I are planning a trip to Caerphilly Castle (weather permitting, of course). Problem: find the cheapest way of doing it. You see, we'd initially have to pay to get from beyond Aberdare to Caerphilly – by bus and/or train – and then pay to get into the castle. Not cheap, as you'll see from the tables below. But luckily for us, I know the area quite well as I've travelled it extensively over the last forty years. I know bus routes have changed – and timetables and fares have certainly changed – but the basic framework is still there. I also get newsletters from the public transport providers, so I get to hear about their special offers. Summer is always a good time for these because it's tourist season. The real trick is to combine as m...

I received an email this morning from the Office of Rail and Road. They were following up my 'recent'(-ish) complaint against Arriva Trains Wales (see I Don't Like Thursdays and We Apologise For the Late Running of This Refund ). The eight-week time lag between action and reaction seems to be the new industry benchmark, judging from today's date. Anyway, the ORR sent me a little market research survey to fill in, rating my experience of dealing with Arriva following the Replacement Bus Service fuck-up in early  October. You won't be surprised to learn that I rated them pretty poorly overall. But that's just the tip of the iceberg. On 3 January, I went to Aberdare station at the crack of dawn on a bitterly cold morning to single-handedly promote Action for Rail Day. (Two of the lads I'd invited to join me were working that day; the other was laid up with gastric flu.) It was part of an ongoing campaign organised by the TUC, and supported by a couple of dozen...

In the last entry I told you about the trials and tribulations of booking coach tickets using the National Express website. I've learned some more information today, which makes me wonder whether booking online is really worth the effort. After my visit to London in September 2014, I signed up for National Express's 'Make ten journeys and get one free' deal. As I've started to visit London frequently again, it seemed like a tempting offer. At the time … Anyway, this year I've been to London three times. I also made two journeys last year, although one was booked in my friend's name. A few days ago I had an email from National Express, telling me that my running total towards my free journey was two. Not four – just two. I emailed them back to query it. I provided them with the dates of my five (or four) journeys. I explained that I always book using the same email address, and pay using the same card. I asked them to look into it and contact me with an expla...

On Monday July 21, Stagecoach in South Wales are fully implementing the timetable changes which I told you about in The Last Bus to Everywhere . Having said that, some of them seem to have taken place already. I was in Caerphilly last week, and the buses to and from Bargoed are now operated by a company called Harris Coaches. I still don't know what's happening to the buses between Pontypridd and Bridgend, or Pontypridd and Blackwood, or the other services I listed after the Stagecoach announcement. I daresay I'll find out next time I plan a day out, only to find that my ticket isn't valid for some (or all) of the journey. [As I was finishing this entry, my informant from Caerphilly CBC very kindly filled in some gaps. New Adventure Travel are taking on the 244, although on a slightly different route. He also told me that tickets from different operators would be interavailable. It's nice to have some good news to pass on for a change.] I'll take most of these c...

About a month ago, Stagecoach in South Wales – part of the UK's largest bus operator – announced that they would be closing their depot at Brynmawr in Gwent. 77 jobs are at risk following this decision, which Stagecoach have attributed to the cut in Welsh Government subsidies. The company are also dropping fourteen services and reducing the frequency of another eight. In a statement on the BBC Wales News website, the company's managing director John Gould said: Make no mistake, ultimate responsibility for the loss of bus services and jobs lies firmly at the door of the Welsh government following years of cuts to bus investment. We deeply regret the impact this will have on our customers and local communities. Instead of protecting and supporting bus travel, ministers' misguided decisions have dealt a body blow to the country's public transport network and wider economy. People across Wales have repeatedly warned the government about the consequences of their actions, bu...

There's a potentially fascinating event taking place in Cardiff tonight. Some former members of the Black Panthers are giving a talk at Butetown Community Centre, about the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 70s. Tom F. sent me an invitation a couple of weeks ago, and I was very tempted to go. I shouldn't be at all surprised if my friend Leon C. was involved with organizing it. I haven't seen him for ages, but he's passionate about history and politics, and as a Black Cardiffian he's almost certainly had a hand in putting this occasion together. I'd love to have gone to the talk. It's an aspect of modern history which has interested me since I read an interview with Jalal Nuriddin, the founder member of The Last Poets, when I was about eighteen. Martin H. fancied the idea too; he used to send money to the Black Panthers when he was a radical young Oz -reading hippy. It would probably have appealed to Lew M. as well, and I can think of a few more friends w...