Is Your Journey Really Necessary?

On Saturday, two friends and I travelled from Cardiff to London by National Express coach. Yesterday I received a market research email asking for my feedback on the journey. Here's what I told them: I booked three seats on 31 May 2017, to travel on 29 July. Two months' clear notice. We were unable to sit close to each other because a large family was monopolising one seat each (to the extent of placing luggage on vacant seats), and ended up sitting some distance apart for the entire journey. We were travelling light. If we'd had luggage, we would have observed the guidelines and placed it in the baggage compartment – not taken it on board, so it would fill up a seat which someone had paid for well in advance. The British railway companies sell pre-booked seats (not tickets – seats), and National Express would do well to follow their example. This morning I received the following reply: Dear Steve, Thank you for taking time to submit your review. I am really sorry you were ...

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...

I had an email last week from National Express, offering me 25% off my next return journey. Since I've never been one to pass up a day in London, I decided to book my journey this morning. My first attempt ended in disaster when the site wouldn't even load. (Mind you, I was using the piss-poor wifi in Aberdare Library, so I wasn't especially surprised.) The second attempt at logging into the site via the link in the email was slightly more successful. Unfortunately, the site didn't give me the offer of Cardiff University as a departure point. Cardiff Bus Station closed on 1 August for 'redevelopment', so the National Express services have been relocated to Sophia Gardens. It's about a fifteen minute walk from Cardiff Central Station to Sophia Gardens. National Express expect passengers to be at the departure point ten minutes before the advertised time. That's far too narrow a window when you're travelling into Cardiff by train. The Valley Lines curr...