Blog

Even people who love trains are fallible when it comes to getting their timing spot on. Recently (right now, today) I managed to miss the last train which can be boarded with a super off-peak return ticket – bought with a railcard. After this deadline, the fare jumps from £34 to £118.15 (or a whopping £179 without a railcard).  Obviously paying an £84.15 supplement for the privilege of travelling on an empty train – but for those who are crazy/ have mothers who are on their deathbeds/ are just that rich they don’t care anymore – is out of the question. Hanging about in the station it is.

For those wanting to work through the wait, there are a few options. The EAT upstairs is quiet but full of pigeons. Plus, people look at you strangely if you take too many photos.

The Fullers pub plays terrible music and is full of people eating massive burgers with eggs in them (not that the latter would put everyone off).

There are some other chain places downstairs and a Sloe cafe – but there is no escalator to Sloe.

Twitter is good for engaging people with your plight when stuck in these situations. Ian Shortman, creator of trains.im, a revolutionary new site that has used data available under the Government’s Open Data initiative to display highly accurate train timetables, tweeted this to me:

More helpful than First Great Western themselves.

The #changefares proposition I mentioned in an earlier post is still on the table, dear commuters (and people who like to get to places in time for dinner).