Unrelated to all else

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Another stereotype is affirmed when I go on the U.K. rail system webpage and it repeatedly times out on me. At one point I have a browser open with the itinerary I’m interested in, and then awhile later I reopen the window (not clicking on anything on the page, just bringing the window up on the screen) but it’s timed out again.

P.S. Yes, yes, I know that Amtrak is worse. Still, it’s amusing to see a confirmation that, at least in one respect, the British trains are as bad as they say.

6 thoughts on “Unrelated to all else”

  3. I had some problems in France, too, so it's not just the Brits. I had some problems with the websites, (I've already forgotten the details, but I think it was a fairly typical sort of problem, that they assumed a bunch more knowledge of the system than I had), but the biggest problems were at the stations.

    My worst experience was at Gare Montparnasse. I wanted to go to Rambouillet. Got to the station, found a departure board, confirmed that the train was on time, leaving from such-and-such a track in about fifteen minutes. I walk to the nearby ticket machine, choose English as my language, go through the selection process..Rambouillet isn't an option. Hmm. Well, I still have plenty of time, so I wander around until I find a line for an actual ticket agent, wait in line, and when it's my turn I ask for a ticket to Rambouillet. Non, monsieur, this isn't the right place for that. Go to the platform and buy a ticket from the machine…the BLUE machine, not the yellow machine. Time is pretty short now, so I hustle to the platform and find a blue machine. Strange interface, sort of like an Ipod, you use a dial to select letters — wouldn't a keyboard be a lot better? (Yes) — but, as requested, I select the first three letters of RAMbouillet, press the button…and get an error message telling me there is no station in the system that begins with RAM. OK, now what? I corral someone who is heading to my train, and ask her for help: how do I buy a ticket for this train? She says I must use a blue machine. But I just tried the blue machine (I point to it)…Ah, no, no, not THAT blue machine — not the blue machine that is right next to the train I am trying to get on — but a _different_ blue machine. Where, I ask? She looks at the clock, says Hurry, hurry, and takes me by the hand (charming) and we go racing off through the station. We race hither and yon, covering quite a bit of ground, as she looks this way and that way…every now and then I point hopefully to a blue ticket machine, but she shakes her head. At last we are in danger that she will miss the train, so I disengage myself, thank her for her help, and resign myself to missing the train. Not a huge deal, there's another one that will get me to my destination 45 minutes later, but it's very frustrating. I eventually find the right kind of blue ticket machine, _two_ levels down.

    Almost everywhere in the world, definitely including the U.S., transit systems do not provide enough signs, nor the right kinds of signs. In San Francisco, the BART stations don't have enough signs that tell what station you're in, and the ones they have are not well positioned. If you're standing in the aisle, and you pull into a station, there's a pretty good chance that you won't be able to see a sign telling you what station you've pulled into..and of course the announcements are usually inaudible. For those of us who ride the system regularly, this isn't a big deal, because we either recognize the stations or have no problem keeping track by counting stops. But for tourists, of which there are many, it's a source of hassle and anxiety.

  4. For a fair comparison try sbb.ch. (i.e. bio-equivalence vs best treatment)

    Then book a train, tram from say Dornach, museumsplatz, to Zurich flughaven.

    Note in the details you can sign up for and SMS notification or get a calendar file :-)

    enjoy

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