No seats on the train - again!

[MrRockliffe]

On the London Paddington to Cardiff train and yet again there are no seats. All of them are taken. Loads of people standing. It's disgraceful. It's a 2 hour journey for me (I'm going from reading). Has this happened to you before?

[TheAnimus]

First Great Western all the way from Exeter to London.

I understand that all the people in the rest of the UK desperately need to get to London to enjoy all the things that are missing from their pathetic non-london lives, but still.

[Splash]

They charge for seat reservations down there?

[MrRockliffe]

You have to book it in advance, which I didn't. It's a Sunday and didn't think it'd be busy. Guess I was wrong.

[Guy]

Ah the joys of FGW.

Yep, used to experience it twice daily during the week, you think it's bad on a Sunday try any of the services from circa 6.30- 9am on weekdays getting on at Reading! Then take a look at home much you're paying for the 'privilege'. Add onto that they being the most inept, useless, poor excuse for a TOC and it's no wonder they usually come bottom or in the worst 3 companies.

I wouldn't mind so much if the trains actually arrived on time or within a 5 minute window each way. But just take a look at their Twitter feed and you'll see that for as long as I can remember they've been unable to even operate a simple service on time for more than 2 days in a row without another issue, which always conveniently seems to be a Network Rail issue. Funnily enough the rather large fines that NR pay FGW never make it down into improvements...

When I can I'll try and go Basingstoke - Waterloo. Adds 20 or so minutes onto the journey as it appears to be the slowest line known to man but you've got more chance to actually get a seat and although South West Trains aren't much better, they're not FGW!

[Dutchjonsey]

I usually take that one going the other way, a hop from Bridgend to Cardiff for me. Im always down in Carriage A, as I take my bike with me, and its usually dead quiet. Mainly because A and B are so far away from the middle of the platform, where everyone usually waits to get on. Still gets pretty crowded from Cardiff onwards mind

[MrRockliffe]

Train arrived late and consequently missed the train to Barry.. Brilliant. Half an hour wait now

[jim]

It happened to me once on the way to Exeter from London which was a real pain in the neck of a journey. There wasn't even enough standing room on the train that time, was an unbelievable journey. Normally though, I don't travel long distances without booking ahead so it's not a problem.

[MrRockliffe]

I don't normally, but didn't think it'd be busy, plus I only had cash at the time.

[HalloweenJack]

I usually fly to Cardiff - cheaper than the train as well.

[MrRockliffe]

Fly from where?

[mikeo01]

Yeah, I go from Swansea to Swansea (goes through Cardiff), 1 hour and half journey for my university.

Been doing it for around 3 years now; been paying £16-17 and the delays and no seats are awful. I'm used to it now; Arriva Trains Wales is the train company I go with which uses around 2-3 cars so you can imagine it

They are all awful. Not to mention that nothing works; stinking dirty and probably the worse service ever. "A leaf has hit the train and caused a massive delay", and we pay loads.


Oh I could rant about my train journey all day drives me nuts

Swansea - Cwmbran* sorry (double post because I can't edit my posts grr)

[MrRockliffe]

Not to mention old. They still use handles on the doors!

[peterb]

Swansea - Cwmbran* sorry (double post because I can't edit my posts grr)

Why not?

(I have merged them for you BTW)

Editing doesn't require a minimum post count - and you are well above the last threshold....

[mikeo01]

Why not?

(I have merged them for you BTW)

Editing doesn't require a minimum post count - and you are well above the last threshold....

No idea, now and again once I post I can't edit (just comes up with blank input box); same for the reply now box. There's nothing to input for some reason.

I'm using Chrome like I always have done so not sure why

[dannyboy75]

I used to regularly have to stand when travelling back to Poole from Waterloo with South West Trains. If it was after 4pm, I'd often deliberately miss the next train (if it was due to leave in less than 10 minutes or so), as I knew all the seats would already be taken. Instead I'd wait for the one after that, which usually half an hour later. That way I could make a dash for it as soon as it was confirmed which platform it would be going from, and grab a seat before they were all taken.

The alternative was standing for at least an hour until a load of people got off at Basingstoke. One time I even had to stand in the connecting bit between 2 carriages, with one leg in each carriage. That was acutely unpleasant as the carriages move around quite a bit.