Southern bike ban - staff guidance



[email protected] wrote:
> apparently: http://www.h1n5.org/southern1.pdf
>
> They are banning Ordinarys it says. One wonders if they meant to
> include Safeties as well?
>
> Still Tandems and Trikes are explicitly excluded from the definition of
> banned cycles

great, I'l just find someone who uses the same train as me (1) and
take a tandem

(1) and also works and lives in the same place

I'm perplexed still by a bike the size of a briefcase. BTW the guard on
the train this morning knew nothing about the ban.
 
[email protected] wrote:

> apparently: http://www.h1n5.org/southern1.pdf
>
> They are banning Ordinarys it says. One wonders if they meant to
> include Safeties as well?

Ho, ho. They didn't research that very well, did they? You could try
claiming that yours is a safety bicycle, not an ordinary, but I don't
think it'll get you very far. Not onto the train at any rate.

--
Dave...
 
I saw this immediately.I have never in my wildest dreams imagined that
a bike could become the size of a briefcase.
The company perhaps think this is a joke.It means no bicycles except
very tiny ones ridden by certified pixies.

I must say , as one who used to be a regular traingoer with no car,
that railway journeys are getting ever more difficult and expensive.If
you don't book a day or more ahead your trip can be a nightmare.The
trains are full and have very little luggage space.
I cannot understand why bike and train is not seen to be the perfect
partnership and strongly encouraged.In the 70's and 80's one just
showed up, threw the bike in guards van and sat down.I never had any
problem with the bike on any train until the 90's( except for the odd
delay or commuter cancellation).
I had to make a sudden trip from London to Derby recently and they
charged £49 :4x the petrol cost.So the car is cheaper ,more flexible
and comfortable and quicker door to door on most journeys.If the cost
for an impromtu trip came down and there was more space and seats and
no problem getting the bike on then trains would again have the
advantage.
TerryJ
 
On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 16:20:11 -0800, jonestl wrote:

> I had to make a sudden trip from London to Derby recently and they charged
> £49 :4x the petrol cost.So the car is cheaper ,more flexible and
> comfortable and quicker door to door on most journeys.If the cost for an
> impromtu trip came down and there was more space and seats and no problem
> getting the bike on then trains would again have the advantage.
I agree entirely. I often travel to customer sites on business.

Recently I had to travel to Sheffield. Price for a 07:30 departure from
St Pancras £103. Add to that at least £30 in return taxi fares at the
other end (don't say 'get the bus' this is an unknown city to me, and the
place was on an industrial estate).
My company are not against train travel - far from it, they have never
quibbled about a single journey I have taken, and I take the train often.
But I simply couldn't justify this one, so drove instead.

Train companies put huge premiums on any London departures before 09:30,
thereby discouraging business travel and leaving plenty of empty seats on
outbound trains.

Compare with the Swiss system, where a company can purchase an annual
train ticket, which can then be given to any member of staff, ie. it is
not a personal ticket. Not cheap, but if you can get any train any time it
encourages train travel.
 
In article <[email protected]>,
([email protected]) wrote:

> I saw this immediately.I have never in my wildest dreams imagined that
> a bike could become the size of a briefcase.
> The company perhaps think this is a joke.It means no bicycles except
> very tiny ones ridden by certified pixies.

I have one in my kitchen.

Of course, it's a Playmobil one and of limited practical value, but...

--
Dave Larrington - <http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/>
Trees, once grown in large numbers, make perfect forests.
 
dkahn400 wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
>
> > apparently: http://www.h1n5.org/southern1.pdf
> >
> > They are banning Ordinarys it says. One wonders if they meant to
> > include Safeties as well?
>
> Ho, ho. They didn't research that very well, did they? You could try
> claiming that yours is a safety bicycle, not an ordinary, but I don't
> think it'll get you very far. Not onto the train at any rate.

this morning due to someone deciding to have an early Christmas my
train was cancelled which entailed having to change onto a train from
parts South; it had obviously called at Gatwick Airport to pick up n
passengers and their luggage keen to avoid paying ripoff Gatwick
Express fares. The luggage of course took up much more room than the
bikes. They actively promote Southern as an alternative to the GE even
though it Shirley reduces the amount of space on their trains which
could easily be carried by the empty GE trains. What is on their minds?
 
John Hearns wrote:
> Recently I had to travel to Sheffield. Price for a 07:30 departure from
> St Pancras £103. Add to that at least £30 in return taxi fares at the
> other end (don't say 'get the bus' this is an unknown city to me, and the
> place was on an industrial estate).
> My company are not against train travel - far from it, they have never
> quibbled about a single journey I have taken, and I take the train often.
> But I simply couldn't justify this one, so drove instead.

Assuming you could have been working on the train, how much do you
value your time at?
Additionally, how much at standard rates (45p/mile) would it cost the
company plus loss of your time as you were driving.

...d
 
John Hearns wrote:
> On Thu, 22 Dec 2005 16:20:11 -0800, jonestl wrote:
>
>> I had to make a sudden trip from London to Derby recently and they
>> charged £49 :4x the petrol cost.So the car is cheaper ,more
>> flexible and comfortable and quicker door to door on most
>> journeys.If the cost for an impromtu trip came down and there was
>> more space and seats and no problem getting the bike on then trains
>> would again have the advantage.
> I agree entirely. I often travel to customer sites on business.
>
> Recently I had to travel to Sheffield. Price for a 07:30 departure
> from St Pancras £103. Add to that at least £30 in return taxi fares
> at the other end (don't say 'get the bus' this is an unknown city to
> me, and the place was on an industrial estate).

http://www.transportdirect.info will cover most of your door to door
transport needs, taking into account likely road congestion on its driving
details and bus and train connections for public transport.

What it can't do is cope with taking a bike on the train for a journey, or
park and ride (neither for bikes nor cars), so strictly speaking, this is
off topic.

It'll estimate fuel costs, car maintenance costs and enumerate available
ticket prices for most legs, but can't tell you if there are quota
controlled tickets still available on the trains you wish to take.

So that's one way to increase confidence in what public transport is
available, and when it may be a better option than driving.

The full transport planner URL is :

http://www.transportdirect.info/Tra...lanning/JourneyPlannerInput.aspx?cacheparam=0

Rather nifty, I think. Sadly the mobile phone version is almost useless.
--
Ambrose
 
Ambrose Nankivell wrote:
>
> The full transport planner URL is :
>
> http://www.transportdirect.info/Tra...lanning/JourneyPlannerInput.aspx?cacheparam=0
>
>
>
> Rather nifty, I think. Sadly the mobile phone version is almost
> useless.

Interesting. Tried it on a journey I do regularly and it got all the PT
right for the journey (although I use the Brompton in place of the buses
and underground) but for the return journey which is just as easy it
told me the car was the only option. Curious.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham
 
Tony Raven wrote:
> Ambrose Nankivell wrote:
>>
>> The full transport planner URL is :
>>
>> http://www.transportdirect.info/Tra...lanning/JourneyPlannerInput.aspx?cacheparam=0
>>
>>
>>
>> Rather nifty, I think. Sadly the mobile phone version is almost
>> useless.
>
> Interesting. Tried it on a journey I do regularly and it got all the
> PT right for the journey (although I use the Brompton in place of the
> buses and underground) but for the return journey which is just as
> easy it told me the car was the only option. Curious.

Yeah, it definitely needs some work. I presume it's government funded, but
I've no idea how.

Also, it seems to place no preference for the bus stop 20m away from where
I'm sat for the one which is 250m away and on a different route.

--
Ambrose
 
Ambrose Nankivell wrote:
>
> Yeah, it definitely needs some work. I presume it's government
> funded, but I've no idea how.
>
> Also, it seems to place no preference for the bus stop 20m away from
> where I'm sat for the one which is 250m away and on a different
> route.
>

Still a good idea and got to start somewhere.

--
Tony

"The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right."
- Lord Hailsham
 
On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:44:04 +0000, Ambrose Nankivell wrote:

> http://www.transportdirect.info will cover most of your door to door
> transport needs, taking into account likely road congestion on its driving
> details and bus and train connections for public transport.

That's the transportdirect site that thought (since fixed after ridicule
on cam.misc) the only way from Cambridge bus station to Cambridge rail
station was via Newmarket? The transportdirect site that will route a car
to travel from one building on the Cambridge Innovation Park to the
adjacent building (different postcodes, so a visitor may not have known)
by travelling about 6km along a trunk road (A14) and making a U-turn
through the central crash barrier? To walk between the same two buildings
it thinks you should walk past your destination, hop over the
crashbarriers and dodge the traffic on the A14, catch a bus for 1 stop
heading in the wrong direction, then walk all the way back? To get from
my house to the nearby doctor's surgery I'm recommended to wait for the
hourly bus then get off one stop later. _That_ transportdirect?


> So that's one way to increase confidence in what public transport is
> available, and when it may be a better option than driving.

Sadly, driving always comes out better for any trip I've tried on
mainland Britain. To get from Cambridge to the north coast of Scotland
it's starting to come out even, but for anything less it simply reinforces
the woeful state of public transport and the car's superiority in getting
from one place to another, even if they're only a five minute walk apart.


And transportdirect has cost 40 million quid to get this far!



Mike
--
"Large glass of Laphroaig, this is Mike. Mike, this is a large glass of
Laphroaig. Pleased to meet you. Gulp. Ahhhhhhh, that's better."
(DNA RIP)
 
in message
<[email protected]>, Mike
Causer ('[email protected]') wrote:

> On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 19:44:04 +0000, Ambrose Nankivell wrote:
>
>> http://www.transportdirect.info will cover most of your door to door
>> transport needs, taking into account likely road congestion on its
>> driving details and bus and train connections for public transport.
>
> That's the transportdirect site that thought (since fixed after
> ridicule on cam.misc) the only way from Cambridge bus station to
> Cambridge rail station was via Newmarket? The transportdirect site that
> will route a car to travel from one building on the Cambridge
> Innovation Park to the adjacent building (different postcodes, so a
> visitor may not have known) by travelling about 6km along a trunk road
> (A14) and making a U-turn through the central crash barrier? To walk
> between the same two buildings it thinks you should walk past your
> destination, hop over the crashbarriers and dodge the traffic on the
> A14, catch a bus for 1 stop
> heading in the wrong direction, then walk all the way back? To get
> from my house to the nearby doctor's surgery I'm recommended to wait
> for the hourly bus then get off one stop later. _That_ transportdirect?

H'mmmm... better than one would expect. From here (Auichencairn) to
Gelston (the next village, 6 miles away) it says (only possibility for
the day):

leave 13:23
Walk 1 min Walk to Auchencairn Village Fountain
(well, it's just outside the door, but never mind)
Auchencairn Village opp Fountain
depart 13:24
Bus 505 19 mins
Take Stagecoach Western/505 towards Dalbeattie
arrive 13:43
Dalbeattie Maxwell Arms o/s pub
depart 14:35
Bus 501 15 mins
Take Macewans Coaches/501 towards Castle Douglas
arrive 14:50
Castle Douglas Swimming Pool Market Street
depart 15:47
Bus 516 7 mins
Take Armstrong's Coaches/516 towards Auchencairn
arrive 15:54
Gelston Village Main St Hall NE-bd

For a journey time of 2hours, 31 mins; or, it says, 10 minutes in a car.
Which is right and fine so far as it goes (and it's impressive that it
has this level of detail for a remote place), except

(i) it neglects to mention that the postbus leaves from here at 12.10
every day except Sunday and is in Gelston 15 minutes later;

(ii) it neglects to mention that it's 20 minutes on a bicycle.

As feedback I wrote

'Have you considered giving cycling times for journeys like this? The bus
is, as you can see, very inconvenient, and the journey is short and
pleasant to cycle on quiet roads - about twenty minutes. Giving cycling
times would encourage more people to cycle which would have health
benefits and reduce road congestion.'

--
[email protected] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

;; when in the ****, the wise man plants courgettes
 
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