Scotrail

[Sherrif John Bunnell]

Are they a  poor imitation of a far superior Dutch band?

[Mark Connolly]

Single Ladies by Beyonce

 

[Chicken Wing]

"This train don't stop here anymore" - Elton John

[welshbairn]

Casey Jones, scabbin' on the railroad.. 

 

Edited November 22, 2019 by welshbairn

[19QOS19]

I had a 'conversation' with a conductor on the East Kilbride to Glasgow Central train last year on this topic.
Usual story, I'd had to run to make the train so jumped straight on and bought my ticket from the conductor. He gave me a mini lecture (I'm in my mid-30s) about how there's a ticket office at East Kilbride and I should buy my ticket there before I get on the train. I asked him why, since he was in the act of selling me a ticket at that precise moment so it obviously wasn't an issue at all. He just told me that I should. I've been using that train service on and off for my whole life and this issue had never arisen before.
It was very strange. He was quite insistent that I should buy tickets from the ticket office in future but could not explain any benefit to me of doing so, or any problem for him due to me not doing so.
I was back in Scotland for a few months last year and had to use Scotrail's service often. I found them to be appalling. Unfriendly and unhelpful staff, very poor communication, regular cancellations (including of a train already in motion, bizarrely), unannounced platform changes (more than once very shortly before departure).
Just generally shite.

On off-peak services if you fail to buy a ticket at a station that has ticket selling facilities then you are supposed to be charged the full standard day return on the train. The incentive to buy before you board is so you get the CDR. A £3 saving from EK FWIW.

The problem with this is that Scotrail don't really chase this unlike say Northern. So the majority of Guards will sell the CDR because they don't want needless hassle.

I expect eventually it'll come in to play that you are unable to purchase the cheapest available ticket on board the train. It won't be a pleasant transition though for the on board staff in particular.

[Melanius Mullarkey]

1 minute ago, 19QOS19 said:

On off-peak services if you fail to buy a ticket at a station that has ticket selling facilities then you are supposed to be charged the full standard day return on the train. The incentive to buy before you board is so you get the CDR. A £3 saving from EK FWIW.

The problem with this is that Scotrail don't really chase this unlike say Northern. So the majority of Guards will sell the CDR because they don't want needless hassle.

I expect eventually it'll come in to play that you are unable to purchase the cheapest available ticket on board the train. It won't be a pleasant transition though for the on board staff in particular.

Not a very catchy title.  No wonder it never made the top 40. 

[Cardinal Richelieu]

5 hours ago, invergowrie arab said:

The Day We Caught the Replacement Bus Service - Ocean Colour Scene 

 

[Brother Blades]

Groovy Train- The Farm

[Herman Hessian]

Shunting in a Peaceful Morning by Aarhus Symfoniorkesters Strygere

i shit you not...

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

 

[Bairnardo]

Grace Jones - Pull up to the Buffer

[Kmeister]

Station to Station but probably 10 minutes late.

David Bowie

[true_rover]

On the occasions I get the train to Edinburgh for work there is absolutely no value to me buying a ticket before I board. A peak return is over £5 whereas I can normally waltz through at Waverley as the train tends to arrive at barrierless platforms. A single, with my railcard, home under £2. On the occasion they have people waiting to check tickets I just hand them an old ticket and walk on. 
Once they sort out their pathetic pricing structure where you’ve no idea how to get the cheapest fare (often breaking journeys up is much cheap thus conning the public) and have trains with enough space for everyone I may feel guilty about skipping a fare.
I’ve rarely had issues with the punctuality of trains though and the staff have always been helpful (with a couple of exceptions). Their app is shite though and constantly crashes.
People that get triggered by the social media account are doing it all wrong. Chill out.
 

Complaining about a fiver, you utter cheapskate.

[Kmeister]

Station to Station but probably 10 minutes late.

David Bowie

[Muzza81]

4 minutes ago, true_rover said:

20 hours ago, Muzza81 said:

On the occasions I get the train to Edinburgh for work there is absolutely no value to me buying a ticket before I board. A peak return is over £5 whereas I can normally waltz through at Waverley as the train tends to arrive at barrierless platforms. A single, with my railcard, home under £2. On the occasion they have people waiting to check tickets I just hand them an old ticket and walk on. 
Once they sort out their pathetic pricing structure where you’ve no idea how to get the cheapest fare (often breaking journeys up is much cheap thus conning the public) and have trains with enough space for everyone I may feel guilty about skipping a fare.
I’ve rarely had issues with the punctuality of trains though and the staff have always been helpful (with a couple of exceptions). Their app is shite though and constantly crashes.
People that get triggered by the social media account are doing it all wrong. Chill out.
 

Complaining about a fiver, you utter cheapskate.

You’ve missed the point totally, not unexpected. I’m not complaining about £5, I’d happily pay it but what’s the point when I can save £3.

I was talking about long distance journeys where you can be ’over charged’ if you buy a direct ticket.  

[Honest Saints Fan]

Was on the train home to Inverness yesterday afternoon from Edinburgh. 3 carriages, standing room only the whole way. Toilet wasn't working, the conductor got it working in time for my 3 year old needing a pee thankfully. There's no way she would have been able to hold on for hours. Went into toilet which was covered in shit (had to tell my daughter it was chocolate so she would sit on the seat). Toilet went back out of order within minutes after that. A man and a bicycle got on at Dalwhinnie much to everyone's annoyance. A shambles.

[Stellaboz]

"This train don't stop here anymore" - Elton John

*doesn't

[Boghead ranter]

1 hour ago, Stellaboz said:

On 22/11/2019 at 11:45, Chicken Wing said:

"This train don't stop here anymore" - Elton John

*doesn't

That don't scan with the melody.

[FalkirkBairn93]

Was getting the train through to the Linlithgow rose game last Friday night. Used the machine at queen street, bought my tickets.

Now, I couldn’t get through the barrier as all the machine had on offer was off-peak, yet this was peak time. Explained to the guy that worked there that the machine is goosed, and I’ve now missed my train. Instead of an apology and a correction of tickets, I still had to pay the excess. Now had it been my human error I’d have accepted that, but, this was scotrails fault. An error that had caused me to miss the planned train and caused a half hour weight that ate into valuable pub crawl time.

[19QOS19]

Was getting the train through to the Linlithgow rose game last Friday night. Used the machine at queen street, bought my tickets.

Now, I couldn’t get through the barrier as all the machine had on offer was off-peak, yet this was peak time. Explained to the guy that worked there that the machine is goosed, and I’ve now missed my train. Instead of an apology and a correction of tickets, I still had to pay the excess. Now had it been my human error I’d have accepted that, but, this was scotrails fault. An error that had caused me to miss the planned train and caused a half hour weight that ate into valuable pub crawl time.

Why didn't you just buy the off-peak ticket and explain about the machine to the guard/TE? The worst that would have happened would you being having to pay the excess.