Travelling to Theatres (and back) by Public Transport

You've got me wondering about trains. Can you just turn up at a station and buy your ticket now or has every journey no matter the length got to be pre-booked? Normally to go to London I'd buy on the day, they just walk on tickets, no reserved seating etc but just looking now showing as limited availability for standard fare and loads of fare options I've never seen before just to get a return to London. I'm not due in for several weeks and who knows if that will happen so wouldn't normally buy in advance.

Due a longer journey in august but that's to a festival so again who knows if it will happen. on trainline half the journey routes are showing unconfirmed timetables so you can't buy and the others I can't get the website to work properly, when you open a journey to see the route etc it's opening in a window that you can't scroll down. Can you buy insurance for all train travel in case you then don't travel (assuming you can't bank on the train being cancelled and thus an automatic refund?).

Resurrecting this thread.

What the actual F is going on with Avanti West Coast? Do they want people to use their trains or not? Just doing some experimental searches in Trainline for 12 weeks in the future to see prices for Manchester/London to see what to expect when I book for Sunset Boulevard in November. You can’t book a return ticket and even singles are showing as limited availability three months ahead of the date of travel. What’s going on?

Travel experts… help!

Note: don’t suggest a coach. I can’t do 5 hours on a coach 😕

I booked an Avanti West Coast train last year. My direct train was abruptly terminated half way through the journey, so it was a free-for-all for the next available connection. Although I had purchased tickets for a direct train, complete with reservations, when I queried it with an operative at the station they all but laughed in my face and said that service hadn't been running for months.

I haven't been able to attend any of the London shows booked since the pandemic, almost all thanks to Avanti (one was Avanti plus flu). When they are running, the weekend timetables have been very last minute and there don't seem to be any cheap seats, or if there are they must go instantly (I signed up to notification emails but didn't get them). 

If you're able to travel at very unpopular times of the day/weekday you may be luckier for cheaper tickets (sorry if that's stating the obvious).

Thanks maggiem

That is very good advice that I was also going to post but didn't get round to so I'm just going to quote it for emphasis!

Sorry for responding to an old post, but I've run into trouble a few times by deferring the purchase of a flexible ticket.

1) The fare has increased;
or
2) The last train back has been cancelled about a couple of weeks out due to revised engineering works and left me without any way home. If I'd already bought the ticket, the train company would have been obliged to provide alternative transport.

I used to travel from Liverpool to Weston-super-Mare, and vice versa, regularly by train.

Sometimes Liverpool - Birmingham - Bristol - Weston-super-Mare, sometimes Liverpool - Chester - Newport/Cardiff - Weston-super-Mare (or vice versa).

Even when bought in advance, tickets were expensive. Due to overcrowding I often could not get to my reserved seat, and stood for 60-90 minutes. Sudden delays or cancellations added to the travel time. Feeling stressed due to overstimulated senses due to loud people, phones/laptops/media on loudspeaker, drunk smelly people, people vaping, smelly hot food etc.

I now travel by National Express-coach. A fraction of the price. Direct journey to Birmingham, then to end-destination. Always a guaranteed comfortable seat. Travel time may be a bit longer, which is usually because 1.5-2 hours wait between coaches. I don't mind, as I usually arrive to Birmingham around lunchtime, so I have a nice lunch. No loud conversations, loudspeakers, drunk people or smelly food allowed.

Bliss!

Sorry, long post, little gripe turned into an extended rant…

Just had a quick 2 day theatre trip to London. Avanti train was delayed going there, but only by 17 minutes. Not such a big deal as I left plenty of time to get to the hotel, and on to my matinee, and can claim a little money back.

Then coming home yesterday the Avanti I was supposed to be getting back was cancelled according to the National Rail Enquiries app. Got to Euston anyway, to see about getting the next alternative and saw the train was in fact running, but only as far as Crewe.

So got on it, got to Crewe, had about half an hour wait for the Chester train. The Avanti service was a 10 carriage train, by no means full, but full enough that my heart sank as more and more people arrived on the platform, as I know from experience that this next train is a Transport for Wales service that almost always only ever has a 2 carriage train on it.

It turns up and is indeed an old banger with only 2 carriages. Have been on a similar service when Chester Races were on and it was just awful - huddled together like the Tube at rush hour, windows steamed up from the moisture from far too many people’s breaths hanging in the air, and occasionally being violently thrown around as there’s nothing to hold onto and it’s travelling a lot faster than a Tube train.

I think to hell with that and hang back and watch the spectacle of a few hundred people, most with luggage, some with bikes, one in a wheelchair, all try to cram themselves on. I’m left on the platform with several others. I’m fine with that, I’d rather wait. Clearly not the only one inconvenienced as heard an announcement for the 12something service to wherever at around 2 ‘o’clock, and another apologising about lack of TfW services between Wolverhampton and Birmingham because of attempted theft of cabling.

The train turns up, I finally get to Chester about an hour and forty minutes late. It’s annoying and inconvenient, but fine, it’s hardly the end of the world.

The only bit that's really p*ssed me off is doing the delay repay claim today. I bought it on the TfW app, but despite them having my booking history there’s no way to claim other than doing those damned forms for both journeys. It asks if it’s a barcode ticket, then says they need the conformation email because the barcodes can’t be screenshotted (it can as it was an Apple wallet pass and I had already screenshot it).

But then despite having the confirmation number they ask for the barcode number anyway. And as the journey’s in the past there’s nowhere in my account history to bring up the barcode. It’s only because I had it as an Apple wallet pass that I was able to provide it. And after all that they’ve immediately passed both on to Avanti anyway.

The whole train system is just f***ed from start to finish.

You have to claim delay replay from the train company that delayed you NOT where you bought it from. It is a sh!t system but that is the way it works.