Holiday Cottages Blog

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Archive for category Rail

Train companies get bashing in passenger survey

Jan 31

Posted by elisa in News, Rail, Uncategorized | No Comments

It isn’t good news for train companies according to a new major customer satisfaction survey. Passenger Focus‘s survey showed that on some routes three out of four passengers were unhappy. Main concerns were over the price rise in tickets, some increased by as much as 11%, which many believe do not offer value for money. Ratings for punctuality and reliability had also worsened from previous survey results.

National Express, First Capital Connect and London Midland received the most bad feedback. The worst for value for money, with only 27% customer satisfaction, was National Express East Anglia’s Stratford line. However, West Anglia services only performed marginally better.

Overall, 84% customer satisfaction is the same figure as last year, however, as Passenger Focus chief executive Anthony Smith pointed out ratings for services only ranged from “mediocre to good”, and “satisfaction with value for money has gone down, illustrating the impact tough economic times coupled with fare rises are having.”

Michael Roberts, of the Association of Train Operating Companies, had a more positive view of the results: “Overall, customer satisfaction remains at a record high level, though the survey results by route show there is no room for complacency.”

 

What do you think about your train services? Are the price hikes in comparison to the level of service provided justified? Please comment below.

Google Maps to show train travel details

Jan 23

Posted by elisa in News, Rail, Tips, Tourist Board, Transport, Tube | No Comments

Courtesy of thetrainline.com Google Maps has now launched information and timetables for mainland Britain. Now train travellers are able to search to journeys across the country here with more than 2,500 stations and 170,000 trips nationwide at their fingertips, in addition 8,000 bus stops and over 250 tube stations. The website also gives users full information on walking directions and some bus timetables for connections, as well as the opportunity to click through to thetrainline.com to book tickets.

Searching for travel information across Greater London was already possible but now internet and mobile users have access to timetables and train information for routes across the whole country.

Richard Rowson, Product Development Director at thetrainline.com said: “We’re delighted to be providing train travel information through Google Maps for the first time. We want to make sure that consumers are always able to consider rail options when making a journey and this innovation will help train travellers nationwide to do that by planning their route more easily. This is a fantastic partnership and demonstrates what two market leading brands working together can achieve.”

Ed Parsons, Google UK’s geospatial technologist, said: “Google Maps seeks to provide a wide range of relevant local information, and public transport station and schedule information is definitely a part of that. It is great to be able to partner with companies like thetrainline.com and have their schedule information available in Google Maps for the whole of Britain. This means we can reach and help a larger number of people with useful national rail train information.”

Google Maps is available in over 50 languages, so as London gets set for the 2012 Olympics and an even bigger influx of tourists, it is hoped that this technology will help them to find their way around the city and country.

Christopher Rodrigues, VisitBritain Chairman said: “We want to encourage visitors to explore the whole of Britain. With the Olympics less than 200 days away Google’s new initiative is exciting news. Millions of visitors plan their itinerary using Google maps and this additional information will act as a catalyst and inspire them to discover all that is wonderful about our great country.”

 

Scottish bargain for over-55s

Jun 24

Posted by jason in Fun, Group holidays, Rail, Scotland | No Comments

Anyone over the age of 55 can travel anywhere in Scotland by rail for just £18 return in a special Club 55 promotion – but you’ll have to hurry as the offer closes on 30 June (return leg by 31 July).

Carlisle and Berwick-upon-Tweed stations in England are also included, so train fans in this age group – who should all be old enough to remember steam trains – could put together some spectacular trips. Top of these has to be Glasgow to Mallaig on the West Highland line. Reckoned one of the great rail journeys of the world, this 5-hour trip would normally cost at least £52 return. Or you could walk to John o’Groats by getting the train from Berwick to Thurso (normally £102 return) and walking the last few miles along the spectacular Pentland Firth coast.

Tickets can be bought at any staffed station as long as you have proof of age. And if you have a Senior Railcard, you can even get a further £2 discount. Seems there are some advantages to getting old, after all…

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London Underground strikes

Jun 9

Posted by elisa in London, News, Rail, Tube | No Comments

The London Underground employee’s union RMT has announced that members will strike four times in the space of two weeks.

The Tube worker’s will walk out on19th, 27th, 29th June and 1st July.

The industrial action has been prompted by the dismissal of colleague Arwyn Thomas and the refusal to reinstate him while he is awaiting the outcome of an employment tribunal.

London Underground claims the strikes are premature action for this case and is mystified by the union’s action; however the RMT’s general secretary Bob Crowe reacted by saying LU had “dragged its heels” which left them with no other choice.

A Transport for London spokesman said: “It is completely mystifying that, having agreed with London Underground that the tribunal process should take its course, the RMT leadership is now threatening strike action again.”

RMT drivers will strike between:

0901 on 19th June and 0300 on 20th June

0901 on 27th June and 1159 on 28th June

Noon on 29th June and 1159 on 30th June

Noon and 2100 on 1st July.

 

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Tube summer walk out

May 5

Posted by elisa in News, Rail, Tube | No Comments

London Underground workers’ union, RMT, have announced a series of walk outs this summer, so commuters are likely to face a period of travel chaos.

Six rounds of strikes will take place through May and June, to be staged in protest at the sacking of Northern Line driver Eamon Lynch, and Bakerloo Line driver Arwyn Thomas.

There will be three strikes lasting between nine and 24 hours from 16th to 20th May and a further three from 13th to 17th June.

The exact dates are: 9.01pm, 16th May, to 11.59am on 17th May; noon on 18th May to 11.59am on 19th May; noon to 9pm on 20th May; 9.01pm on 13th June to 11.59am on 14th June; noon on 15th June to 11.59am on 16th June; noon to 9pm on 17th June.

Review of 2010

Jan 5

Posted by elisa in art, Articles, Coast, Cottages Search, Devon, Events, Exhibitions, family days out, Festivals, Food and Drink, Fun, Group holidays, Holiday advice, News, North West, Rail, shopping and culture, Surveys, Tips, Tourist Board, Transport, Wales, Walking, Weather, West Country, Yorkshire | 1 Comment

2010 was a year jam-packed with travel related news stories, festivals and events. I’ve taken the liberty of collating some of Holiday Cottages’ best blog posts over the year to give an overall review so you don’t have to go searching for them yourself!

January started with testing out my culinary skills at the Ashburton Cookery School in Devon.

A survey in February showed high speed rail was more important to people than airport expansions.

The Shambles in York was voted most picturesque street in March. There was also trouble on the railways with a Network Rail threatened strike.

Easter was a staycation preference in April.

There were many family fun festivals between May and August.

Even before the Royal wedding announcement we found out how the Royals are key to UK tourism.

27 West Country beaches were awarded blue flags in August, showing that the West Country is a great place to visit!

We were given tips on how to give tourists a better welcome during the Olympics.

Taxing times for holiday rental businesses.

The famous Exmoor Food Festival was in October, tickling visitor’s taste buds!

Bonfire Night had many events to travel to, including the flaming barrel run in Ottery St. Mary’s!

It got very cold in November and December as part of the big freeze.

The year ended with a little early Christmas cheer for the travel industry!

So there’s a pick of the Holiday Cottages blog coverage of events and news over the year. For travel news pertaining to outbound travel don’t forget to check out our sister site’s blog, Villaseek. There will be a run down of the year’s news on there very soon also!

Rail ticket price hikes for the new year

Dec 31

Posted by elisa in News, Rail, Transport, Weather | No Comments

With the new year comes more cuts and higher prices unfortunately. There is a Government loophole which means rail travellers will see huge price rises on the most popular routes as companies take advantage.

From the new year, train operating companies are allowed to raise fares across the board by 5.8% but the Government has not stipulated which routes it will allow price rises on and which price drops, so of course companies can now raise prices on popular routes and cheapen the less popular ones.

The hardest hit will be those travelling with First Capital Connect as there will be price hikes of 46.2% on some routes. A monthly ticket from Hornsey to Stevenage will rise from £194.40 to £284.20.

Virgin Trains will put up the cost of an average season ticket by 5.8%, Southeastern will put fares up by 12.8 % while Southern will boost the cost of a season ticket from Eastbourne to London by 7.8%.

In a time when weather conditions are bringing travel to a standstill, trains and planes are cancelled and also criticised for their lack of preparation to prevent cancellations, it is a shame that such large price increases are going to be implemented.

If you have any comments on this price increase, please leave them below.

Rail travel over flight travel

Sep 17

Posted by elisa in Flights, Rail, Transport | No Comments

A boost in figures for intercity rail travel over the past 18 months has prompted the chairman of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) to comment that domestic air travel could become “the choice of the minority” with some cities not linked by air at all.

The figures show that from 2008 to 2010

•from Birmingham to Edinburgh, market share has gone up from 14% to 31%

•from London to Manchester, market share has gone up from 69%  to 85%

•from Birmingham to Glasgow, market share has gone up from 15% to 27%

•from London to Glasgow, market share has gone up from 12% to 21%

Total journeys by rail on the ten most popular domestic air routes between 2006 and 2009 went up by 31% while air travel dropped by 20%.

ATOC director of corporate affairs Edward Welsh remarked on the figures: “If these trends continue, we can expect domestic air to become the choice of the minority, with flying between some cities disappearing altogether.”

The volcanic ash chaos could skew the figures for part of 2010, however they still show that the rail market share continued at a higher level after the disruption, indicating that people stuck to rail as their preferred choice and did not all return to catching flights.

Welsh continued: “It is clear that a fundamental shift in the way that people get around the country is taking place. Ever greater numbers of people choosing rail travel to get between our big cities is good news for the environment, and shows the importance of the railways in supporting the economy.

“The volcanic ash cloud led to a spike in rail journey numbers as train operators laid on extra services to get people around the country. But this merely accelerated a trend seen in recent years, most notably last year, when tough financial times led people to opt for the train.

“Considerable improvements have been made on the railways in the last few years to cut journey times, run more frequent services and to make services even better for passengers.

“Rail passenger satisfaction has never been higher, punctuality has never been better, the number of complaints has never been lower and investment in rail has never been more sustained – which all adds up to great value for money.”

Have you changed from air to rail travel over the past year or so? If so, what prompted the change?

Largest rail ticket price rise since privatisation

Jul 20

Posted by elisa in News, Rail, Transport | 1 Comment

In an attempt to cut the £5million rail industry subsidy, the Department of Transport want to allow train companies to charge up to 10% more for travellers season and saver tickets.

Currently, train companies are allowed to charge prices of 1% over next month’s retail price index; but this method may be at risk which will mean that companies could charge a far higher rate.

In a quote in the Telegraph, Anthony Smith, chief executive of Passenger Focus, the rail watchdog, said the rises would penalise commuters.

“This is a return to the bad old days of double-digit fare rises. It will hit commuters and season ticket holders hardest, passengers who have no choice but to travel by train – they are a captive market,” he said.

Philip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, has suggested that perhaps better-off people who are entitled to free travel at the moment start paying again in order to help tackle Britain’s financial problems.

Coalition puts replacement of 125 old Intercity trains in jeopardy

Jul 7

Posted by elisa in News, Rail, Transport | No Comments

As part of the spending cuts that the new coalition government are making, the £7.5bn project the previous government were planning on spending on replacing 125 Intercity trains could be scrapped. This could lead to passengers continuing to travel on 30+ year-old trains on some of Britain’s most popular routes.

The announcement of this review was made by Transport Secretary, Philip Hammond. If this goes ahead, around 12,500 jobs that the previous government said would have been safeguarded by the project are also in jeopardy. The contract, obtained by consortium Agility Trains, stated that 70% of the project would be done in Britain with a new factory built in one of three locations, either Sheffield, Ashby de la Zouch in Leicestershire or Gateshead.

A quote from the consortium in the Telegraph newspaper said:

“We have expressed our commitment to continue working with the Department for Transport to respond to the points in the report, and to find an affordable solution which meets the government’s objectives.”