Never ceases to amaze me.....

[AndyP & Lenore]

Neil and I traveled down to London today to a one day conference. it's the 6th time we've made the trip in 3 years. And every single time we make the following journey:

Depart house 5am - ish
Depart EDI with BA 6.30am
Arrive LGW or LHR at 8am
Heathrow Express or Gatwick Express to Paddington or Victoria.
Tube to nearest station where conference is being held - Usually BAFTA (Picadilly Circus)
Endure 6 or 7 hour conference.
Straight back on Tube to Victoria or Paddington.
Back to LHR or LGW
Depart for EDI.

At almost every stage of the entire journey we don't have to wait for any train for more than 5 mins. Express's or Tubes. We literally just walk to the platform, walk on and it's off. The only wait we have is at the airport and that's to be expected, waiting to go through security etc, then waiting in the gate. There's never any delays. Even the flights have always been on time.

All I hear about from local folk's in Galashiels is how unreliable the local transport is and how few and far between the buses are etc.

It takes 1hr 35 mins for First Bus to go from Gala to Edinburgh:(. It takes us about 3hrs 20 mins to go from Gala to the center of London. Go figure.

A.

[duncan]

Yep, you're right.
Public Transport in the UK is a joke.
I've travelled by train over most of Western Europe, and when you get back to the UK its nothing short of an embarrassment in places.

Take the latest "Developments" in Dundee as an example.
The Railway Station, which can't easily be moved has had some new buildings beside it.
In France, Holland, Switzerland, what would that be? Bus station? Car Park? something like that.
What does Dundee City Council plonk there? Offices. For Scottish Enterprise.
What used to be on the site? A car park. So much for progress.

At least the Scottish Executive, through Transport Scotland, can take a better co-ordinated approach to transport, unlike in England, where the DfT still is in (un)control

[euan]

Living in London, you do get spoiled by just how easy public transport is. I'll say one thing for Mayor Ken - he's really sorted them out. There is a train every 3 minutes from Wimbledon to Waterloo during the week, makes life so easy.

However, here's the rub - for me to get to Edinburgh by plane I first need to get to the airport - I need to allow 60/90 minutes to do that. It's 15 miles. I can watch the planes fly ovehead all day but still takes me an hour to get there.

European trains and buses are brilliant - they run to time and they are cheap. The only slow bit on Eurostar? getting into London....

[duncan]

quote:Originally posted by euan
European trains and buses are brilliant - they run to time and they are cheap. The only slow bit on Eurostar? getting into London....

Changes in November/December this year, when the first British High Speed line opens fully. Nearly 15 years after the French bit to the tunnel, and a good 25 years after the French opened theirs.

Meanwhile, the Former BA chief (so no vested intrest here!) Rod Eddington says the UK dosen't need a High Speed North-South link.

Great. :(

[euan]

Yeah, the downside (for me) to the new high speed route is that it's moving to north london so it'll add an extra 45 minutes for me to get it, so any savings in time are negated!

The trains in this country are better than they have been - newer stock, more reliable service, but the north/south high speed needs to be sorted. However - the money it would take to build I just cannot see how they recover the investment.

[duncan]

Thats the problem with the UK though.
We've got to get a certain return for the investment (BR used to be 4 to 8%), however, abroad they seem to invest for lesser returns, or for public service at a loss.

The sad thing is the InterCity operations of BR just before privitiasation made a profit. That went back to the whole network. Now they recieve multi-milion pound subsidy, for little improvement. Yes, there's new trains - but BR would have renewed them sooner, and for less.