Cycling UK Forum

Stena do know about this issue and a couple of years ago there was a small print note that cycles had to be booked through the call centre - where you have 3 bikes being booked and you want to book the full cabin deal you call the call centre and explain that their on-line system cannot take your booking because of a known problem and their company has told CTC that where this happens you should be able to make the booking by phone with no penalty against any on-line discounts.

It is however up to you to spot this detail but I would expect it to be fairly obvious.

This is a PR poll and very badly put together, take a look at the results - which you get automatically if you have voted from your e-mail address.

Interesting that the vote for CHW (helmets) is miniscule and the 20mph and other votes are right out in front

The lack of a box for neither agree nor disagree lead me to not answer the 'Police Question, but in the results there is no nil response total nor any total vote per question.

For a further insight why not click on the IAM website 'cycling page' and read the second paragraph.....

I did have an assessment for joining IAM but have also done a civilian version of a basic Police driving course with an assessment which I reckon was better. I like the RoSPA assessment regime though - you have to be re-assessed every 3 years to keep the certification.

Update on Brittany Ferries

The cycle booking detail is a software glitch as the configuration of the new boat is changing when it moves to the new route. Call Centre staff should now be briefed to accept telephone bookings from cyclists as if they were booking on-line (with any on-line offers protected) a sort of "John Lewis" offer

Update on Brittany Ferries

The cycle booking detail is a software glitch as the configuration of the new boat is changing when it moves to the new route. Call Centre staff should now be briefed to accept telephone bookings from cyclists as if they were booking on-line (with any on-line offers protected) a sort of "John Lewis" offer

Half full makes that around 8-10% of passengers with bikes - don't have any regular cycle counts from your line. As well as the cycl counts it can be very revealing to calculate the time savings, reduced costs and enhanced reliability you get from cycle-rail-cycle option

My Glasgow to Victoria Quay takes 1:10 to 1:15 (1:00 from Queen St departure) by car I need to allow at least 1:30 if not 2:00 at peak times for congestion and finding a parking space and then walking to the building. Price-wise the rail fare (CDR) and allowance for a bike mileage is around a third of the revenue allowance for a 100 mile round trip and parking charges as well as being 30% faster, and far more reliable.

See thread on how much do you save on Campaigns forum.

I dealt with Norfolk Line a couple of years ago when their Birkenhead to Belfast Ferry offered the best way to the CTC AGM.

I'll try the contacts from then - keep these coming in - it will be a useful check-up for summer holidays

If a few folk could check with Brittany Ferries in about a month's time, to see if their bookings on the new Santander route boat are now kosher for cycles.

Dave

Flimm - any guess at how many other passengers on the Class 156 units - every other seat filled or 3 in 4 or stacked & standing?

Tigerbiten - you should drop a post to Caroline in Sheffield - she's getting a new bent trike (IIRC a Trice) and that shows just how you can do trains.

CW is also on the inclusive cycling forum (icf e-list) but best read about on her blog iaintnotomato (AKA doesn't sweat much for a fat lass).

I wondered how much effort Arriva XC might put into delivering some decent cycle carriage deal given that 6 bikes could easily have fitted in on the train to Edinburgh on Saturday evening - less than 10 passengers per coach (5 coaches - 264 seats) when we rolled in - but not that full all the way from Derby.

Speshact, have you tried booking a bicycle with passengers? From my checks on ferry booking systems (not exhaustive) the settings seem to be bicycle = vehicle which cannot have more than one passenger booked on the sailing, and vehicles cannot be booked in multiple on-line.

So we have some interesting issues for tandems where both riders want to book together (eg for the same cabin!), and groups. I've not come across being able to book a bike with unlimited rider options, after all the car booking usually has a cut-off at 5 or 8 passengers as it then becomes a minibus and comes under different C&U/Licencing conditions.

For a while Brittany was refusing to sell Gites holidays to families who could not provide details of the car they were presumed to be taking on the ferry (to drive to the Gites sites in France)

Yep that was premiered and noted in Newsnet last year (November IIRC)

Night sailings H-HvH IIRC include a meal voucher and cost a bit more.

Very funny but OT and a pity I cannot use the symbols for sq.rt and the multiplier for converting radius into circumference, in a cod-equation.

But since no one seems to have got it

Do we mean the

Greater, Manchester-Integrated, Transport Authority
or the
Greater-Manchester, Integrated-Transport Authority

Leaves me to ponder on whether there might be a LMITA for the parallel universe....

PS for credit card purchases with P&O at the port - there is a surcharge (flat rate) based on a small percentage of "a typical standard car fare" which is a fairly massive percentage of the foot passenger/cyclist fare. No charge for debit cards IIRC.

I've been looking at the worst examples of this and have with Stena and Brittany Ferries got a general agreement that they will do a 'John Lewis' otherwise we will make a noise about violation of Article 3 (IIRC) of the Treaty of Rome, the Human Rights Act et seq - as they are not offering equal terms to citizens of the European community who wish to travel freely between member states and presenting a major disparity in the fares offered.

With BF I understand that the latest iteration of booking software will permit consolidation of cycle bookings so that you can book a group together and get full cabin discounts but until such detail is offered you can - as they also offer those unable (disability etc) to book on-line to obtain the on-line rates by making the booking by phone - you simply have to make it clear that you want to book a group and are not able to get the relevant on-line discounts because their software cannot deal with it

Caveat Emptor with the Dutch Flyer tickets. A couple of years ago they were withdrawn for cyclists and only available for foot passengers because of the claimed problem of booking bikes on the connecting trains and the requirement to use the trains as specified. An enobled CTC member with a party of 8 who had for years used a DF fare and cycled out of Hoek v Holland got a refund when they were refused - because they did not use (the compulsory) rail connection with NS.

The basic principle should be that it should cost you no more to ride on to the boat as a party of cyclists and book a full cabin as a group than it would to put the bikes in a car and drive on. I found one extreme mismatch on P&O Hull - Ostende return - around £330 for 5 adults in a car with cabin rate overnight booking, and over £1000 trying to book on line as cyclists. An appeal was extended in 2008 to collate any examples which people had picked up.

Current issues include a few ferry services which don't carry foot or cycle traffic (Ramsgate-Oostende, Liverpool-Dublin (but the Norfolk Line Birkenhead-Dublin does)) with a new boat due on the Brittany Ferries Portsmouth-Santander route, which they are not booking for foot or cycle traffic (because this boat is transferring from the Adriatic and the passenger arrangements for sailing in the Atlantic are different - and the conversion work may not be completed before the boat goes into service). You may wish to right to them (and your MSP - about free movement etc) on this and the other no bikes no peds border crossings.

Overnight sailings can have some interesting added value in their fares - Many include an 'open platter' evening meal/breakfast to attract truck drivers. I'm advised that cyclists give the truck drivers a healthy (?) contest in the consumption of victuals, so if the fare seems a bit higher than the day fare, check what you are getting. (Feedback on this would be useful since it may be an area where operators can trim costs and quality at short notice)

At Dover incidentally you can cycle to board a night sailing but the foot passenger shuttle bus only runs for day sailings - it is fun to ride over the electronic (and very accurate) weighbridge on the way to the link-span and see just how much junk you are taking on tour with you.

I've been looking at the worst examples of this and have with Stena and Brittany Ferries got a general agreement that they will do a 'John Lewis' otherwise we will make a noise about violation of Article 3 (IIRC) of the Treaty of Rome, the Human Rights Act et seq - as they are not offering equal terms to citizens of the European community who wish to travel freely between member states and presenting a major disparity in the fares offered.

With BF I understand that the latest iteration of booking software will permit consolidation of cycle bookings so that you can book a group together and get full cabin discounts but until such detail is offered you can - as they also offer those unable (disability etc) to book on-line to obtain the on-line rates by making the booking by phone - you simply have to make it clear that you want to book a group and are not able to get the relevant on-line discounts because their software cannot deal with it

Caveat Emptor with the Dutch Flyer tickets. A couple of years ago they were withdrawn for cyclists and only available for foot passengers because of the claimed problem of booking bikes on the connecting trains and the requirement to use the trains as specified. An enobled CTC member with a party of 8 who had for years used a DF fare and cycled out of Hoek v Holland got a refund when they were refused - because they did not use (the compulsory) rail connection with NS.

The basic principle should be that it should cost you no more to ride on to the boat as a party of cyclists and book a full cabin as a group than it would to put the bikes in a car and drive on. I found one extreme mismatch on P&O Hull - Ostende return - around £330 for 5 adults in a car with cabin rate overnight booking, and over £1000 trying to book on line as cyclists. An appeal was extended in 2008 to collate any examples which people had picked up.

Current issues include a few ferry services which don't carry foot or cycle traffic (Ramsgate-Oostende, Liverpool-Dublin (but the Norfolk Line Birkenhead-Dublin does)) with a new boat due on the Brittany Ferries Portsmouth-Santander route, which they are not booking for foot or cycle traffic (because this boat is transferring from the Adriatic and the passenger arrangements for sailing in the Atlantic are different - and the conversion work may not be completed before the boat goes into service). You may wish to right to them (and your MSP - about free movement etc) on this and the other no bikes no peds border crossings.

Overnight sailings can have some interesting added value in their fares - Many include an 'open platter' evening meal/breakfast to attract truck drivers. I'm advised that cyclists give the truck drivers a healthy (?) contest in the consumption of victuals, so if the fare seems a bit higher than the day fare, check what you are getting. (Feedback on this would be useful since it may be an area where operators can trim costs and quality at short notice)

At Dover incidentally you can cycle to board a night sailing but the foot passenger shuttle bus only runs for day sailings - it is fun to ride over the electronic (and very accurate) weighbridge on the way to the link-span and see just how much junk you are taking on tour with you.

There should be a comma in there somewhere and it just depends on where you put it - another case of the Eats Shoots and Leaves* syndrome - ask Lynne Truss.

Ended up integrating my transport today when both routes to Leicester from Crewe had the trains replaced by buses - reckoned that cycling Nuneaton-Leicester was easier (and about same time as waiting for the bus to leave and then taking the mystery tour of all the intermediate stations) than Uttoxeter-Derby - but discovered a new term the 'Trus' a bus that masquerades as a train.....rather like the current experience for those Metrolink martyrs in Oldham.

* Eats, shoots, and leaves = Gangsta
Eats shoots and leaves = Panda