PH wrote: ↑21 May 2023, 7:21pm
The regulations - Bikes are carried subject to available space, there is no obligation for a train operator to honour the reservation. The NR Conditions of Travel, only entitle you to a refund on the ticket price if the journey can't be made due to not being able to travel with a reserved bike.
Conditions 22.2 and 27.2 entitling you to a charge-free refund if you decide not to travel due to not honouring a cycle reservation are in addition to the other conditions about such disruption, not instead of them. Travellers are still entitled to delay repay and other assistance.
That isn't how I've read it, my interpretation is that the T&C's relating to the Ticket don't extend to a cycle reservation. I'm not betting on it, or claiming any expertise, I'm certainly not a lawyer, but I see the Ticket as a contract and if the cycle carriage was a part of that, I don't understand why it would need a separate clause in the T&C's.
I don't expect to ever need to test that, I'm more interested in the probability than Black Diamond's possibility. I don't consider the probability of failing to get to a destination any greater when travelling by train than by any other means.
An interesting article and video (in French) from the Loire valley, where they spend a few days each spring removing seats from trains and replacing them with bike spaces to help those cycling the Loire à Velo. The trains temporarily go from 9 bike spaces to 50 - when Autumn comes they reinstall the seats.
bohrsatom wrote: ↑2 Jun 2023, 9:36pm
An interesting article and video (in French) from the Loire valley, where they spend a few days each spring removing seats from trains and replacing them with bike spaces to help those cycling the Loire à Velo. The trains temporarily go from 9 bike spaces to 50 - when Autumn comes they reinstall the seats.
pal wrote: ↑11 May 2023, 11:03am
I think it could be very useful, esp. for those who like to do 'train assisted' rides (so don't necessarily want to commit to fixed trains, or to buy a return ticket). At the moment, an open single tends to cost the same as, or £1 less than, an open return. In the new system, an open single will cost 50% of an open return.
(So, for example, if I wanted to cycle from Durham to Northallerton and take the train back, a single ticket from Northallerton to Durham would at the moment cost me £16.10, compared to £17.80 for a return. In the new system, a single will cost £8.90. Of course, cheaper single fares will still be available as advanced purchases, but this means that you can get cheaper single tickets without having to commit to a specific train -- esp. useful for cyclists of erratic speed! (e.g. me...))
Franco-German friendship pass
60,000 free train tickets for young people
Germany and France are donating a total of 60,000 free train tickets to young adults to strengthen Franco-German friendship. The ticket is valid for one month for local and long-distance traffic in the neighboring country.
Young adults from Germany and France between the ages of 18 and 27 are to travel and get to know each other's neighboring countries in order to strengthen relations between the two countries. To this end, the transport ministers of Germany and France, Volker Wissing and Clément Beaune, created the Franco-German friendship pass.
A total of 60,000 free train tickets are available for both countries. From Monday at 10 a.m., the 30,000 German train tickets can be accessed on the German-French Friendship Pass website. The following applies: Whoever comes first can secure the free tickets.
In other optimistic news: I'm happy to report success in booking a bike space on the night train from Zurich to Amsterdam this summer. It's a slightly fiddly process, because the train consists of two parts -- a Nightjet part (with the sleeper and couchette carriages in it), and an Intercity part (with seats, and the bike spaces), but -- after a little bit of head-scratching and checking with the supervisor -- the helpful person on the NS International phoneline was able to book me a bike space in the Intercity carriage: bike reservation + ticket was 16 Euro, and they've emailed the tickets to me. (I'd already bought my sleeper ticket/reservation through the OEBB website). Now all I need to do is cross my fingers for a strike-free summer!
pal wrote: ↑11 Jun 2023, 12:24pm
In other optimistic news: I'm happy to report success in booking a bike space on the night train from Zurich to Amsterdam this summer. It's a slightly fiddly process, because the train consists of two parts -- a Nightjet part (with the sleeper and couchette carriages in it), and an Intercity part (with seats, and the bike spaces), but -- after a little bit of head-scratching and checking with the supervisor -- the helpful person on the NS International phoneline was able to book me a bike space in the Intercity carriage: bike reservation + ticket was 16 Euro, and they've emailed the tickets to me. (I'd already bought my sleeper ticket/reservation through the OEBB website). Now all I need to do is cross my fingers for a strike-free summer!
Oh, want to book a bicycle onto a train. Forget it. It's easier to cycle an extra 20 miles, rather than spending another 30 minutes, with LNER's &$^&**( website
Oh, but quickly and easily booked seat and bicycle on, using Trainline. Cost £0.69 to do so. Why is LNER's website so &%$^&*(*&????
gbnz wrote: ↑14 Jun 2023, 8:46am
Oh, want to book a bicycle onto a train. Forget it. It's easier to cycle an extra 20 miles, rather than spending another 30 minutes, with LNER's &$^&**( website
Oh, but quickly and easily booked seat and bicycle on, using Trainline. Cost £0.69 to do so. Why is LNER's website so &%$^&*(*&????
What problem did you experience on the LNER web site? When I've used it I've found booking a bike place to be straightforward. Once you've picked your train there's a drop down for bike reservation, tick the box for outbound/return journey as appropriate, and then choose the number of bikes from the drop down. Then click Confirm and it's done. You can change your seat reservation to be nearer to the bike if needed.
Tested it out again just now with a dummy booking and it was as above. Took seconds.
Was it an LNER service you were trying to book onto, or another operator?
I use the GWR app. So far I have always been able to book a bike space at the same time as the ticket. (That is if a booking is required as I am in the South West Trains region which is one of the best for bikes in my view as bookings are not required.)
Of course as has been said whether the space is available or big enough for your bike is a different story altogether.
scragend wrote: ↑14 Jun 2023, 9:53amf bikes from the drop down. Then click Confirm and it's done. You can change your seat reservation to be nearer to the bike if needed.
Tested it out again just now with a dummy booking and it was as above. Took seconds.
Was it an LNER service you were trying to book onto, or another operator?
Another operator. Tried it again. LNER's systems seem intent on selling full price tickets, with a requirement to make am actual phone call to book a bicycle on (£26+ for my journey). And Trainline? Took 3-4 seconds to make a potential booking, costing £5.60 tomorrow
I'm reasonably IT literate, having used computers daily since 1985, as a Senior Officer (Central & Local Gvt) and commercially. And given I don't like using Trainline and would prefer not to use them, due to their £0.69 booking fee? The fact I could book a bike on in seconds for a fraction of the normal ticket price, rather than spending vast amounts of time, for no booking, with LNER?
Last edited by gbnz on 15 Jun 2023, 9:15am, edited 1 time in total.
With trepidation, I started looking at booking tickets and reserving bike spaces for our short Llanelli-Aberystwyth tour this July. Fearing that I'd left it too late, or was facing horrendous complexity, I was pleasantly surprised to be able to book tickets and reservations in one go on the Trainline website. It seemed suspiciously easy...
Now we just have to survive the actual reality of getting our tandem (in two pieces) on a cross-country, then GWR train on the way out, and a TfW on the return. Fingers very tightly crossed right now!
gbnz wrote: ↑14 Jun 2023, 5:45pm
Another operator.
I think this is the rub. On trying it again, the options I described do not indeed appear when it's not an LNER service.
Genuine question - what was your motivation for using LNER in the first place? I tend to use the TPE web site for most bookings (Nectar points) and that will allow me to make bike reservations on other operators' services - I've booked bike spaces on GWR and Hull Trains as well as of course TPE themselves using the TPE web site. I tried it with Avanti just now and it wouldn't have it but I think I've done it in the past.
When I haven't managed to book a bike space on the web site I've always found sending a DM on Twitter to the relevant operator a quick way of getting the bike space booked - before actually paying for the ticket, just in case there aren't any spaces available.