Taking a bike on the train

booldawg

Has anyone else attempted taking your bike on a long train journey? I'm finding it a frustrating experience. My journey will comprise of 5 different train operators all with their own policies that range from 'we dont book - 1st come 1st served' to trying to tell me I have to phone the station rather than the operator!

I've managed to book on the longer stretches but no emails to back it up -just a reference number which I'm hoping the guard on the train will be aware of.

The '1st come 1st served' policy of South West trains isnt ideal - I could well miss my connection if I have to wait for the next train.

benpinnick

My experience with Southwest is that they have no real allocated spaces, so you are generally in the space next to the toilets where the disabled wheelchairs also go. Worst case though is that you park it in the door space. Generally not an issue as far as I can tell (and I get alot of SW trains).

lawman

from experience its a been a total nightmare at times. going to and from uni and home again is a stressful journey to say the least, luckily I don't have to change anywhere, it goes straight through to uni from brum. However, a number of times its been a right pain in the arse, as there is rarely a carriage with a bike space wide enough to fit either of my bikes in, not to fussed if its the HT, but when some silly bint rams her pathetic rust bucket excuse of a BSO into my circa £5k Mojo HD, then preceeds to steal seats from people and be a general hippy menace, it can be abit annoying!! Arriva seem to be the worst for this, they are truly the worst people I have ever encountered, completely useless, just the other week I was forced to vacate a seat in said too small bike "space" so that above bitch could place said BSO in it, and was unable to get a seat for the next three and a half hours of my journey, never have I been treated as rudely or aggressively by anyone, and a complaint to Arriva probably never got read...

Bit of a rant, but my overall feeling is that if you have to travel with your bike via train, then by all means do it, but do it at your peril!!

booldawg

sounds a nightmare! As long as I can get on the train I'm not fussed on comfort.

I've booked my tickets online and wasnt given the option to book a bike space at the same time. Virgin did have a 'book a bike' button, I clicked it but nothing came through on the confirmation.

As I'm doing the c2c its a long old train journey from Hampshire to Whitehaven, then back from Newcastle.

campbellrae1

As mentioned above, it really depends on the operator. I have had some issues with Scotrail, went into a station to book the bike on as I had never done it before and was told that it was all sorted, only to get to said station 10 days and 1000 miles of riding later to find out that they hadn't bothered to book it on! Thankfully the conductor on the day took pity on me and let me on, on the condition that I got off if the space was required for anyone else! Bit lucky I guess. Had a friend travel with Arriva and he says he will never go near them again with a bike!

webby_1805

Scotrail for me has never been bad as i used to get the first train in the morning and nobody else had a bike so no problem this was quite a few years ago at night it was a different story you did have to book a day in advance but they mucked that up and the conductors were all ok as i would tell them that i was getting of the first stop had four bikes next to the toilet once,and once when my friends were training for the LtP we had to cut short on one route and there were to places to put bikes not just the one.So all in all scotrail gets a10 for just now.

neil_sheehan2000

Scotrail really are quite good in my experience. Not too sure about their more local, short-distance trains, but I've taken trains to Stranraer, Ayr, Fort William and Aberdeen and they've all had a really good bike compartment where you hang it from the rear wheel. Think they can fit 8-10 bikes in it too. I've always booked in advance over the phone though.

ilovedirt

I've taken my bike on trains a few times, the longest journey i think was four different trains, bangor to nottingham on arriva wales, cross country and east midlands trains. All of them were fine, the biggest issue was fitting my wide bars through the doors! pro tip: run your stem loose-ish so you can turn it to get through doors if you can.

I tried booking a bike space, but it was just a ballache, so i just hoped that there would be space. If there isn't, the conductor is usually alright with you putting it in front of the doors as long as you move it to let people out when the train stops. If you can't get on the train, i guess you'll just have to wait for the next one, it's not too bad, just takes a bit longer.

Ghostt

Such a shame British public transport can't get it's act together. I got a train across the Czech Republic (Prague to Brno) last summer and several of the carriages had designated spaces with bike racks that were actually usable, the vertical type, and some rather sweet bikes in them! Oh, and let's not mention the price...

Rossp92

go to a station,they are able to reserve spaces for trains which have bookable spaces for bikes (usually bigger trains). you will get a bike reservation card which will stop anyone not letting you take your bike on the train. The smaller trains are usually ok with bikes, just try and not get in the way of anyone and everyone seems quite happy with it

weirdNumber

I have never had an issue with taking a bike on a train and I have never booked a space in advance. I have taken one on Virgin, East Coast, Northern Rail, First Capital Connect and East Midlands trains. I never travel during commuting times though. I buy a normal ticket wait for the train and just get on. Most have a carriage with a bicycle symbol and sometimes its a rack that you can tie your bike to, sometimes a little gutter type thing you balance it in. Sometimes its just the wheelchair section. For long journeys sometimes its a seperate carriage for luggage, just have your wits about you. I nearly lost mine during a change because they hadn't called ahead to let the guards at the station know I needed to get it off.
If its occupied and I cant put my bike against another thats there already then I end up standing by the doors with it.

Politeness and courtesy is all that I have ever needed.

Iwingstein

As a general rule (having spent 20 years and at todays prices £70,000 on season tickets), if I have to go on a train, I won't go; but I did use them twice to get to Tonbride and Aylesford (short trips about 10 - 20 mins) and didn't have trouble - but it was quite early both times.

ATB

Simon

sloppycowpat

when I was at uni I had to do a trip from Southampton to the ilse of skye through the underground and Inverness, I just went to matalan and bought one of the huge soft bags and took the wheels and bars off the bike and shoved it all stuff in the bag worked great was only £10 I think. Was a bit awkward with 2 hiking bags and a laptop case as well but i managed just

If not make sure that you ring the train company to get a reservation on the bike rack, failing that get an any time ticket so if someone else has booked the spaces then you can get on next train