Anyone booked arriva trains online?

[Banjo]

I want to start using trains more with the bike. Anyone bookeed tickets with arriva online ? How does it work do you print off your own tickert or do they post them?

How do they treat you with a bike? Will be training it down to Pembrokeshire tommorow , will take the folder so the bikes not really an issue this time.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Nope. Knowing they have a cycle policy and failing to find anyway to get the cycle part of the booking done on line I just hoofed it 100 metres down to my local Southern station and did the Arriva Trains Wales booking over the counter.

Full sized bikes on the Arriva trains I travelled on last week

Carmarthen - Pembroke Dock I just turned up but it was early doors Saturday morning
Haverford - Llanelli just turned up midweek off peak
Haverford - Carmarthen return mid week off peak just turned sans my bike but we had three bikes aboard at one point
Johnston - Swansea pre-booked on a Saturday lunchtime

did not seem to raise an eyebrow from train or station staff and no one asked me if I had booked a bike space nor wanted to see my cycle permit.

I imagine it will be much more of an issue east of say Swansea though in a more urban setting.

 

[Banjo]

Thanks for that Greg. On more scrutiny of the website it looks as if they post the tickets to you so no good for me travelling tommorow. Will just roll up at the station and do over the counter.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Thanks for that Greg. On more scrutiny of the website it looks as if they post the tickets to you so no good for me travelling tommorow. Will just roll up at the station and do over the counter.

I saw little penalty to this given they don't do advance fares. The only drawback of rock up and pay on the day I guess is if two folk already have reserved places on your prefered train.

 

[Red Light]

Use the East Coast trains website to book your tickets even if they are on another ToC. You can book the bike on-line unlike any of the other sites and you can get your tickets printed out at a station of your choice or simply take your confirmation to a ticket office and they will do it for you (although they prefer you to use the ticket machines). I often book them on the day of travel and collect them when I get to the station.

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

I want to start using trains more with the bike. Anyone bookeed tickets with arriva online ? How does it work do you print off your own tickert or do they post them?

How do they treat you with a bike? Will be training it down to Pembrokeshire tommorow , will take the folder so the bikes not really an issue this time.

Bikes, it depends on which rolling stock/staff combination you meet. The majority of the trains have open "bus "style carriages with 2/3seats that fold up on one end or the other you can get 4-6 bikes in these spaces. There is another type that has space for "2" ( read 3) bike in a compartment in the middle of the train. Both of these aren't really a problem except at rush hour, apart from the normal lazt chav who can't be bothered to walk another 3 feet or read. The third type of stock has a tiny slot that is meant to take two bikes but will only do so if you are happy scratching paint work and can work with the other cyclist.

If you are on any of the first two and have a reasonable gaurd they will let you stand in the door with the bike, no problem. If you are on the last type and with a grump you are stuffed!

I would like to tell you what sort of stock is which , but I'm not a trainspotter!

 

[mcshroom]

I caught a train back from the Swansea FNRttC that was full of rugby fans on the way to the Heineken Cup final. The guard helped me to lift the bike up on it's back wheel as I stood in the crowded doorway all the way to Cardiff.

If booking online I prefer Soutern Railway's site, which uses the same booking system as the East Coast one, but sometimes applies Southern discounts to trains (including Middlesbotough to Northallerton) and doesn't charge £1 to post the tickets to you.

Chiltern are also very similar.

 

[al-fresco]

On the Wolverhampton/Chester stretch there are nominally 2 bike spaces on Arriva trains. (I say 'nominally' because the location of the disabled ramp means that there is really only room for one.) But I've seen 3 bikes on the train quite often and it's never been a problem. There's no booking on this line - it's 'at the guards discretion' so there have, apparently, been instances where a load of adults with bikes have been allowed on and another time when a couple of kids were refused... but personally I've never had a problem with just turning up on spec.