I guess this only works for people whose time is worth nothing
How I got 100% off my train travel
181–190 of 240 posts
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#182> Avanti West Coast offers customers: > 15 minutes — 25% off > 30 minutes — 50% off > 1 hour + — 100% off To me they look like very generous refund policies. I checked Italy's Trenitalia and what they offer is[1]: > 30-119 minutes: 25% > 120+ minutes: 50% I suppose anything below 30 minutes is consideres "on time". [1] https://www.trenitalia.com/it/informazioni/indennizzo_per_ri...
When high speed trains started operating on Spain in 1992 (AVE [0]) they offered 100% refund in any delay higher than 5 minutes (here a TV ad with very happy passengers because the train is arriving six minutes late [1]) But nowadays and after some mismanagement and also private operators coming to share lines it's: For all high speed and other long distance trains: 60min delay, 50% refund. 90min delay, 100% refund.…
I was once over 90 minutes late on a TGV. Naturally, SNCF reported a delay of 59 minutes when calculating my rebate...
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#183Earlier quoted context omitted.
It would be so great if the rest of the world could take inspiration from Switzerland and Japan regarding train management. Also perhaps Ukraine. I heard they had stepped up during war time to the point of being more punctual than many other European countries.
Swiss trains are often on time because they are deliberately slow, and so they can speed up a bit if things are delayed. They are sometimes deliberately slow because the Swiss system is designed to have trains arrive and leave interchange stations at the same time to make changing trains easier. Some are also slow because they take routes that wind along mountainsides which are scenic but not particularly direct.
I travel between Vienna and Budapest quite frequently, and ÖBB (Austrian railway) does also this deliberately on Austrian side towards Vienna. Trains can arrive about 15-20 minutes early in Vienna if they go full speed in Austria, and they arrive in time to the Hungarian border. This rarely happens, and in that case, they go slower.
Also, there is almost always delay between Budapest and a smaller Hungarian city. ÖBB changed schedule for their own trains quite quickly reflecting that. MÁV (Hungarian railway) still hasn’t done that for almost two years now on the same line. They still basically lie about it.
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#184I did something similar in the Netherlands. Due to an array of issues the train company has abysmall on-time records on our only high speed line, connecting A'dam to Brussels, Paris and London. I mean we are still talking about 82% on time, not 60% lmao. But compared to the 97,6% of normal trains it's bad. But anyway you can ask for your money back just like in the UK. The trick is that when you travel on a business…
Seeing the rates here for other countries at least it's a better deal: 50% for delays of 30-60m, and 100% for delays of an hour or longer.
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#185Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think by and large this doesn’t play out with trains. American trains tend to be much less frequent, slower, and less comfortable than most European trains. I road a swiss train a couple years ago that was something like 5 minutes late. To me (American) it was “on time” but the conductor came on the PA and apologized. He did make a point to clarify the delay was because they’d been stuck behind an off schedule Germ…
> American trains tend to be much less frequent, slower, and less comfortable than most European trains. Exception: the New York regional rail system. Its on-time stats are comparable to Switzerland. We love to talk about subways and intercity high-speed rail. But in America, it doesn't make sense in most cases without subsidies. Drive-on / drive-off regional rail, on the other hand, trades pursim for pragmatism and…
> But in America, it doesn't make sense in most cases without subsidies.
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#186I used a much simpler variant of this to get Amazon Prime for free for years. When I needed something off Amazon, I'd just wait until the day before it was going to rain then order it with next day delivery. The couriers at that point in time seemed comically unable to deliver anything if it rained. Once it arrived late, open a case and ask for a month of free Amazon prime. This worked up until they discontinued that…
You know the couriers got punished for it? Whereas you enjoyed free stuff
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#187Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh yeah? https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/17/611860169...
To be fair, it’s hard to see why a properly planned train journey would have any delays at all.
The optimal amount of train delay is non-zero. You need high redundancy to avoid many causes - and their knock on effects - and redundancy is antithetical to efficiency.
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#188Any insights why trains are pathologically late? It's easy to blame incompetence, but I think it's too naive, I wonder what are the causes connection are late day after day, year after year. Why is it so difficult to create a reliable model for something we have been working for dozens of decades and we have a good control of?
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#189Any insights why trains are pathologically late? It's easy to blame incompetence, but I think it's too naive, I wonder what are the causes connection are late day after day, year after year. Why is it so difficult to create a reliable model for something we have been working for dozens of decades and we have a good control of?
Organisational culture / funding / quality of infrastructure. Compare Swiss trains to German trains: geographically colocated, but the former is known for extreme timeliness, while the latter is known for extreme tardiness.
If you want good service, you need to invest and keep investing - it's not a one and done thing, especially as the city and population change around your network.
Re: How I got 100% off my train travel
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a North American who travels in the UK multiple times per year, I really need you to elaborate. My experience has been nothing less than amazing, in comparison to the complete lack of rail options at home.
I’m an American who lived in London for 3 years and was also impressed, but as someone who only had to use national rail for leisure (got around London by bus/tube) I was oblivious to two things: 1) Commute hours are brutal. Trains are packed and even a few minutes delay can feel like ages when you’re missing a meeting. 2) The cost of 5x weekly round trips is enormous. The average annual pass for someone commuting in…
Also it's hard to state how much, and especially when it comes to transport, that London isn't England.
London is it's own bubble with "Transport for London" running all transport.
It has lots of investment, cheap busses, frequent trains and a reliable underground. It has synchronisation between different forms of transport, and timetables that make sense.
The rest of the UK, the rest of England especially, has incredibly expensive buses, might be lucky to get one train an hour in some places, and might have 3 different bus companies serving a small town, meaning you can't even travel on a day pass, as you'll find that one bus company refuses to accept your ticket because it's a different bus company. Or you find you have to wait much longer for your return journey as the "wrong" company buses turn up first.