Where are you on the transport network?

[Bus Honeygun]

Unusually quiet here at Paris Est today, although I don't seem to have captured that.

 

[Isambard]

Bristol Airport, your "bus station" has been shite since at least a year.

 

[T & P]

Bristol Airport, your "bus station" has been shite since at least a year.
View attachment 401279

Is it served by a train station as well, or is it just buses or car/ taxi?

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Is it served by a train station as well, or is it just buses or car/ taxi?

Just buses. I always feel sorry for any foreign tourists that have to use it. I remember being on a flight from Munich to Bristol years ago where I left behind S-Bahn, U-Bahn and trams and looked down as we came in to land on one of Britain's major cities and just saw a spider's web of traffic jams, knowing full well that the public transport down below was utter shite. Very depressing.

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Here's where I am now. Not the first time I've been to this happening corner of German-France. Woo. So much going on.

 

[T & P]

Just buses. I always feel sorry for any foreign tourists that have to use it. I remember being on a flight from Munich to Bristol years ago where I left behind S-Bahn, U-Bahn and trams and looked down as we came in to land on one of Britain's major cities and just saw a spider's web of traffic jams, knowing full well that the public transport down below was utter shite. Very depressing.

Mind you, you can have airports served by trains that are still a nightmare if it has flights landing in the middle of the night. I have friends in Jordan who were ecstatic when Whizz Air started flights to Amman from Luton for as little as £250 with luggage (vs £500 to £700 with BA or RJ).

But the return flight lands at 1.30 am, so you either try to keep it cheap by using public transport and have a horrible long journey by train to London (if there are any trains running at all), and then night buses from Kings Cross to get home, or fork out on a Luton hotel, or pay surely a three-figure amount to go home by cab. I can’t imagine bigger horrors than arriving at Luton airport at 1.30 am if you don’t have a car in the car park.

 

[Elpenor]

Mind you, you can have airports served by trains that are still a nightmare if it has flights landing in the middle of the night. I have friends in Jordan who were ecstatic when Whizz Air started flights to Amman from Luton for as little as £250 with luggage (vs £500 to £700 with BA or RJ).

But the return flight lands at 1.30 am, so you either try to keep it cheap by using public transport and have a horrible long journey by train to London (if there are any trains running at all), and then night buses from Kings Cross to get home, or fork out on a Luton hotel, or pay surely a three-figure amount to go home by cab. I can’t imagine bigger horrors than arriving at Luton airport at 1.30 am if you don’t have a car in the car park.

Plus if you drive to the airport your car might get burnt to a cinder

Bristol does at least have hourly coaches running through the night into the centre of Bristol and in the other direction down the M5 to Plymouth

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Bristol does at least have hourly coaches running through the night into the centre of Bristol and in the other direction down the M5 to Plymouth

That's true, but coaches might as well not exist in my world. Did it once 25 years ago and it was Never Again. Just horrible.

Obviously I have a major rail bias, though.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Mind you, you can have airports served by trains that are still a nightmare if it has flights landing in the middle of the night. I have friends in Jordan who were ecstatic when Whizz Air started flights to Amman from Luton for as little as £250 with luggage (vs £500 to £700 with BA or RJ).

But the return flight lands at 1.30 am, so you either try to keep it cheap by using public transport and have a horrible long journey by train to London (if there are any trains running at all), and then night buses from Kings Cross to get home, or fork out on a Luton hotel, or pay surely a three-figure amount to go home by cab. I can’t imagine bigger horrors than arriving at Luton airport at 1.30 am if you don’t have a car in the car park.

hmm

depends where you're trying to get to, but as far as i know, the thameslink line runs all night, so would do blackfriars and east croydon as well (not sure where else it stops overnight)

and the green line coach luton to victoria runs all night as well

both may be hourly in the middle of the night, though.

 

[davesgcr]

hmm

depends where you're trying to get to, but as far as i know, the thameslink line runs all night, so would do blackfriars and east croydon as well (not sure where else it stops overnight)

and the green line coach luton to victoria runs all night as well

both may be hourly in the middle of the night, though.

The Thameslink in the small hours is at best half hourly (or it was when I looked after it) - all stations though - so about 40 mins to Central London. Services ramp up from 0400 ,with a few faster trains.

 

[Elpenor]

That's true, but coaches might as well not exist in my world. Did it once 25 years ago and it was Never Again. Just horrible.

Obviously I have a major rail bias, though.

I have rarely had a bad ride on a coach, in the 2 years or so I’ve been using them but I must admit I haven’t need to do a wee on one yet.

 

[planetgeli]

I can’t imagine bigger horrors than arriving at Luton airport at 1.30 am if you don’t have a car in the car park.

How about arriving at 1.30am and finding you did have a car in the car park

 

[neonwilderness]

The main entrance is being refurbished, so I had to use the glamorous side entrance instead

 

[T & P]

It looks proper grim . And things don’t get much better at platform level. hope the main entrance is more cheerful.

 

[neonwilderness]

It looks proper grim . And things don’t get much better at platform level. hope the main entrance is more cheerful.

The phrase “you can’t polish a turd” comes to mind

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

The phrase “you can’t polish a turd” comes to mind

"Shithole", springs to mind!

 

[T & P]

Interesting to see signalling in km/h. That's a bit unusual on the British network, no?

 

[neonwilderness]

Interesting to see signalling in km/h. That's a bit unusual on the British network, no?

Those are for the Metros which share the line

 

[teuchter]

I went there once, on a diversion of a trip from Scotland to London solely for the purpose of taking a trip on a Grand Central valenta powered HST, when that was still a thing.

 

[Elpenor]

Thought I’d have found this on the Tarka line actually

 

[Ax^]

holyhead again

 

[Winot]

Dundee-Kings Cross

 

[Ax^]

just leaving Dublin port and got photobombed by a bloody seagull

 

[teuchter]

Pleased to see someone else getting to & from Ireland by boat instead of flying

 

[Isambard]

Slightly annoyed at the moment.
But in a warm friendly pub.

 

[skyscraper101]

Jamaica. Yes I came of my own accord etc.

 

[Isambard]

If you can't read Czech. After 135 years of the state running the trains Domažlice-Klatovy-Horaždovice, there's a new private operator from tomorrow. It's a fairly regular route of mine. Very mixed feelings.

 

[teuchter]

Sodium lighting increasingly a rarity now. Everywhere used to be this colour at night.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Sodium lighting increasingly a rarity now.

Everywhere used to be this colour at night.

not quite everywhere - some places went for mercury vapour lights, which were sort of greenish when they first came on and went a blue-ish white when they warmed up



(not my account or photo)

Greenwich Borough had quite a lot of them (in the old Woolwich Borough patch at least) so the night streets changed colour a couple of streets away from mum-tat's (she's just in to lewisham borough.

Newham also inherited quite a lot from West Ham Borough - and they were on poles that had been put up to hold the trolleybus wires up - they were there in to the mid / late 80s at least.



(again not my account or photo)

 

[Elpenor]