Result :)
Mini chief has just announced he's doing a major school projects on Vikings and raiding Lindisfarne.
I'm not sure if they took the 9:30 from Waverley then cycled but that's how we're going to do it.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help
Reserving bike space online on East Coast route
(54 posts)- Started 7 years ago by ih
- Latest reply from chdot
- This topic is
resolved
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Posted 6 years ago #
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Do you think turning up with a helmet, shield and battleaxe would make it more likely that you're allowed onto a train with an unreserved bike?
Posted 6 years ago # -
@HC I can lend you another Brommie, which I have seen Minichief ride. I have a bag for it so it would be luggage. Also have a Folding Dahon which fits in a bag.
Posted 6 years ago # -
I do like the idea of a battleaxe to get inproved customer service. It just might work :-)
Thanks Biketrain. Will do some more plotting nearer the time.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Apparently!!!
“
Virgin Trains EC (@Virgin_TrainsEC)
25/04/2018, 6:00 pm
@deerfold @gsvalentine @TPEassist We can book bike reservations if you want via our twitter. Just send us a DM and we can get that done for you. ^DW“
Posted 6 years ago # -
This replicates a service which I had a hand in prompting with CrossCountry Trains and requires a small tutorial
The National Rail ticketing and reservations system is a venerable piece of software, and the attempt to upgrade it significantly in 2004=05 went a bit pear shaped. To make bike reservations work, they create a virtual coach X, in which all the 'seats' are bike spaces. to reserve a bike the system reserves a 'seat' in coach X
This obviously only works if the train itself is on the system with reserveable seats BUT the system protocol then says YOU CANNOT HAVE 2 SEAT RESERVATIONS FOR THE SAME TICKET!
A manual intervention (or a special routine - which seems to have been written in to the MixingDeck ticket sales suite) is thus required. Depending on how well the booking office/call centre staff have been schooled in the dark arts of illegal commands you will have a slick or frustrating experience as they deliver (or not)
Now at 00.01 (or thereabouts) the system dumps all the seat reservations (AND unsold AP fares!) over the the 'owning' train operator, and for several years now, CrossCountry was offering some amazing CrossCountryOnly fares via their website and phone app, along with last minute 'check & reserve' seats. This was expanded to having the Cross Country Call Centre and Twitter team also able to check and reserve any remaining bike spaces.
VTEC now has the same offer - any VTEC unsold AP fares available on the day, and any available bike spaces - check with the twitter team. With 3 trains per hour to Newcastle through the day, and even more South from there, ther is a reasonable chance of getting the service you want or one shortly afterwards, unless you need one of the intermediate stops, as the services alternate between Dunbar, Berwick, Alnmouth and occasionally Morpeth.
Posted 6 years ago # -
at 00.01 (or thereabouts) the system dumps all the seat reservations (AND unsold AP fares!)
Does that mean it's best to try and buy an AP after midnight?
Posted 6 years ago # -
To make bike reservations work, they create a virtual coach X, in which all the 'seats' are bike spaces.
I've written stuff like that. Nasty.
Posted 6 years ago # -
@neddie No - but AP as early as you can as once sold that's them gone BUT it is worth looking at TOC only fares & route specific ones. Walk up Glasgow(& Edinburgh?) to Leeds return via Appleby is around 50% of the fare available on all other routes. Likewise CrossCountry only fares Glasgow-Newcastle, &c
@IWRATS - have you played with the open data offered by Network Rail from DARWIN, TRUST etc which folk have played with to deliver Real Time Trains and Open Train Times amongst other apps?
Given all the sticking plaster detail there seems to be around the National Rail ticket sales system (which didn't at one time accept a direct uploading of the planned train times for the next week (to ensure tickets & reservations are sold for actual trains that are running - it had to be a manually delivered transfer) it has all the properties of Dr Frankenstein's monster.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Fresh alert at very short notice Transpennine announce that they're making bike reservations compulsory from 20/May. THis is mainly because they are bringing in IEP's, so that there will be an ability to use a common fleet of spare trains parked up around the ECML to slot in when planned services run late or break down
They have not offered an improved booking service, as GWR and Cross Country have done, and could easily continue to have the Cross Country policy in place, of having staff discretion options on the trains where there is flexibility - please write to MP's on this one
I'll post separately on bikes to Oban - as I'm finding that even in May, every Saturday has the morning trains to Oban at 05.20 and 08.21 from Glasgow "Fully booked" with 6 bikes apiece. The Edinburgh-Fort William train chases the Oban service but does not connect with it, and usually has 29-30 of the 31 seats, and the 6 bike spaces... empty (it arrives drom London at 03.58, and leaves Edinburgh at 04.50 Monday-Saturday arriving in Glasgow at 05.48 - but cannot easily connect with the 05.20 Oban service, which cannot run any later.. as it takes kids to school from Tyndrum and Dalmally, and connects with ferries to & from Craignure before heading back to Glasgow....But there are coach services.....
Posted 6 years ago # -
Just booked bike tickets via Twitter Direct Message (@Virgin_TrainsEC)
Sent message to confirm possible
Reply in two mins
Sent name, train details and email
Email with booking number (put in machine for tickets) 2 minutes later
Last time I did it by phone took 20 mins!
UPDATE
Asked about putting reservation into ticket machine and got this -
“
You won't get physical bike tickets, you'll just need to print off that confirmation email and bring it with you. ^BG
“
Will try anyway!
Part of the process used to be putting ticket on bike.
When I phoned I got number over phone and no email.
Posted 6 years ago # -
That maybe explains my last trip, a month ago, to Berwick. I booked over the phone, but when I came to pick up the tickets from the machine, no bike reservations appeared. Fortunately the counter staff at Waverley were able to make a reservation on the spot and give me a reservation ticket - so they do still exist, though perhaps not needed? Perhaps I actually did have the reservation but didn't know it.
This time - I've just booked to London - the phone person gave me a separate collection reference for the bike (just one for both the outward and return trips), but there was no email (and no indication of whether there will be a physical ticket; I forgot to ask). It seems that the bike reservation has been completely delinked from the passenger booking. It may not be possible to pick up a no-charge bike ticket from a machine, as the first thing it asks for is your credit card. Perhaps can only be picked up from the counter, or perhaps just printout neeeded, as you say.
Posted 6 years ago # -
“the phone person gave me a separate collection reference for the bike (just one for both the outward and return trips), but there was no email (and no indication of whether there will be a physical ticket; I forgot to ask).
...
It may not be possible to pick up a no-charge bike ticket from a machine, as the first thing it asks for is your credit card.”
I did ask.
Was told to put any card in to start the process and got the usual tickets.
I will find out on Tuesday if it still works like that!
Posted 6 years ago # -
I've booked bike space for July by phone based on the website instructions. I was emailed a receipt, and told that the collected tickets would not include the bike reservation.
I'd have been better off choosing the print on demand ticket option since I had to print out the bike receipt anyway...
Robert
Posted 6 years ago # -
I have ordered train tickets using Tesco vouchers (via redspottedhanky) in the past. The collection process is the same. You need to insert a card which you didn't use to pay and then enter the booking reference.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Well it seems it’s true there are no longer physical bike tickets.
The booking ref I got via email starts with D which is greyed out on the ticket machine keyboard.
Did discover that I could pick up the travel tickets even though I was at a different station from where I was supposed to collect them.
I think I’ve tried that before and it didn’t work and had to queue up(?)
Useful small change (if it is).
Still need to be able to book bike tickets online though!
Posted 6 years ago # -
Much as I would like to take my bike on trains;
1) NO TRAILERS
2) BEWARE OF THE LEOPARDPosted 6 years ago # -
I think it's been said before, but you can definitely still book bikes online through Scotrail, for any UK service, and still get the usual bike tickets at the collection machine.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Indeed, it was mentioned by Greenroofer right back at the beginning when this thread started (fourth post on the thread - after I had posted the link to the web site that listed all the TOCs that do bike reservations online).
I'm waiting with bated breath to see what LNER's website is like from 24th June. If it turns out to be just VTEC's with a coat of digital paint applied that will be very disappointing.
Posted 6 years ago # -
“If it turns out to be just VTEC's with a coat of digital paint applied that will be very disappointing.”
Yes, but I won’t be surprised.
In the past booking via the EC site gave you points towards future tickets - a valuable bonus.
Currently main advantage is free WiFi codes.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Realised it’s exactly a month since I got a physical bike ticket for trip to London (via a phone booking).
So, unless it’s a different process for booking via DM on Twitter, it’s changed in last few weeks.
I now have a scabby bit of self-printed paper with journey details (inc bike).
Posted 6 years ago # -
@chdot: In the past booking via the EC site gave you points towards future tickets - a valuable bonus.
That was (as I think you were trying to say) when ECML services were operated by the East Coast. When VTEC took over they switched to Nectar points - which some people find useful, though AIUI you can't use Nectar points to buy train tickets*. The East Coast scheme was quite generous in comparison to some, hence the creation of the Save East Coast Rewards web site where the list of TOCs that will do bike reservations online is also held.
* minor correction: Eurostar accepts Nectar points, at £2.50 per 500 points.
Posted 6 years ago # -
Picked up my tickets from a machine at Waverley last night, using the booking ref they gave me over the phone; actual physical bike tickets. Hooray!
Posted 6 years ago #
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