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#11
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
On Mon, 19 Jul 2004, [Not Responding] wrote:
It was all incredibly easy. [...] Glad that all went well, but not that I want to pour cold tea on your cornflakes, but I just hope the actual journey is as smooth (no delayed or cancelled trains, etc). My son's ~4 year experience with Virgin between Oxford and Sheffield|Manchester is so seared into his brain, that he is now a 110% dedicated fan of the car, motorway delays and all. Thank you Virgin. Not. :-( -- mike at ellwoods org uk |
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#12
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
In article , "[Not
Responding]" writes A cycling Q: what's this Winnat's Pass like? 1 in 5 (20%) for the best part of a kilometre. I cycled up it once in the 1980s (staying in Hope, wanted to go to the Blue John mine). More precisely, we pushed the bikes up it. I've just spent a week in the area having to drive up and down it several times. Second gear job if you can keep moving from before the cattle grid, but once you drop to first you're in it for the duration. -- Clive D.W. Feather | Home: Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work: Please reply to the Reply-To address, which is: |
#13
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
In article , richard2002
@ntlworld.com says... Why do people refer to case study (n=1) rather than useful statistics (n=10000s). Because personal experience tends to have a more direct effect on our perception. (I know... it was a rhetorical question!) somewhere aroundabout 80% of trains arrive at their destination within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. Which translates to 20% of trains fail to arrive within even 10 minutes of the scheduled time. So on a multiple carrier journey with nominal 15 minute connections, 20% of the time a given user will fail to complete the journey. By missing their connection they may be delayed further. Also, why "within 10 minutes"? This definition implies that within 10 minutes is considered to be "on-time". Given that the trains travel a known route and have known capabilities with regard to performance, why do they not run perfectly to a known schedule. If the schedule is unobtainable then they should allow for that in the scheduling. Jon |
#14
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
On Tue, 20 Jul 2004, Richard wrote:
Why do people refer to case study (n=1) rather than useful statistics (n=10000s). Rather more than n=1. Every single one of his return journeys between Oxford and either Sheffield or Manchester in the period 2000-2004 suffered a delay or cancellation, on at least the outward or return phase, sometimes both, often serious delays. That's a 100% failure rate in the perception of one young passenger, with a lifetime of journeys ahead of him, none of which will now be made on Virgin thanks very much, or probably not UK rail at all. Interestingly, he was full of praise for the Spanish railways, after only an admittedly small sample, too small for Mr Statistician above no doubt, but if you are trying to sell a service (I take it that's what VR is trying to do?), the perceptions of the customer are everything. somewhere aroundabout 80% of trains arrive at their destination within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. And that's success? I can - and have, not necessarily with Virgin - missed plenty of connections in 10 minutes. -- mike at ellwoods org uk |
#15
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
"Mike Ellwood" wrote in message .ac.uk... Glad that all went well, but not that I want to pour cold tea on your cornflakes, but I just hope the actual journey is as smooth (no delayed or cancelled trains, etc). My son's ~4 year experience with Virgin between Oxford and Sheffield|Manchester is so seared into his brain, that he is now a 110% dedicated fan of the car, motorway delays and all. Why do people refer to case study (n=1) rather than useful statistics (n=10000s). somewhere aroundabout 80% of trains arrive at their destination within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. |
#16
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
The problem I had with Virgin (Derby to Penzance) was getting a cheap
ticket. Very vague info but it turned out that I had to book exactly 14 days or less before travel time by phone only. Result £19 inc. bike instead of £76. Couldn't book Wick to Derby as wasn't sure of return date so that cost £90. Either way no prob with bike, people all helpful. Some stations have lifts to flat access to platforms - worth asking beforehand on the train if you have to hurry to catch connection. Hanging bike (tourer with mudguards) off hooks OK but had to remove bags or too heavy to get off the hook - sort of lift and twist sideways - more difficult if there is another bike next to it and even harder if you are slightly ****ed and tired as I was at Crewe 5 in morning. Winnats pass steep so pace yourself very gently in bottom gear right from the start. If you have any strength left you can save it for a sprint over the top - past all those sweaty mountain bikers pushing their bikes. Excellent hot meat sandwich shop in Castleton (main road just south of centre) will help you get up the hill. Excellent cycling in Derbyshire including High Peak and Tissington trails - old railway lines. and lots of quiet minor roads. Have a nice time cheers Jacob |
#17
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
On Tue, 20 Jul 2004 11:29:08 +0100, Mike Ellwood
wrote: On Mon, 19 Jul 2004, [Not Responding] wrote: It was all incredibly easy. [...] Glad that all went well, but not that I want to pour cold tea on your cornflakes, but I just hope the actual journey is as smooth (no delayed or cancelled trains, etc). My son's ~4 year experience with Virgin between Oxford and Sheffield|Manchester is so seared into his brain, that he is now a 110% dedicated fan of the car, motorway delays and all. Thank you Virgin. Not. :-( I'll admit that I'm only really using the train because I'm not able to drive at the moment (an injury not a ban which also prompted me to sell my car). But looking at the route my friend will be taking on Friday afternoon/evening from a bit further along the coast, I think I'm a safer bet to be in the pub in Hope, Derbyshire at 2105 than him. When I typed the road route into theaa.com, it reckoned the trip would take 4.5 hours in average traffic conditions (compared to my total 5.5 hrs or so by rail). But is Friday afternoon/evening likely to be "average traffic conditions"?; theaa.com highlighted 5 "traffic blacksports" on top of the usual random slowing up. As the connections are not particularly tight (25 mins and 20 mins) I'm confident that I'll be there at bang on 2100. But, hey, what do I know? I was only reporting the ease of the booking system. I've not taken a bike on a train for about 15 years and I've never used Virgin before so I'm new to all this. |
#18
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
in message , Richard
') wrote: "Mike Ellwood" wrote in message .ac.uk... Glad that all went well, but not that I want to pour cold tea on your cornflakes, but I just hope the actual journey is as smooth (no delayed or cancelled trains, etc). My son's ~4 year experience with Virgin between Oxford and Sheffield|Manchester is so seared into his brain, that he is now a 110% dedicated fan of the car, motorway delays and all. Why do people refer to case study (n=1) rather than useful statistics (n=10000s). Because I don't make tens of thousands of journeys, and I'm not tens of thousands of people. I know that *every* time I've been on a Virgin train (that's right, 100% score, no exceptions) in the last five years they have ****ed up very badly, with an average delay per journey in excess of 90 minutes (yes, that's an hour and a half) and an average standing time per journey (yes, I've always pre-booked a first class seat) of over an hour. I conclude from this that they are not even nearly competent to run a railway. -- (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/ ;; Skill without imagination is craftsmanship and gives us ;; many useful objects such as wickerwork picnic baskets. ;; Imagination without skill gives us modern art. ;; Tom Stoppard, Artist Descending A Staircase |
#19
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
in message , Jon Senior
') wrote: In article , richard2002 @ntlworld.com says... Why do people refer to case study (n=1) rather than useful statistics (n=10000s). Because personal experience tends to have a more direct effect on our perception. (I know... it was a rhetorical question!) somewhere aroundabout 80% of trains arrive at their destination within 10 minutes of the scheduled time. Which translates to 20% of trains fail to arrive within even 10 minutes of the scheduled time. So on a multiple carrier journey with nominal 15 minute connections, 20% of the time a given user will fail to complete the journey. By missing their connection they may be delayed further. Bad maths. 20% will fail to make connection 1. of the 80% who make connection 1, 20% will fail to make connection 2. So by the third train only 64% of the original passengers will still have made their connections, and by the fourth only just over half. Say that again: on a journey with three changes, '80% arrive within 10 minutes' means that only 51.2% of the passengers will actually get to their destination on the scheduled train. -- (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/ Morning had broken, and there was nothing left for us to do but pick up the pieces. |
#20
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Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy
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