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[JamesV6CDX]

... I'm doing Cardiff to Gloucester most days for my daily commute.

I almost always use the train, because it's much cheaper than petrol, aviods all traffic (much faster journey), and doesn't require too much concentration from me. The train is the Cardiff-Nottingham Crosscountry route.

57 mins on train, 2 hrs in car. £11.40 on train (railcard) or £20 in car.

I've been doing this commute for a couple of years on and off, and it's made me realise the absolute worsening state of the majority general public!

Now, I like my space, but when a train gets busy, why must people always sit in the isle seat, and place their bags on the window seat, just to prevent someone else sitting there. Why not place bags on the overhead racks, and free up a seat?

I've travelled a lot on trains in the Netherlands, and this never happens there.

And why must people start barging their way into the train, spilling coffee from disposable cups etc, before everyone who wants to has alighted?

why is it that I always seem to find chewing gum stuck to the arm rests of british trains, but never german ones?

Why is it that in British strain stations, the loos are always disgusting and foul... yet in other countries in Europe they are spotless? (admittedly, some have a 50p charge, and I'd rather pay that, than sit on a seat someone else has urinated on!))

This morning, waiting to get off the train, a respectable mid thirties / early forties looking business lady, finished her drink, and put her cup down on a table, intending to leave it there. So I picked it up, and on the platform I approached her, handed her the cup, and said "Excuse me madam, you left your drink on the train" (She looked at me like thunder   )

I would use the car instead, but then I'm just as likely to get fed up when some Beamer driver without a minute to live comes and sits on my bumper at 90mph while he's trying to read a map,  drink a can of redbull and send a text on his phone at the same time....

I'm considering starting at 10 and finish at 6, instead of 9-5, to aviod the peak service.

(That'll be the Peak CrossCountry Service that only ever has 2 carriages, yet the late night one which is empty always has three!!!)

Rant over !

[theolodian]

Yep.  Went to Paris on the train a few weeks ago.  Hit the same rush hour on the same day in Paris and in London.  Shocking difference.  The US is quite bad about this, but here also people just don't get it when it comes to life in general.  France isn't perfect, but like Clarkson says it's Heaven by comparison.  Holland and a few others are even better in some ways!

[supermop]

Most people who commute are pretty ignorant fu***rs.

On my train line, you never see people putting bags on the seat to prevent others from using it, as there will be uproar. Admitedly I use the Lea Valley London line, which is always rammed in rush hour.

I've noticed a lot of your other points too. The general state of the trains is appauling - Why can't they be like European trains??! People leave their crap on the table despite there actually being a BIN right next to them - this pisses me off. You also get free newspapers in London, which get left all over the place. It's tragic the amount of paper that gets wasted there

Now the tube... well, what can I say - you think you got it bad? Everyone for themselves really, you just barge in, barge off, not giving a toss for anyone. Well you do if you're an arsehole at least. I like to keep my manners and keep my cool most of the time.

I think the attitude around London is definately changing toward how passengers treat each other. There's a big drive from Mr. Livingstones office to get passengers to start having a little respect for their fellow journeymen and I can definately see an effect already, although no where near enough to say job done.

There's nothing you can do except carry on as you are really and hope others start to realise they aren't living in their own little world when they commute.

[Richie London]

you should try getting on the underground, most ignorant tinkers you can get, mainly penpushers who insist you read there newspaper, idiots who have there earplugs in full volume and worse is people who wont move when your sardined trying to get off, i find shoving everyone forward usually helps, ive had so many rows on the central line, even booted some bloke off once who would not move at all.
 i avoid working in london as much as poss now

[supermop]

you should try getting on the underground, most ignorant tinkers you can get, mainly penpushers who insist you read there newspaper, idiots who have there earplugs in full volume and worse is people who wont move when your sardined trying to get off, i find shoving everyone forward usually helps, ive had so many rows on the central line, even booted some bloke off once who would not move at all.
 i avoid working in london as much as poss now

I work in Holborn and get the central line EVERY DAY. It's the worst part of my journey and people are SO rude.

[amigov6]

Sympathies to those of you who commute. I'd move peoples bags off seats & onto luggage racks & barge my way through with the rest of 'em but i'm a confrontational tinker as far as ignorant pillocks are concerned, these people need telling. Having said that i believe in an easy life & treat as i'm treated, hence why i'm so "NICE & PLEASENT" to everyone on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   And i only drive 2 miles to & from work.

[cem_devecioglu]

let being dirty ,here in some areas of [ch304]stanbul and Ankara, much worse..

for a period there was security for every part

[mantahatch]

Sympathies to those of you who commute. I'd move peoples bags off seats & onto luggage racks & barge my way through with the rest of 'em but i'm a confrontational tinker as far as ignorant pillocks are concerned, these people need telling. Having said that i believe in an easy life & treat as i'm treated, hence why i'm so "NICE & PLEASENT" to everyone on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
   And i only drive 2 miles to & from work.

Well done, I thought I was doing well driving only 6 miles to and from work. I wish I could get it lower.

Mike

[supermop]

I need to get a flat right outside my office tbh. Can roll out of bed at 8.30 and walk straight to work  

[tunnie]

i travel on Chiltern Trains into London, 88 odd miles. If i get the right one its 55 mins in the morning, 48 on the express back at night.

God knows how long in the car. Its £118 for me with car parking and tube, i have to drive to the station.

On the whole, Chiltern Trains are excellent, all of them are Air-Conditioned, most of the ones i get have power points at each seat. So great for the laptop

Generally always on time, if late, never more than 10 mins.

All of their trains have recently been referbished, so can't complain.

Although it is 1hr 50 mins door to door  

[Mr Hagon]

I have a 7 mile drive each way, takes me 15-20 mins each way.  Even better is that I car share with SWMBO Mon to Thurs in her Fiesta so that keeps the fuel costs down.

She doesn't do Fridays so the Omega gets a run then and there's a small bit of dual carriageway at the end of the commute where I can
open her up.

Even sadder, we're thinking of moving closer to work so it would be a 10-15 min walk...

Mr Hagon.

[Kevin Wood]

Not like our refurbished trains then. Sat in a siding for a year after purchase because they worked out the tizzy supply wasn't man enough to run them.  

Far too brightly lit to relax, air con blowing so hard that your eyeballs dehydrate in about 15 minutes and an endless loop of rather stupid announcements about not smoking, sticking body parts out of the train, etc. (not that there are any opening windows and doors).

Bring back the slam door trains.  

I'm so glad I commute by Omega / Westfield.

Kevin

[Mr Hagon]

When I do occasionally use the train it's to commute into London.  My stop is the second from the end of the line so getting a seat is no trouble.

I have to agree that the announcements are a pain.  It's always about the next station, watch out for beggars, suspect packages etc.  Makes it impossible to read anything without being disturbed and distracted.

Mr Hagon.

[Jay w]

in Surrey i drive, purely because i hate using the public trasnport.

nottingham is a different ballgame, i drive down to the park and ride, jump on a tram and go right to the centre of town, £2.40 daily.

the trams are on time, clean, warm and cool when they are supposed to be and there is a fair amount of space on them, even when it is busy.

A lot of cities could learn something from the trams in Nottingham, i know that iwould be far more inclined to use them if they had this in Plymouth

[Paulus]

I go to the gym first thing in the morning so I don't have to put up with the rush-hour traffic. It does mean getting up ay 4:15, but it's a price I'm willing to pay. You should see the M6 at 5:00am - bliss.