Quote:
Originally Posted by Thomas Ralph
To take a bad example, if you're getting a return train ticket from central London to Gatwick Airport, there are literally dozens of options
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As it happens I travelled from Victoria to Gatwick twice in the last two weeks (though in neither case from Gatwick).
The first time, I though the a single ticket would cost me £8.90, but it ended up costing me £10.90 when I got to the TVM (more than I expected, but not enough to make me join the queue to speak to a human).
The second time, a few days before, I went online (
www.nationalrail.co.uk) to check the price and found I could get the ticket for £3, but I couldn't actually buy the ticket on that website. I was told to use the website of a train operating company (but the company operating the route - Southern - wasn't listed). I tried a 3rd party ticket seller first, but their fees amounted to £3.50, more than the cost of the ticket! Then I tried a random other train operator to see if it would work. I used Grand Central (who operate nowhere near either Victoria or Gatwick) and got the ticket for £3 with no extra fees.
That kind of situation is utterly baffling to the casual user (i.e. me) and I'm sure discourages people from travelling.