Worst Public Transit - Page 2

comcor · 09-03-2006, 09:42

For worst public transport experience, I'd go with a rail trip from Rotterdam to Brussels...

I could have taken my trip on the Saturday or the Sunday, but there were engineering works on the line, which involved a bus transfer for part of the journey on the Saturday, so I opted to go on the Sunday on the 09:20 train, which was the first one after the engineering works finished. This one had a slight restriction, because it terminated in Brussels North rather than Brussels (this will become significant later).

Now, I've had experience of Dutch railways and engineering works not finishing on time, so when I bought the tickets, I specifically asked if the 09:20 train was running and was told that it was. So, I went up to the platform with my travelling companions and the train was on the departure board. At about 09:30, when no train had appeared, I started reckoning something was going wrong.

One thing about the trains between Holland and Belgium is that the announcements are normally made in Dutch, English and French. Of course, these are all automated and when things go wrong...

So, at 09:35 an announcement was made in Dutch asking passengers to go to the back of the station for a bus connection to Roosendaal, where we could pick up the international train. Fortunately, I speak a little Dutch, so I understood it, but we met another couple of people on the platform, a Frenchman bound for Paris and a German who had a serious limp (another fact which becomes relevant). As I speak French, and one of the people I was traveling with speaks German, we ended up adding them to our group.

So, out to the back of Rotterdam Central Station. By 09:50, there was no sign of a bus, so I went off to find someone who could tell me what was going on.

The conversation went

-We were trying to take the 09:20 to Brussels an...
-It's not running today
-Yes. And we went out the back to catch the bus an...
-What bus? There is no bus. Who told you to do that?
-There was an announcement

Cue her getting on a walkie-talkie spending 3 minutes giving a bollocking to the person who made the announcement, while ignoring the customer. Eventually, I got more info.

-What should I do?
-Take the 10:00 to Dordrecht and take a bus from there to Roosendaal. In Roosendaal, you can pick up the international train.

So, I went off to get the others. Going to the platform, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the German's limp was going to prevent us getting the 10:00 to Dordrecht. Fortunately, Rotterdam-Dordrecht has around 10 trains an hour, so we only waited another 8 minutes for a train.

By 10:30, we had made it as far as Dordrecht. So, we went to look for the buses. There were no buses to Roosendaal. The advice here was, take a bus to Breda, then a train to Roosendaal to pick up the international train.

So, we get the bus to Breda, get there around 11:00 and get a train to Roosendaal at 11:15 (roughly when we should have arrived in Brussels). We arrive in Roosendaal, shortly before 11:30. The next train is at 12:05. So, we find the cafe and get a coffee and some cakes.

12:05 no train.

Eventually, it turns up around 12:25. Getting on the train, I begin to realise from other passengers' conversations that this is the 11:20 from Rotterdam and that if we'd just had a lie in, we could have been on this train anyway.

So, now we are on a train bound for Brussels. When we come into Brussels North (at 1:30pm), I remember that the train isn't running to Brussels South and decide to get off. No announcement is made in any language. Brussels Central would have been a more convenient stop, so my travelling companions stay on the train near the door when I go to check. The departure board on the platform says that it's the train to Amsterdam, so I get them off. Just as they are leaving, the doors close, but we're off OK. At least half the passengers on the train are in for a 15 minute ride to Mechelen until their first chance to turn around.

In short, a journey, which should have taken just under 2 hours on a single train took slightly over 4 hours on three trains and a bus.

Staff didn't know what was going on. Announcements were infrequently made and when they were made they were somtimes wrong. It made me long to be travelling on Irish Rail...

Mark Hennessy · 10-03-2006, 02:14

Comcor

Interesting story, my experiences on Dutch rail are nowhere near as poor as yours but it
is good to hear other tales. Hoever todays announcement of the "station" in the docklands has re-confirmed the shambles we have for public transit planning in this country.
It's been a long time since I have felt this aggrieved.....

comcor · 10-03-2006, 08:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by markh

Comcor

Interesting story, my experiences on Dutch rail are nowhere near as poor as yours but it
is good to hear other tales. Hoever todays announcement of the "station" in the docklands has re-confirmed the shambles we have for public transit planning in this country.
It's been a long time since I have felt this aggrieved.....

In general, my experiences of Dutch trains have been good. Trains are cheap and very frequent (e.g. 10 tph between Rotterdam and Dordrecht), so it doesn't even matter so much if your train is late.

I think this was just a case of everything breaking down as a result of the engineering works overrunning, but it is interesting to note that not everywhere is as perfect as we like to believe.

Mark · 10-03-2006, 09:32

A country with worse public transport than Ireland? I can think of many countries which have had nowhere near the amount of investment but still get it right.

Answer is no other country has worse transport than Ireland.

Mark Hennessy · 10-03-2006, 09:43

Quote:

Answer is no other country has worse transport than Ireland.

Its so true and so disheartening.

sponge · 10-03-2006, 13:07

I've lived in the Netherlands for a few months and took many trains, including that international train to Belgium every second weekend.

On a worringly high percentage of my journeys, trains broke down or were delayed. Not too much of a problem though because of the high frequencies.

On the international train, most times, because of delays, I missed my connection in Antwerp to Brugge making my journey an hour longer.

The transport system there is still better than here overall though

(If you want to look at a country with a good transport infrastructure, I have found Finland to be great. See http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/index.html. Especially Helsinki comuter rail and bus and long distance Pendolino services)

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09-03-2006, 09:42	#21
comcor Really Regular Poster Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Cork-Dublin, Cork Commuter and occasionally DART and Dublin-Wexford Posts: 855	For worst public transport experience, I'd go with a rail trip from Rotterdam to Brussels... I could have taken my trip on the Saturday or the Sunday, but there were engineering works on the line, which involved a bus transfer for part of the journey on the Saturday, so I opted to go on the Sunday on the 09:20 train, which was the first one after the engineering works finished. This one had a slight restriction, because it terminated in Brussels North rather than Brussels (this will become significant later). Now, I've had experience of Dutch railways and engineering works not finishing on time, so when I bought the tickets, I specifically asked if the 09:20 train was running and was told that it was. So, I went up to the platform with my travelling companions and the train was on the departure board. At about 09:30, when no train had appeared, I started reckoning something was going wrong. One thing about the trains between Holland and Belgium is that the announcements are normally made in Dutch, English and French. Of course, these are all automated and when things go wrong... So, at 09:35 an announcement was made in Dutch asking passengers to go to the back of the station for a bus connection to Roosendaal, where we could pick up the international train. Fortunately, I speak a little Dutch, so I understood it, but we met another couple of people on the platform, a Frenchman bound for Paris and a German who had a serious limp (another fact which becomes relevant). As I speak French, and one of the people I was traveling with speaks German, we ended up adding them to our group. So, out to the back of Rotterdam Central Station. By 09:50, there was no sign of a bus, so I went off to find someone who could tell me what was going on. The conversation went -We were trying to take the 09:20 to Brussels an... -It's not running today -Yes. And we went out the back to catch the bus an... -What bus? There is no bus. Who told you to do that? -There was an announcement Cue her getting on a walkie-talkie spending 3 minutes giving a bollocking to the person who made the announcement, while ignoring the customer. Eventually, I got more info. -What should I do? -Take the 10:00 to Dordrecht and take a bus from there to Roosendaal. In Roosendaal, you can pick up the international train. So, I went off to get the others. Going to the platform, it was becoming increasingly obvious that the German's limp was going to prevent us getting the 10:00 to Dordrecht. Fortunately, Rotterdam-Dordrecht has around 10 trains an hour, so we only waited another 8 minutes for a train. By 10:30, we had made it as far as Dordrecht. So, we went to look for the buses. There were no buses to Roosendaal. The advice here was, take a bus to Breda, then a train to Roosendaal to pick up the international train. So, we get the bus to Breda, get there around 11:00 and get a train to Roosendaal at 11:15 (roughly when we should have arrived in Brussels). We arrive in Roosendaal, shortly before 11:30. The next train is at 12:05. So, we find the cafe and get a coffee and some cakes. 12:05 no train. Eventually, it turns up around 12:25. Getting on the train, I begin to realise from other passengers' conversations that this is the 11:20 from Rotterdam and that if we'd just had a lie in, we could have been on this train anyway. So, now we are on a train bound for Brussels. When we come into Brussels North (at 1:30pm), I remember that the train isn't running to Brussels South and decide to get off. No announcement is made in any language. Brussels Central would have been a more convenient stop, so my travelling companions stay on the train near the door when I go to check. The departure board on the platform says that it's the train to Amsterdam, so I get them off. Just as they are leaving, the doors close, but we're off OK. At least half the passengers on the train are in for a 15 minute ride to Mechelen until their first chance to turn around. In short, a journey, which should have taken just under 2 hours on a single train took slightly over 4 hours on three trains and a bus. Staff didn't know what was going on. Announcements were infrequently made and when they were made they were somtimes wrong. It made me long to be travelling on Irish Rail...

10-03-2006, 02:14	#22
Mark Hennessy Membership Officer Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Maynooth Posts: 1,116	Comcor Interesting story, my experiences on Dutch rail are nowhere near as poor as yours but it is good to hear other tales. Hoever todays announcement of the "station" in the docklands has re-confirmed the shambles we have for public transit planning in this country. It's been a long time since I have felt this aggrieved.....

10-03-2006, 09:32	#24
Mark Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Northern line Posts: 1,311	A country with worse public transport than Ireland? I can think of many countries which have had nowhere near the amount of investment but still get it right. Answer is no other country has worse transport than Ireland.

10-03-2006, 13:07	#26
sponge Member Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 13	I've lived in the Netherlands for a few months and took many trains, including that international train to Belgium every second weekend. On a worringly high percentage of my journeys, trains broke down or were delayed. Not too much of a problem though because of the high frequencies. On the international train, most times, because of delays, I missed my connection in Antwerp to Brugge making my journey an hour longer. The transport system there is still better than here overall though (If you want to look at a country with a good transport infrastructure, I have found Finland to be great. See http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/index.html. Especially Helsinki comuter rail and bus and long distance Pendolino services)