Dear LPG, 

I think that travelling on a train is quite a good way to get where you want to go unless you decide that Sunday is your preferred day of travel.   There is the advantage that there is no rush hour at that time and trains have the edge when it comes to being sure of their scheduled departure times.  It can be argued that at least you know when to expect them which is an advantage that they have over busses because how long you have to wait for one of those is always a bit of a gamble.  We have all heard the story where you have to wait for ages and then three all come at the same time…

I still undertake a regular 25-mile train journey although, as a pensioner, I no longer have to arrive at a specific time each week.   As long as I arrive sometime on a Sunday evening it is all good.

Well, I say that but Sundays, along with Saturdays, are the days that Network Rail are most likely to plan their engineering works which means that we passengers are bundled onto a Rail Replacement Bus.   Unless you know exactly what you’re doing with the internet it is often when you are getting your ticket or sitting on the station waiting for your train that you learn about the fact that you are going to have to get on a bus halfway through your journey 

The big problem is that when you are on a train or a regular bus, the stations are usually marked both visually, they are also announced as you get to them and, if you travel the route regularly, you have a rough idea of where you are.  But when travelling on a rail replacement bus in winter when it gets dark earlier in the evenings and you can see nothing through the windows, I suspect that the driver is often the only person who knows where you are.   I have now learnt to ask the driver to point out my stop when we get there but I understand that he is busy and sometimes forgets which means that I have to bother him every time he stops. 

I wonder if I am the only rail replacement bus traveller who has this problem or if I am in the minority when it comes to being a pensioner who undertakes a regular, relatively long train   journey.  

This is just another example of the lack of communication caused by the technical world that we live in.  I wonder if any of us older passengers remember when the bus conductor would call out where the bus was, or when there actually was a person with that job description on our busses.  Technology works on the scheduled services, but these days drivers just drive and, as in every other walk of modern life, have less and less to do with the people they are providing the service for.   

BD, Beckenham.