This is why people don’t use public transportation

I’m fuming with anger at British public transportation right now!

I’d arranged to meet up with Charu of Itchy Feet in London this afternoon, before she flies back home later this week. She writes some beautiful travel stories and shoots some amazing photos, and both Dawn and I were really looking forward to a brief chat with her.

So we go to the station, pay for parking, buy our tickets and go to the platform. The electronic timetable initially says that the train will be two minutes late, so we sit down on a bench! Just before the train is supposed to arrive, it is announced over the tannoy that our train has been cancelled and we will have to wait for the next one, if indeed that one turns up. To make matters worse, as we are trying to find out if we can still make it in to London to meet Charu on time, an empty train blasts past the station in the direction of London!

We realize that we can’t make it in to London till after 18:00, so in less than an hour’s time Charu will be standing at our arranged meeting point waiting for two people she has never met, who are not going to turn up. I’ve left a message at the contact number I had for her, while she was in London and sent her an email. But she is unlikely to get those messages in time.

So Charu, if you read this, I am so, so sorry! We had every intention of showing up, but with the train cancelled, we have no way of making it in on time and no way of getting hold of you to let you know.

And to the British government, how can people rely on public transportation when you never know if your train turns up or not? In this case we’re not only talking about Dawn and I leaving Charu waiting in vain. In front of us in the queue to have our tickets refunded was a young girl desperately trying to find out how she was going to make it to Gatwick now in time for her flight home.

Shame on me for making Charu wait in vain and for even beginning to think that I could rely on the train, and shame on British public transport for an abysmal service that is getting worse and yet more expensive by the day!

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