A day's work in London presented a dilemna as I wanted to test out the Oyster card First Class travel offer on LondonMidland (see http://birmingham2london.blogspot.com/2010/06/cheap-return-travel-from-london-26-june.html). Catch the 0745 Chiltern service from Snow Hill and split the fare at Haddenham & Thame Parkway (£36 - see http://birmingham2london.blogspot.com/2010/06/chiltern-fares.html) or hope that a Virgin Advance single fare would be available on Pendolinos arriving before 10am.
Amazingly, checking on the Thursday morning, I found a £28 standard advance fare on the 0830 Pendolino and, better still, was able to book a table seat (giving me access to a socket!) Interestingly, if I could have caught the 8.50, I would have travelled First Class for £44 - a bargain when you consider it includes a full breakfast, free WiFi, and access to the First Class lounges at both ends of the journey.
The 0830 starts from New Street so was sitting waiting for me when I arrived at 0815 off my Plusbus connection (another hidden bargain: £2.20 unlimited bus travel in the West Midlands compared to the walk-on nbus fare of £3.70). Friendly staff with amusing announcements made the journey very pleasant, especially with the shop being very convenient for my table. Used the £5 WiFi connection for an hour: adequate without being brilliant - the upload speed wasn't sufficient for me to upload files to my websites...
On time arrival in Platform 1 at Euston as I have come to expect...
No problem buying the Oyster offer ticket at the LondonMidland booth on the concourse. The 18.13, which is LondonMidland's fastest train of the day from London at 123 minutes, was sitting in Euston's other extremity platform (18) and formed of 12 coaches. Walked up the train to the front 4 coaches so as to be sure to be on the through portion and found First Class reasonably busy but by no means full. No table available but the drop-down table on the airline seats is actually adequate for a laptop and of course there are sockets.
Departure was on time as was arrival in New Street. The ride was very good but the facilities even for First Class are minimal: no refreshments for a start! However, the train was clean and the loos fine so for £30 return, can one complain? Well, Chiltern offer virtually the equivalent level of comfort, speed, and facilities for their standard class passengers at almost the same walk-on fare day in day out...
Finally, the lack of revenue protection surprised me: no check on boarding at Euston, no on-board check, and, as ever, no check on leaving at New Street's Victoria Square exit. It's a good job that most of the travelling public are honest, and that most standard class passengers remain happy to take the accommodation offered for their fare... Even so, LondonMidland do need to up their game as they have admitted to Barry Doe in the latest Rail magazine (649 due out on Wednesday 28th July).
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