I’ve been looking into getting back from Luton Airport to the East Midlands
via the MML. There are two of us travelling. If our plane lands on time we
can use a super off peak. A delay will push us into off peak or even
anytime tickets. Even with a two together rail card an airport taxi is a
couple of quid cheaper than off peak and very much cheaper than anytime.
For obvious reasons, an Advance is not a sensible option. Something is
wrong when being chauffeur driven by taxi is a more viable option. (And
there’s little risk of the taxi firm going on strike)

On 15/03/2024 18:17, Tweed wrote:
> I’ve been looking into getting back from Luton Airport to the East Midlands
> via the MML. There are two of us travelling. If our plane lands on time we
> can use a super off peak. A delay will push us into off peak or even
> anytime tickets. Even with a two together rail card an airport taxi is a
> couple of quid cheaper than off peak and very much cheaper than anytime.
> For obvious reasons, an Advance is not a sensible option. Something is
> wrong when being chauffeur driven by taxi is a more viable option. (And
> there’s little risk of the taxi firm going on strike)

It looks to me as if East Midlands Railway has totally lost interest in taking people from Luton Airport to anywhere in the East Midlands or vice-versa. Until recently there were hourly direct trains to Leicester and Nottingham and easy changes to reach Derby and Sheffield. Now there are no through trains except the odd one very late at night, so almost all passengers have to make a difficult change at Kettering. That may explain why they have also priced themselves out of the market. Except that is may well be micro-management by the DfT that's really to blame.

--
Clive Page

Clive Page <usenet@page2.eu> wrote:
> On 15/03/2024 18:17, Tweed wrote:
>> I’ve been looking into getting back from Luton Airport to the East Midlands
>> via the MML. There are two of us travelling. If our plane lands on time we
>> can use a super off peak. A delay will push us into off peak or even
>> anytime tickets. Even with a two together rail card an airport taxi is a
>> couple of quid cheaper than off peak and very much cheaper than anytime.
>> For obvious reasons, an Advance is not a sensible option. Something is
>> wrong when being chauffeur driven by taxi is a more viable option. (And
>> there’s little risk of the taxi firm going on strike)
>
> It looks to me as if East Midlands Railway has totally lost interest in
> taking people from Luton Airport to anywhere in the East Midlands or
> vice-versa. Until recently there were hourly direct trains to Leicester
> and Nottingham and easy changes to reach Derby and Sheffield. Now there
> are no through trains except the odd one very late at night, so almost
> all passengers have to make a difficult change at Kettering. That may
> explain why they have also priced themselves out of the market. Except
> that is may well be micro-management by the DfT that's really to blame.
>
>

I don’t mind the Kettering change, and I can see the logic behind the
arrangements. For one thing it keeps the short distance commuters off the
long distance trains. It’s just the pricing on the MML that seems high,
especially compared to the adjacent main lines.

This is another reason I would not consider rail for a long journey.

"Gang of suitcase snatchers targeted North-east LNER rail passengers
stealing £14k of luggage"

No security for your luggage unless you can remain in contact with it.

On 16/03/2024 18:29, JMB99 wrote:
> This is another reason I would not consider rail for a long journey.
>
> "Gang of suitcase snatchers targeted North-east LNER rail passengers
> stealing £14k of luggage"
>
> No security for your luggage unless you can remain in contact with it.
>
You are safe, they were targetting women with expensive tastes.
--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

On 16/03/2024 17:53, Tweed wrote:
> I don’t mind the Kettering change, and I can see the logic behind the
> arrangements. For one thing it keeps the short distance commuters off the
> long distance trains. It’s just the pricing on the MML that seems high,
> especially compared to the adjacent main lines.

MML has, for at least the last 10 years, had high prices. When I lived
in Leicester (south side) it was far cheaper, and easier, to drive to
Rugby to catch the train to London. Travel time by car to either station
car park was similar, but Leicester was £8.50 a day against Rugbys £3.
The fares were nearly always half price on the WCML compared to the MML,
probably due to no competition on the MML.

In message <l5m1atFs4otU1@mid.individual.net>, at 16:57:01 on Sat, 16
Mar 2024, Clive Page <usenet@page2.eu> remarked:
>On 15/03/2024 18:17, Tweed wrote:
>> I’ve been looking into getting back from Luton Airport to the East Midlands
>> via the MML. There are two of us travelling. If our plane lands on time we
>> can use a super off peak. A delay will push us into off peak or even
>> anytime tickets. Even with a two together rail card an airport taxi is a
>> couple of quid cheaper than off peak and very much cheaper than anytime.
>> For obvious reasons, an Advance is not a sensible option. Something is
>> wrong when being chauffeur driven by taxi is a more viable option. (And
>> there’s little risk of the taxi firm going on strike)
>
>It looks to me as if East Midlands Railway has totally lost interest in
>taking people from Luton Airport to anywhere in the East Midlands or
>vice-versa.

I'd argue with your tense. When i was doing that trip fairly often
twenty years ago, it was just a dire.

>Until recently there were hourly direct trains to Leicester and
>Nottingham and easy changes to reach Derby and Sheffield. Now there
>are no through trains except the odd one very late at night,

That's partly an unintended consequence of re-opening the Corby branch.

>so almost all passengers have to make a difficult change at Kettering.

What's difficult - awkward stairs or too short a time?

>That may explain why they have also priced themselves out of the
>market. Except that is may well be micro-management by the DfT that's
>really to blame.

It's been the case for decades that they price tickets at Luton for
the London commuter market. Like GNER of old, they despise local
people making local trips on their precious InterCity trains. (See St
Albanisation)

I expect splitting at Kettering (which I did before it became a thing)
will reduce the price noticeably.
--
Roland Perry

In message <ut4sgs$3237k$1@dont-email.me>, at 19:39:07 on Sat, 16 Mar
2024, Alan Lee <alan@darkroom.plus.com> remarked:
>On 16/03/2024 17:53, Tweed wrote:
>> I don’t mind the Kettering change, and I can see the logic behind the
>> arrangements. For one thing it keeps the short distance commuters off the
>> long distance trains. It’s just the pricing on the MML that seems high,
>> especially compared to the adjacent main lines.
>
>MML has, for at least the last 10 years, had high prices. When I lived
>in Leicester (south side) it was far cheaper, and easier, to drive to
>Rugby to catch the train to London. Travel time by car to either
>station car park was similar, but Leicester was £8.50 a day against
>Rugbys £3.

>The fares were nearly always half price on the WCML compared to the
>MML, probably due to no competition on the MML.

From Nottingham it was always cheaper (not half the price though) and no
slower, to get a "via Grantham" ticket to London.
--
Roland Perry

On Fri, 15 Mar 2024 18:17:07 -0000 (UTC), Tweed
<usenet.tweed@gmail.com> wrote:

>I’ve been looking into getting back from Luton Airport to the East Midlands
>via the MML. There are two of us travelling. If our plane lands on time we
>can use a super off peak. A delay will push us into off peak or even
>anytime tickets. Even with a two together rail card an airport taxi is a
>couple of quid cheaper than off peak and very much cheaper than anytime.
>For obvious reasons, an Advance is not a sensible option. Something is
>wrong when being chauffeur driven by taxi is a more viable option. (And
>there’s little risk of the taxi firm going on strike)

If you qualify for a bus pass register with Luton Council for free
travel on the DART: https://www.lutondart.com/concessions/
(And when I wanted to go to Luton recently, to photograph the DART,
the fare from Leicester was cheaper to Luton Airport Parkway than it
was to Luton, and the ticket split was at Market Harborough.)

On 17/03/2024 03:27, Roland Perry wrote:
>> so almost all passengers have to make a difficult change at Kettering.
>
> What's difficult - awkward stairs or too short a time?

I've only done it once or twice, but it's always a change of platform, and from a look at the timetable some changes are very tight, others leave one hanging around for ages in Kettering. That is, it's not designed as a good place to change.

> I expect splitting at Kettering (which I did before it became a thing) will reduce the price noticeably.

I found that splitting at Market Harborough was often better. I was told by somebody that this is because Market Harborough was many years ago an interchange with LNER services going up to Norfolk, and the ticket anomalies had persisted.

--
Clive Page

In message <l5op7lFb2veU1@mid.individual.net>, at 17:57:09 on Sun, 17
Mar 2024, Clive Page <usenet@page2.eu> remarked:
>On 17/03/2024 03:27, Roland Perry wrote:
>>> so almost all passengers have to make a difficult change at Kettering.
>> What's difficult - awkward stairs or too short a time?
>
>I've only done it once or twice, but it's always a change of platform,
>and from a look at the timetable some changes are very tight, others
>leave one hanging around for ages in Kettering. That is, it's not
>designed as a good place to change.
>
>
>> I expect splitting at Kettering (which I did before it became a
>>thing) will reduce the price noticeably.
>
>I found that splitting at Market Harborough was often better. I was
>told by somebody that this is because Market Harborough was many years
>ago an interchange with LNER services going up to Norfolk, and the
>ticket anomalies had persisted.

Latterly I used Market Harborough as a railhead, driving there from the
Nottingham suburbs. Especially when they started stopping all the trains
there, which wasn't for the convenience of passengers, but because
they'd pared back the catering crews who shuttled from St Pancras.

The best place to split tickets from Nottingham was where-ever the most
"out" outboundary Travelcard was available from, which I think for at
least a while was Kettering.
--
Roland Perry