Me.
It goes like this:
Leave house at 08:50. Arrive station (Yatton) 09.31, buy ticket, look for train (09:40). Train does not exist. Next train is 09:56, but is stopping service and will make me late with the ticket I have. Get food and coffee from station cafe, go to ticket office, get refund on ticket to Temple Meads and get new ticket to Filton Abbey Wood. Am told train is quite full. Train arrives, with one carriage, no chance of boarding with a bike. At this point it becomes clear that trying to use the train was a mistake, cycling the whole way would have been quicker. Next train is 10:23, and they assure me it will have multiple carriages. Another cyclist arrives and he nearly doesn't get on, but when he points out that he has connections, she relents. I'm expecting to arrive at work at 11.10 or so now, about 40 minutes late. Train makes its way to Temple Meads, getting fuller, and mostly empties there. There it sits. And sits. No information is provided. The departure board continually shows an ETD about 2 minutes in the past. Then 'delayed'. Then back to 2 minutes in the past. Eventually someone appears and tells us the train is waiting for carriages to join. I hope the irony of this isn't lost on the reader. The delay continues. Then we're told that if we are going to intermediate stations (raises hand) the train will now not be stopping at any of them due to the delay. There is another train expected at 11.21. Quick mental calculation (it's now 11.07) tells me that cycling the rest of the way to work will be quicker, and I make my escape. I arrive at work at 11.33.
This is a new record for my commute. For comparison:
Motorbike 41->47 minutes.
Car 50-80 minutes (mostly under 60).
Cycling 90-105 minutes, typically 95.
Bike + train 95-165 minutes.
I only really chose to use the train because I'm recovering from a cold and haven't had that many miles this year. Not a good move.
