On 22 May 2006 06:15:55 -0700, "John B" wrote:

2) BA to Schiphol. An hour late arriving. Surly service, no apology for
delays. I wish through tickets on the E* and Thalys didn't cost
£300...

You can sometimes save a fair chunk on the Continent by getting
separate tickets for the Eurostar and non-Eurostar legs, especially if
you can find a cheap ticket for the foreign leg (eg a Prems ticket in
France).

Or you could get the "One" stations - NS stations ticket via the ferry
for GBP25, which isn't as silly as it sounds.

4) Trams are good. Having ticket machines onboard is a brilliant idea
and I wish TfL would add them to the bendybuses. Overall (and
uncontroversially), Amsterdam's public transport system is one of the
best I've ever used. Haven't tried the underground, though.

It is fairly grim, like many European metros.


--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

In message .com, at
09:20:51 on Mon, 22 May 2006, John B remarked:
OTOH, the EUR35 penalty fare is roughly equivalent to the cost of an
SOS on HEx or StEx, so the only difference from the tourist's PoV is a
bit of being-shouted-at-by-grumpy-Nederlander.

If you think £15 (HEx) is the same as EUR35, then I have a number of
£15's here that I'd be happy to exchange for your EUR35's.
--
Roland Perry

On 22 May 2006 06:15:55 -0700, John B
wrote in .com:

4) Trams are good. Having ticket machines onboard is a brilliant idea
and I wish TfL would add them to the bendybuses.

I had cause to use Geneva's Route 28 fron Hôpital de la Tour to
L'Aéroport twice recently, and was amazed to find the buses equipped with
a ticket machine onboard. I don't know what it's like beyond Aéroport but
there are only two demand stops without ticket machines on the stretch I
travelled (Grand Hangar and ICC, IIRC) and I've rarely seen people board
there on the 28 or the 18. Something to keep in mind if you're running
to catch a plane and the 28 pulls up before you've had a chance to buy
your ticket, though.

--
Ivan Reid, Electronic & Computer Engineering, ___ CMS Collaboration,
Brunel University. ] Room 40-1-B12, CERN

In message .com, at
09:32:13 on Mon, 22 May 2006, Neil Williams
remarked:
I dunno, but from conversations overheard on the train I get the
impression that a lot of tourists dodge the Schiphol-Centraal fare;
either because the machines defeat them, or they "genuinely" think they
can buy a ticket on the train.

There aren't obvious notices stating that you can't on display, and
it's accepted UK practice that unless there is a barrier check or
penalty fare scheme (the latter being well-publicised in most cases)
that it is acceptable to pay on the train so long as you want a
full-fare single, just as it is in Germany (with a surcharge).

There's always the ticket office at Schiphol (though there is a small
surcharge).

All this suggests to me that while NS is operationally very efficient,
it is highly customer-unfriendly.

I agree that the ticket machines are unfriendly in terms of payment
method. But they *do* have instructions in English to get a ticket to
Centraal/Schiphol - that's a lot better than most systems; does a LUL
ticket machine at Heathrow have instructions in Dutch??

Notices about the penalty fare (EUR35) are entirely absent - at least
English ones are, I can't read the Dutch signs. Once again, when did you
last see a Dutch sign about penalty fares in London?
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 20:10:08 on
Mon, 22 May 2006, Arthur Figgis ] remarked:
Amsterdam's public transport system is one of the
best I've ever used. Haven't tried the underground, though.

It is fairly grim, like many European metros.

And not much of it is underground.
--
Roland Perry

In message , at 19:37:03 on
Mon, 22 May 2006, Dr Ivan D. Reid remarked:
I had cause to use Geneva's Route 28 fron Hôpital de la Tour to
L'Aéroport twice recently, and was amazed to find the buses equipped with
a ticket machine onboard.

Are those the bendy trolley buses? Almost as good as trams.
--
Roland Perry

"Cheeky" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 22 May 2006 17:52:11 +0100, (A.Lee) wrote:

Roland Perry wrote:

In message , at 16:49:19 on
Mon, 22 May 2006, A.Lee remarked:
I bought 2 adults and 1 child ticket (it is 16yo in the uk before adult
prices).

What's the age in Holland?

4 - 11yo for child fares.
This Country isnt bad at all if you have children, compared to that.
Alan.

That can't be right - I thought everything PT-related in the UK was
worse than mainland Europe!


At least they don't have penalty fares going to non-addresses or
non-identities... I wonder how much this is in the UK this happens?

"Arthur Figgis" ] wrote in message
...
On 22 May 2006 06:15:55 -0700, "John B" wrote:

2) BA to Schiphol. An hour late arriving. Surly service, no apology for
delays. I wish through tickets on the E* and Thalys didn't cost
£300...

You can sometimes save a fair chunk on the Continent by getting
separate tickets for the Eurostar and non-Eurostar legs, especially if
you can find a cheap ticket for the foreign leg (eg a Prems ticket in
France).

Or you could get the "One" stations - NS stations ticket via the ferry
for GBP25, which isn't as silly as it sounds.


Or even Any Belgian Station from Eurostar... say to either Antwerpen or
Luik/Liege and continue your journey onto North or Middle or South
Netherlands happily... thats how I prefer it. The Stenna gets full at
certain times like School Holidays and I can well do without that
headache....

On Mon, 22 May 2006 20:41:20 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:

I agree that the ticket machines are unfriendly in terms of payment
method. But they *do* have instructions in English to get a ticket to
Centraal/Schiphol - that's a lot better than most systems; does a LUL
ticket machine at Heathrow have instructions in Dutch??

There are probably so few Dutch people who don't speak perfect English
that's its not worth bothering with :-)

Notices about the penalty fare (EUR35) are entirely absent - at least
English ones are, I can't read the Dutch signs. Once again, when did you
last see a Dutch sign about penalty fares in London?

FWIW, there are, or at least were, a handful of road signs in Hull in
Dutch (or possibly Flemish. Or perhaps really bad German).
--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On Mon, 22 May 2006 21:35:42 +0100, Paul Ebbens wrote:
"Arthur Figgis" ] wrote in message
Or you could get the "One" stations - NS stations ticket via the ferry
for GBP25, which isn't as silly as it sounds.

Or even Any Belgian Station from Eurostar... say to either Antwerpen or
Luik/Liege and continue your journey onto North or Middle or South
Netherlands happily... thats how I prefer it.

Note that you only need a new ticket from Essen or Visé (it doesn't
matter if the train stops there or not). If you buy a new ticket from
Antwerp or Liège, you're paying too much...

Regards,

Rian

--
Rian van der Borgt, Leuven, Belgium.
e-mail: www: http://www.evonet.be/~rvdborgt/