Rail booking and travel is a nightmare

silverlining48

Sounds absolutely dreadful. I am not tech either and my old iPhone is mostly used as a camera.

I am not tech savvy either, there are many older people who are not.
It does sound a nightmare now, booking a ticket and having to show this ‘ticket’ on an app to show you have it.Booking services will all be online in the near future and ticket offices a thing of the past, just as online banking is taking over and online shopping.
Oh it did used to be so easy, just strolling into a station and buying a ticket for the next train to wherever you wanted.
It is one of those things that is done for the convenience of the service and not the customer.

Sounds as if ScotRail isn't as bad as we thought... We are fortunate enough to live within walking distance of the station and so get (paper) tickets and sometimes reserve seats there. Usually we don't reserve seats as there is almost always an unreserved coach on which you can take your chance. Also if the type of train is changed at the last minute the reservations don't transfer and are just unavailable.

Chestnut

I haven't booked a train for some time but I always booked through Red Spotted Hanky. You need to set up an account but then you can always book through them. I believe some trains do not have reserved seats.
redspottedhanky.com/

Thanks Chestnut. I used to book through the Trainline but swapped when this got more difficult with printing tickets. Cross Country is going the same way. It’s especially bad if you use the App! The train I booked asked me to book seats!

Anyway thank you for the suggestion

I haven't booked a train for some time but I always booked through Red Spotted Hanky. You need to set up an account but then you can always book through them. I believe some trains do not have reserved seats.
redspottedhanky.com/

I can’t say I’m a technophobe but it’s really off putting. I wish someone would renationalise the railways. It couldn’t be any worse than it is now! Oh for the time when I could go to the station, buy a ticket and know exactly which one to buy. It’s choice gone made until you just want a paper ticket.

????

Sounds absolutely dreadful. I am not tech either and my old iPhone is mostly used as a camera.

I'm 80. I only travel on a train with my son now as booking a trip for myself is a nightmare and has had me in tears. I am lucky that my son realises this and sorts everything for me.

I’m a complete technophobe and wouldn’t know how to do that. I’m sure a lot of people my age are even more technically inept than I am.