MobileRead Forums - View Single Post

Rumpelteazer · 09-15-2016, 03:41 AM

My sister and I went to Bruges on Sunday, I had booked the train tickets on the international website of the Dutch Railway (NS) and had loaded the tickets into the app on my phone. One of the options in the app is to switch on alerts in case there are any delays or problems on your route, which I had switched on.

On Sunday we leave early for the train station because we wanted to buy sandwiches and snacks for the 4 hour journey. Before we left I checked the international app and according to it there were no problems. However, when we got to the station we see on that there is planned maintenance on our route to Rotterdam and that about three quarters of the journey had to be done by bus. This adds about half an hour to our journey, which would mean we would miss our connecting train to Antwerp. Luckily we're early and we just catch the earlier train to Rotterdam. We should arrive around 10.44am and should easily make the 11.08 train to Antwerp.

At Woerden we get off train and in the bus. Our bus driver drives very slowly and he must have set his GPS to "small car" and not "big bus" because just before we reach the station he turns into a residential area with very narrow streets and gets stuck in a tight bend. With the help of some bystanders he manages to reverse out of the bend and slowly back out of the street. This all takes over 15 minutes and add to that he had to figure out how to drive from the station from there we arrived at Rotterdam Station at 11.09am. One minute after our train left.

We had two options from there: wait 59 minutes for the next train or go to a different station to get a train to Antwerp from there. The latter would be quicker, however, on that route there was also maintenance with a replacing bus service. We didn't want to risk that so we waited for nearly an hour. All in all it the train trip took 90 minutes longer and we were an hour later at the hotel. It also caused a lot of stress, having to quickly find out what we had to do to make our connections and what the alternatives were.

You would think that the international app would also list maintenance and alternative routes. For next time I know I should also check the regular app to see if there are any problems.

09-15-2016, 03:41 AM	#28659
Rumpelteazer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,365 Karma: 27919658 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Utrecht, the Netherlands Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature Edition	My sister and I went to Bruges on Sunday, I had booked the train tickets on the international website of the Dutch Railway (NS) and had loaded the tickets into the app on my phone. One of the options in the app is to switch on alerts in case there are any delays or problems on your route, which I had switched on. On Sunday we leave early for the train station because we wanted to buy sandwiches and snacks for the 4 hour journey. Before we left I checked the international app and according to it there were no problems. However, when we got to the station we see on that there is planned maintenance on our route to Rotterdam and that about three quarters of the journey had to be done by bus. This adds about half an hour to our journey, which would mean we would miss our connecting train to Antwerp. Luckily we're early and we just catch the earlier train to Rotterdam. We should arrive around 10.44am and should easily make the 11.08 train to Antwerp. At Woerden we get off train and in the bus. Our bus driver drives very slowly and he must have set his GPS to "small car" and not "big bus" because just before we reach the station he turns into a residential area with very narrow streets and gets stuck in a tight bend. With the help of some bystanders he manages to reverse out of the bend and slowly back out of the street. This all takes over 15 minutes and add to that he had to figure out how to drive from the station from there we arrived at Rotterdam Station at 11.09am. One minute after our train left. We had two options from there: wait 59 minutes for the next train or go to a different station to get a train to Antwerp from there. The latter would be quicker, however, on that route there was also maintenance with a replacing bus service. We didn't want to risk that so we waited for nearly an hour. All in all it the train trip took 90 minutes longer and we were an hour later at the hotel. It also caused a lot of stress, having to quickly find out what we had to do to make our connections and what the alternatives were. You would think that the international app would also list maintenance and alternative routes. For next time I know I should also check the regular app to see if there are any problems.