{"id":5379,"date":"2014-10-30T08:00:16","date_gmt":"2014-10-30T08:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/?p=5379"},"modified":"2017-01-31T20:21:52","modified_gmt":"2017-01-31T20:21:52","slug":"dreaming-of-a-better-commute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwilson.co.uk\/blog\/2014\/10\/dreaming-of-a-better-commute.htm","title":{"rendered":"Dreaming of a better commute"},"content":{"rendered":"

Travelling in and out of London this week for the course I’ve been attending<\/a> has reminded me why working from home (mostly) is a huge blessing. At least 4 hours’ travel a day for a relatively simple 60-mile commute? No thank you!<\/p>\n

I did, however,\u00a0use two different routes with contrasting experiences and that made me think – why does it have to be this way? And what might it be like one day?<\/p>\n

Commute route 1: Olney to\u00a0London via Bedford (Thameslink<\/a>\/East Midlands Trains<\/a>)<\/h3>\n

After driving to Bedford and finding a space in the car park (not always easy), the next question was where are the ticket machines? The option to pay and display with optional mobile phone\/SMS\/app payment seems to have been replaced by a system to pay as you leave the car park on foot (albeit with an optional mobile app). It uses ANPR to recognise my car but the user interface is confusing and there’s no option for contactless payment (surely a perfect use case for fast commodity transactions like this?). At \u00a37.90 for a day’s parking (when the only reason you would ever park there is to catch a train!), it’s expensive too.<\/p>\n

I pity whoever parks in this “space” in the official @TLRailUK<\/a> car park at Bedford station! Motorbikes only? pic.twitter.com\/PZFbzgaewi<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mark Wilson (@markwilsonit) October 29, 2014<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n