Bicycles on Cross Country

[181]

Can anyone answer some questions about taking bikes on XC's Voyager routes, in particular Leamington Spa to Oxford? It's quite a long time since I last took a bike on XC, or indeed any train requiring a reservation for it; I'm asking partly on behalf of a colleague who would find it useful to be able to take his bike with him on his approximately-weekly commute, and partly for my own future reference.

1) Which booking website(s) is/are best for bookings including a bike reservation?
2) XC's website says that each train has 2 reservable bike spaces and one non-reservable. Given that most trains are currently formed of two Voyager units, is the system sophisticated enough to offer 4 reservable spaces per train, or are all the spaces in the second unit unreservable, or what?
3) If you have a bike reservation, does it tell you which coach it's in?
4) If the answer to 2) is that spaces can only be reserved in one unit, is there any pattern to which unit it is, so cyclists without reservations know to try the other one?
5) Is there any information on which trains on this route _aren't_ double Voyagers, or a way of finding out about short-formed trains on the day?
6) Does anyone have any experience of how easy is it to fit a 3rd bike onto a Voyager, or to unload a bike at your destination if the other bikes are going further?

I realise that Chiltern + GW with a change at Banbury is an alternative, but it might be too slow, or wrongly timed, for a commuting journey, or fall foul of Chiltern's peak hour bike restrictions (plus I see on another thread that some Banbury stoppers are to be worked by IETs and so will presumably need bike reservations).

 

[Techniquest]

Can anyone answer some questions about taking bikes on XC's Voyager routes, in particular Leamington Spa to Oxford? It's quite a long time since I last took a bike on XC, or indeed any train requiring a reservation for it; I'm asking partly on behalf of a colleague who would find it useful to be able to take his bike with him on his approximately-weekly commute, and partly for my own future reference.

1) Which booking website(s) is/are best for bookings including a bike reservation?
2) XC's website says that each train has 2 reservable bike spaces and one non-reservable. Given that most trains are currently formed of two Voyager units, is the system sophisticated enough to offer 4 reservable spaces per train, or are all the spaces in the second unit unreservable, or what?
3) If you have a bike reservation, does it tell you which coach it's in?
4) If the answer to 2) is that spaces can only be reserved in one unit, is there any pattern to which unit it is, so cyclists without reservations know to try the other one?
5) Is there any information on which trains on this route _aren't_ double Voyagers, or a way of finding out about short-formed trains on the day?
6) Does anyone have any experience of how easy is it to fit a 3rd bike onto a Voyager, or to unload a bike at your destination if the other bikes are going further?

I realise that Chiltern + GW with a change at Banbury is an alternative, but it might be too slow, or wrongly timed, for a commuting journey, or fall foul of Chiltern's peak hour bike restrictions (plus I see on another thread that some Banbury stoppers are to be worked by IETs and so will presumably need bike reservations).

First of all, before I answer with my limited experience of cycles on XC, I apologise for the delay in my reply, I read this late on Saturday and I was far too tired to reply. Similar problem yesterday, it's been a busy weekend! Hopefully you and your colleague will find this information useful still

1) I made my cycle reservations for use on XC with my tickets on the GWR app (Nectar points are most welcome, hence the GWR app), I don't think there's any really awesome methods for doing it to be honest!

2) Honestly, I'm not sure how it works for sure with paired-up Voyagers, but yes each Voyager's Coach D (obviously it'll be allocated a different letter in a pair on one of the sets) has a twin space for reservations and one not reservable. However, be forewarned that the spaces are of a worse design than on IETs, and that is really saying something! I struggled very badly to get my cycle in any space, and it was thankfully completely empty when I travelled. I just about, kind of, managed to get my cycle in one of the spaces, with difficulty, and how it would have worked if someone else had a cycle in there I have no idea!

3) Yes indeed, you will find that cycle reservations come on their own tickets. One to be attached to the cycle (not that most people do that) and one to be kept by the passenger. Both parts will list the usual details such as origin, destination, journey time etc as well as the coach the cycle space is in.

4) I've not yet endured this issue, after my experience of cycles on Voyagers I've not rushed to book again. Not a bad thing considering XC fares!

5) I think JourneyCheck is a feature that XC use, but the more accurate and easier way would be to use the detailed mode on Real Time Trains which will list the formation, unit numbers and where First Class etc is. It's not always totally accurate with the orientation of the trains, but it's better than nothing. You might even get the relevant information mentioned in an announcement. At Oxford, the PIS screens show things like First Class, cycle space and disabled space on the diagram thing on the screen, I don't know what Leamington Spa uses but it could be the same screens which are quite good.

6) This is the important bit. I found it very challenging to load my cycle onto a Voyager. That was with no other cycles in the area. I ride a Ridgeback Speed, which is a touring cycle basically. No bigger than your average cycle, and easier to load onto a train on average than a mountain bike. If your colleague uses an e-bike, then I'd absolutely not waste my time on XC. If they already struggle with getting their cycle onto an IET, then I advise avoiding XC. I don't know what size bike the Voyagers were designed to take, but mine definitely did not fit in easily. Fortunately I was only doing Birmingham to Derby and back, so it wasn't on for long, and no-one else wanted to use the space, but if others had already got their cycle in there or wanted to use it after me, I'd have had a worse experience.

Personally, my advice is to check the Chiltern cycle loading times. I actually don't know what they are myself, I've never travelled on Chiltern with my cycle. I used to hate putting my cycle onto an IET, but I now much prefer it to travelling with XC. It's still a challenge mind, and if someone's taken up the entire bike space with a huge folding e-bike (with very wide tyres), as I found on my last GWR journey last Monday, then it's still no fun!

The hooks on Voyagers to hang a cycle on, they're fine as they're quite large so they don't cause the same difficulty with loading as on GWR IETs, but the space is just not big enough.

 

[181]

Thankyou @Techniquest, that's useful.

I did take a bike on one return journey by Voyager once, but it was quite some years ago now (it was since the bike spaces were moved to their current location where the shop used to be, though). My (indistinct) recollection is that the space was somewhat awkward, but that I got the bike in OK. I haven't taken a bike on an IET yet -- fortunately my local route is served by 387s.

 

[Techniquest]

Depending on what you ride, you might have very little or no issue loading your cycle onto an IET. I did with my own Apollo Phaze, back in 2020, as the IET spaces are not made for mountain bikes. My current cycle has much narrower wheels than that one though, so while it takes some effort to hook it up it does go on there with a lot less difficulty than I used to have.

I should hopefully have a couple of relevant photos from an IET to demonstrate this, if so they will be attached below. I don't think I bothered with such a thing on my trip to Derbyshire (off-topic thought, but doesn't Derbyshire look beautiful for cycling?) but it has to be said the best cycle space I've used so far is that found on the GWR GTi HSTs.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

IETs are horrible for anything that isn’t a road bike: I suffered £150 of damage to my gravel bike after someone rammed another bike into the space next to it.

On CrossCountry, you can usually fit a bike in the luggage compartment immediately beyond the bike racks if you have to. Strictly unofficial, of course.