What is the situation concerning bikes on trains?
Since the railways have been privatised, the entire British rail system has become extremely fragmented. As a result, so have the conditions regarding carriage of cycles. Different TOCs (Train Operating Companies) have different rules, although a few general guidelines exist: * Reservations must be made in advance, so you need to know what train you’re travelling on. Usually, a ‘cycle fee’ of three pounds must be paid. This does not give you the right to travel with your bike. A fee made must be paid for each complete trip, not each *leg* of the journey (eg. if you have to change trains twice, you still only pay three pounds) – Carriage of a bicycle on a train is at the guards discretion. All that said, a great many operators (mostly PTEs, Strathclyde in particular) still carry bikes for free. * Space on certain trains will be limited. Most provincial trains are one or two-car multiple-units (‘Sprinters’) which nominally have space for two cycles (or one loaded bike, in my experience –