I'd rather drivers could concentrate on driving or have the full time value of their personal needs break without answering queries like this. There are plenty of other channels away from train cabs where answers can be sought. I'm not really sure of the benefit of having drivers in uniform as it just invites this sort of exchange.

https://www.network-railcard.co.uk/help/railcard-terms-conditions/

Travel was after 10.00... I can't see anything in the Network Railcard terms that relates to booked times.

I'd imagine even trendy bars would find a way to accept cash if you'd ordered a particularly large round and were unable to pay by card, but did have cash.

Identical to my experience at Stagecoach. They may as well not have bothered. Of course, if drivers don't have extra funds to help the company with, that increases the chance of the customer getting a change voucher and the next driver having to sort that out and pay that in. A better approach would have been for one of the clerical staff to go to the bank, get some change and give new starters a meaningful float.

...and some bus companies transferring the risk to the driver for counterfeit, foreign notes, chewed up tickets etc. by effectively making them use their own money as float.

Stagecoach's (singles) expire after 20 minutes. They used to give a discount on DayRiders etc. when using the app, but abolished that. I don't bother using their app to buy tickets anymore as there's no benefit to me. In a lot of areas Plusbus undercuts the equivalent day ticket and is valid on more operators if you've combined it with a rail ticket.

It took me a while in my working life to work out Human Resources were generally management sycophants (despite the friendly propaganda).
Just out of interest, if the announcement about the buses being "safe" had come earlier would that have influenced your decision to buy a car?

Some employment contracts now state that merely being in a licenced premises in uniform is not allowed. That would rule out pub lunches (even if on soft drinks) or cafes that sell the occasional bottle of beer. I guess in winter a zip up jacket would help avoid detection!

Reminded me of the occasion when standing on the platform at Gatwick. Train pulls in, doors open; "is this the North Terminal?"... "No, but you'll be wanting to get off!".

If you abolish railcards and implement that in a revenue neutral way, does the holder of a freshly purchased 3-year railcard continue to get (further) discounts or (like the Covid era) you say, hard luck it's effectively expired early? Perhaps they could be refunded pro-rata at the cut-over date?

The railcards' situation is something that could realistically be tackled; perhaps all the currently available ones consolidated into a National Railcard (to the benefit of the 31-59 age group that aren't covered by the area specific/other qualifying criteria railcards). I know other suggestions have been put forward on old forum threads, but implementing them should be "easier" in the short term than sorting out the fares database.

I don't think there's any need for it. TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) should advertise the fact more that if your connection(s) into a long distance leg are delayed, you can get the next one anyway. Just amend the T&Cs for the current advances to say you can travel 70 minutes earlier if desired or allow guards/TMs^‡(resolve) to use discretion. A significant cohort of people do actually respect the advance conditions and are concerned about missing their booked train that they turn up early enough to catch the previous one.

One thing to be careful of is Trainline routinely splitting journeys after a one-time prompt about offering "split-save". At this prompt it does explain about the need for the train to call at the splitting stations, but then after that there's no reminder.

For walk up tickets, if the spit ticket the Trainline offers only allows a subset of trains to be used then the comparison Which is making is not entirely fair.

...as an aside I needed some tyres quickly the other day, I ended up paying about 1/3 more than I would have done online. I don't think it's totally unreasonable for the same product to be priced differently depending on the sales channel.

...and another Mr H who tells that Mr H that he can't have any more money.

First day after the blockade East of Guildford, and, an utter shambles of a service; "due to more trains than usual needing repairs" or "shortage of train crew". At one point there was a 90 minute gap in the service due to the cancellations (apologies to grahame who is used to this sort of thing baked into the timetable at Melksham, but the NDL is meant to be 2tph). The businesses* I was intending to visit missed out as a result.

*pubs