As the year enters its final fortnight and my thoughts turn to visiting family and friends over the holiday period, I can’t help but reflect how terrible a year it’s been for public transport in the UK.

With the possible exception of doing Edinburgh and back from London, I can barely think of a single train journey in 2023 which was unaffected by:

  • Strikes
  • The booked train being cancelled
  • Crew being late
  • People on the line

Despite all of which, the price of a ticket keeps climbing. So with apologies to Greta, I suspect I’ll be using the car much more next year. Especially since the M6 toll are finally rolling out ANPR.

It’s not all been bad news - the £2 bus fares are nice on the rare occasions I want to use the bus - but for most of us in Oxford, it’s cycle or walk. The cars clog up the roads so badly that busses at peak times pretty much don’t work.

Here’s hoping for a better 2024, but for a lot of journeys, the trains have pretty much shot their last bolt with me.