RWC 2015 - Rugby World Cup 2015 Travel Plans

Podge_irl

Trains anywhere East after the game are going to be a total disaster. I'm only planning on training to Cardiff, not from it.

nc6000

The setup in Cardiff sounds like a joke. That's why I'm only bothering with the two London games.

Jello

Does anyone know roughly what time the last train left Cardiff heading west towards Swansea after any of the matches? Think we'll be leaving it as late as possible to get the train after the France match in order to try and avoid the biggest crowds. And is there any advantage in pre-booking a ticket? I heard there isn't but would the queues not be massive for the ticket machines too? Thanks

xredmanlfcx

Jello wrote: »

Does anyone know roughly what time the last train left Cardiff heading west towards Swansea after any of the matches? Think we'll be leaving it as late as possible to get the train after the France match in order to try and avoid the biggest crowds. And is there any advantage in pre-booking a ticket? I heard there isn't but would the queues not be massive for the ticket machines too? Thanks

We waited 2.5 hrs after the Ireland match in Cardiff on the opening weekend and the same after the Welsh match the following day. Had a 2hr wait to get into the station after the Irish match and a 1 hr wait after the Wales match. We were heading for Bristol Temple Meads (worst queue) but the other queues were bad too.

As for tickets, they were never checked. You needed them for the machines on the outbound, but after the match you could have walked on. So I'm not saying not to buy a ticket but.....
Although I wasn't on the Swansea train... better safe than sorry! We had tickets.

sullivlo

Jello wrote: »

Does anyone know roughly what time the last train left Cardiff heading west towards Swansea after any of the matches? Think we'll be leaving it as late as possible to get the train after the France match in order to try and avoid the biggest crowds. And is there any advantage in pre-booking a ticket? I heard there isn't but would the queues not be massive for the ticket machines too? Thanks

Pre book a ticket for handiness (save having to queue in station - collect before the match / have return tickets) but don't be lulled into thinking "I have a reservation for the 8 o clock train, they have to let me on" because it doesn't work like that.

Fwiw I'd go to the station about 2 hours before the last train. Lots of people will queue for the last train (Irish mentality of staying for the craic ) so you don't want to get stranded in Cardiff sans accommodation. I'm sure there'll be craic to be had in Swansea.

Also there's an off licence and a supermarket beside the station. Do yourself a favour and get some cans and sambos for the journey. It'll fly then

Lucy8080

It seems that today ,Paddington to Cardiff was Problematic a.m. Cardiff central have re-organised their queuing system ,put on coaches (from the station) to Bristol Parkway ,increased park and ride facilities in Cardiff and have more stewards and signage to help.

The situation seems to have improved a little. I expect Ireland v France will test the new system.

I would recommend keeping updated with G.W.R. ,Arriva trains wales and "Wales on line" twitter accounts. Between those three you should have all the live updates and changes to schedules on match-days heading in and out of Cardiff by road or rail.

Babbling Brook

I have a spare hotel room in Cardiff on the Saturday night. Anyone interested please PM me

Agent Smith

Babbling Brook wrote: »

I have a spare hotel room in Cardiff on the Saturday night. Anyone interested please PM me

A/S/L :pac:

Podge_irl

Deleted User wrote: »

I've used http://www.taxicode.com/ before when getting a cab from Coventry to Manchester at 3am. Was very useful.

I've booked with them. If my taxi fails to show up I'm going to hunt you down emmet.

I've never even been to Coventry.

finbarrk

nc6000 wrote: »

The setup in Cardiff sounds like a joke. That's why I'm only bothering with the two London games.

Same here. Made that decision about a year ago! Coming from rail/train experiences at Previous Heineken Cup Finals.

vienne86

The set up in Cardiff seems to be pathetic. Honest to goodness, when they schedule big games for the Millenium stadium, they have a fair idea of the numbers who will need to get in and out, and could surel plan accordingly. I have only been there once - Heineken Cup final, and certainly the little airport was ill-equipped to deal with the volume of passengers. It's a real downside of travelling to matches there. - plus, while it is a great stadium, Cardiff itself didn't do much for me.

Podge_irl

vienne86 wrote: »

The set up in Cardiff seems to be pathetic. Honest to goodness, when they schedule big games for the Millenium stadium, they have a fair idea of the numbers who will need to get in and out, and could surel plan accordingly. I have only been there once - Heineken Cup final, and certainly the little airport was ill-equipped to deal with the volume of passengers. It's a real downside of travelling to matches there. - plus, while it is a great stadium, Cardiff itself didn't do much for me.

For all that it's a great stadium, Cardiff is simply not equipped to host large matches when Wales are not one of the teams playing. Cardiff doesn't have enough beds and the transport links are terrible.

adrian522

Especially when you have 4 teams vying for Saturday night accommodation, none of which are England or Wales, so looking at up to 160,000 people looking for transport and beds over that weekend. May have been better taking one of those QF's elsewhere, or taking one of the Group A QF's to Cardiff.

Michael D Not Higgins

adrian522 wrote: »

Especially when you have 4 teams vying for Saturday night accommodation, none of which are England or Wales, so looking at up to 160,000 people looking for transport and beds over that weekend. May have been better taking one of those QF's elsewhere, or taking one of the Group A QF's to Cardiff.

The party atmosphere in Cardiff for that weekend will be unreal though.

Podge_irl

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

The party atmosphere in Cardiff for that weekend will be unreal though.

Sure, except it's difficult to properly enjoy it when you know it might take 3 hours to get home.

finbarrk

Michael D Not Higgins wrote: »

The party atmosphere in Cardiff for that weekend will be unreal though.

Yeah, great craic queing for everything.

Michael D Not Higgins

Podge_irl wrote: »

Sure, except it's difficult to properly enjoy it when you know it might take 3 hours to get home.

Got taxis booked already

pc7

We booked a package last year for the QF weekend to ensure we had accommodation in Cardiff and tickets for the right QF. So glad now, we weren't gouged either as its flights, tixkets, transfers and hotel, reckon company can't be making that much on it. So glad now reading the horror stories.

murphyaii

andymx11 wrote: »

Has anyone who got Ireland - France tickets in the original ballot not got them yet? Everybody seems to have got theirs but me :-(

iane87

Got ours ages ago.

murphyaii

iane87 wrote: »

Got ours ages ago.

roll on next weekend.can't wait:):)

think we'll get the mega bus from bristol to cardiff and book a taxi back after the ireland v poland game in the evening after the rugby game.
bet a lot of people didn't know that was on as well:):)

iane87

ya I knew that was on. will bring the soccer jersey too!! I'm not a rugby or soccer head but I do follow both. went to the Euros in 2012, unreal atmosphere. 10 of are renting camper vans and we've booked caravan parks. its only way to do it for the 10 days. hotel prices are a joke! will head to London during the week to catch up with some friends while there's nothing happening.

endabob1

Jello wrote: »

Does anyone know roughly what time the last train left Cardiff heading west towards Swansea after any of the matches? Think we'll be leaving it as late as possible to get the train after the France match in order to try and avoid the biggest crowds. And is there any advantage in pre-booking a ticket? I heard there isn't but would the queues not be massive for the ticket machines too? Thanks

Think the last one runs around midnight
www.thetrainline.com


After Canada we had a fairly short queue to get into the station going that way but then waited over an hour for an actual train;


They have at least acknowledged the problems and are trying to correct them,
http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/sep/30/rugby-world-cup-transport-cardiff


I think Canada was particularly bad because of issues on the Paddington line, I know because 2 of us went west and 2 went east and the London bound delays were much worse.


Cardiff is still my favourite city to watch a game in though, great atmospheric stadium and loads of pubs around where there always seems to be a good time being had by all. The locals are knowledgeable and friendly.
I found Wembley all a bit too distant, massive stadium but can't get away from the feeling that it's just a massive stadium as opposed to a rugby ground, not as much craic around the place, although much easier to get out of after the game

fungie

Is anybody returning to Birmingham after the France match or returned to Birmingham after a match? Wondering if the ques will be as bad?

kuang1

2 Cat Bs in my basket for the final... £1,030...





(Not gonna buy them just marvelling at the fukking cost of them!!!)

lotmc

Managed to get 3 cat C tickets for the France game a few weeks back - pretty delighted. Then went looking at hotels and transport - ouch...

Went for the cheap option of flying Ryanair to East Midlands airport, out early Sunday and home very early Monday, and stay at Holiday Inn in East Midlands Airport, with car hire for the day. Its a 2 hour 40 minute drive to Cardiff. All these were surprisingly cheap (hotel £40, car hire £25, flights €50 each). Driving will be a bit of a pain but a financial no-brainer.

Just checked today and the flights that I paid €50 each for a few weeks ago are now costing €350 each, so a lot more fans must have taken this option, or else Ryanair are getting stuck in.

Anyway really looking forward to it.

vienne86

lotmc wrote: »

Managed to get 3 cat C tickets for the France game a few weeks back - pretty delighted. Then went looking at hotels and transport - ouch...

Went for the cheap option of flying Ryanair to East Midlands airport, out early Sunday and home very early Monday, and stay at Holiday Inn in East Midlands Airport, with car hire for the day. Its a 2 hour 40 minute drive to Cardiff. All these were surprisingly cheap (hotel £40, car hire £25, flights €50 each). Driving will be a bit of a pain but a financial no-brainer.

Just checked today and the flights that I paid €50 each for a few weeks ago are now costing €350 each, so a lot more fans must have taken this option, or else Ryanair are getting stuck in.

Anyway really looking forward to it.

We were a bit lethargic about booking flights after picking up the tickets for Sunday, but did OK - just looked at the price of flights on Sunday/Monday Dub-Stanstead....OMG!!! :eek:

S.M.B.

kuang1 wrote: »

2 Cat Bs in my basket for the final... £1,030...





(Not gonna buy them just marvelling at the fukking cost of them!!!)

Hmmmm, I was bashing away at the computer trying to get done but to no avail.

Kept at it cause I had a feeling there might have been a few like yourself that would result in them going back into the pot.

Will have to keep an eye out so.

maryd26

More tickets up. Managed to get one for the final, Cat B... after a ridiculous amount of clicking! None left for the final, but a lot of other ones there.