Let’s see! In Romania, as in many countries, students use the transport, but much of them don’t buy tickets, I don’t know what the others do. I haven’t used the transport for years. But here, it’s different. It seems that the train is the most used mean of transport, it has stations in every town. It’s like a high speed tram, but it’s a train, Arriva Train Wales, it’s not luxury, but it is clean and civilized, I use it to go to University in Treforest, 4 stations. Usually, a ticket costs 6.80 GBP, it is expensive, but let’s see why. Firstly, you don’t seem to be embarrassed if you don’t have ticket. But let’s see how you can buy it; there are ticket machines in almost every station, especially in the big cities, you can buy it by cash or using the card. If the train comes and you don’t have time to buy a ticket, no problem, you can buy it in train, the same price, cash or card. The controller comes and if you don’t have a ticket, you tell him what kind of ticket you need and he sells it without any comment, no fine or overcharge. The controller ensures that everyone has a ticket, he behaves civilized, not as our controllers, in Romania, who think they are God and make you feel uncomfortable and none lies, as Romanians do, in order to pay less. This is the difference, this is civilization, that‘s why it is expensive. If you haven’t bought the ticket in the station or in the train from the controller, you have to buy it at your destination station because you should use it to exit 🙂 How would be this thing in Romania? It would be somehow, people would find something in order not to buy the tickets before the exit. In UK you can buy the tickets cash, card, online, by phone, I don’t know exactly how, but I will check because this seems ok for me to have the tickets by phone.
discounts for students
Let’s get back to prices. As student, you can receive a discount, there are many subscriptions, for example, you can pay 90 GBP/year, and you have a discount of 1,75 GBP, so, instead of paying 6.80 you pay 5.05, it’s expensive. But you can pay a subscription of 30 GBP/year, and this means 4.50 GBP; my option is 90 GBP because for the second one the tickets are valid only after 10 o’clock in the morning, and I have two days when the courses begin at 9 o’clock. Per month, for me – 60 GBP, it is expensive comparing with our income and our prices. But for the conditions, the comfort, the time schedule, I think it is ok. And one more thing, anyone could say anything, but these people are kind and help you in need. Today, after my courses, I went in the centre, I hadn’t ticket to come back home, I was at the ticket office, I asked for a ticket for Catthays, the place where I stay (it is a district of Cardiff), I paid, I took the ticket and on my way to the train I realized it is round trip ticket. I returned to the ticket office telling her I wanted one way ticket. Her answer was: the round trip ticket is cheaper than the single one. And I thought to myself: our taxi drivers in Bucharest have “special” prices for those who are not from Bucharest, the foreigners who arrive in Romania by plane and do not know the prices.
train timetable
Since I am here, the train has delayed only once, about 1 minute. The train timetable is very good. In the morning, when I go to University I have a train at 8.13, another one at 8.18, and another one at 8.33 ( I take one of the first two trains) and this happens until 11 o’clock, then I don’t know, you can check the timetable online, real time timetable.
you can live without transport
I have to mention that I live in Cardiff, but most of the students live in Treforest and they walk to school the same distance and time as I have between my home and train station. So the transport could be excluded from your budget, but it is better for you to know this information in case you have another budget; you should take into consideration all the options regarding accommodation.
On the other hand, my conclusion is that if life in UK will stop 300 years, we, Romanians, couldn’t be able to reach their standard of living. So, thinking of your children, and their future, please give them the chance of choosing another place if you have financial possibilities.
the city with one of the longest name in the world
And now, let’s tell you something funny. In Wales there is a city with a name that is almost impossible of being pronounced if you are not from Wales ( even for them it is hard), extremely long, so long that its plate in the train station can not be seen at a glance.
The name significance: Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch means St Mary church (Llanfair) from the white hazelnut clearing (gwyngll) near the rapid creek (y chwyrndrobwll) and the St Tysilio church (llantysilio) from the red cave (gogogoch).
I hope I’ll have time to visit this place in future (I have to check the train timetable and route), to take a photo at its name plate, to see if it is enough to take one picture or more 🙂