After spending last week in a hotel in Leeds I thought I would try and commute from Manchester as my parents are away so it is nice and quiet here.
I had to wake up at 6AM to catch the tram to Manchester city centre and I was quickly pushing my coins into the machine whilst the tram was pulling up. It is not the same as in Australia where you can pre-purchase your tickets and keep them for a later date.
When you purchase them here they expire within 24 hours. The only explanation for this is that they do need to have any gates on stations and they must check the trams randomly for fare dodgers which is the opposite of what I am used to in Melbourne.
I looked this evening about purchasing a pass but as there is only 4 working days left it is cheaper to buy singles even though I am risking missing the tram whilst buying from a machine. It really is a stupid system and I am surprised anyone even buys a ticket in the first place.
The train to Leeds was great, you get a table and power supply and a trolley comes round serving food and drink. The train got me into Leeds at 8.30AM so I had plenty of time to walk to the office.
The true test on how viable commuting will not be known for a few days as its now 9PM and I am wide awake whereas yesterday I was in the park with my nephew and by the time I left him I was ready for bed.
train to leeds,