GWR bike reservation - did I get one?

[miklcct]

I am trying to book a journey from Paddington to Taplow. GWR has a policy that bike reservation is mandatory on the intercity trains therefore I tried to book a ticket with a bike reservation on the GWR website.

However, after I choose the bike reservation button, it shows that there are some legs without bike reservation. I think that's normal because the connecting Elizabeth line train from Slough to Taplow won't have one.

I then continued the payment and got an e-ticket. However, after I got the e-ticket, there isn't a bike reservation in it, and when I returned to the My Bookings page, it didn't show a bike reservation as well, in contrast to another Stratford - Norwich journey which I really have a bike reservation shown.

Then I tried to obtain a bike reservation from that page. It showed "bike reservation(s) have not been possible for your chosen service", and it created an empty reservation for me with no seats and no bikes. The train involved is Saturday 06:50 Paddington to Great Malvern, which is an intercity service.



Does that mean the bike spaces are full already and I will need to find another service, or does it mean the train doesn't do bike reservation at all and I can travel provided that if there is a space?

 

[Watershed]

I am trying to book a journey from Paddington to Taplow. GWR has a policy that bike reservation is mandatory on the intercity trains therefore I tried to book a ticket with a bike reservation on the GWR website.

However, after I choose the bike reservation button, it shows that there are some legs without bike reservation. I think that's normal because the connecting Elizabeth line train from Slough to Taplow won't have one.

I then continued the payment and got an e-ticket. However, after I got the e-ticket, there isn't a bike reservation in it, and when I returned to the My Bookings page, it didn't show a bike reservation as well, in contrast to another Stratford - Norwich journey which I really have a bike reservation shown.

Then I tried to obtain a bike reservation from that page. It showed "bike reservation(s) have not been possible for your chosen service", and it created an empty reservation for me with no seats and no bikes. The train involved is Saturday 06:50 Paddington to Great Malvern, which is an intercity service.

View attachment 116962

Does that mean the bike spaces are full already and I will need to find another service, or does it mean the train doesn't do bike reservation at all and I can travel provided that if there is a space?

It sounds like all bike reservations have already been issued, although that would seem rather surprising for that time leaving London on a Saturday morning.

If your arrival at Taplow is time critical, I would turn up to Paddington earlier than 06:50 so that you can, if necessary, take a preceding non-80x service (where bike reservations aren't mandatory).

 

[hkstudent]

It sounds like all bike reservations have already been issued, although that would seem rather surprising for that time leaving London on a Saturday morning.

If your arrival at Taplow is time critical, I would turn up to Paddington earlier than 06:50 so that you can, if necessary, take a preceding non-80x service (where bike reservations aren't mandatory).

I second the case, the Elizabeth Line service that OP is planning to connect to will depart from Paddington at 06:41, only 9 minutes before the departure of the Intercity one at 06:50.
By saving the change at Slough, it may be more convenient for him to do so.

(Though, putting a full-sized road bike / TT bike will be kind of a pain on Class 345 tbh)

 

[Haywain]

I second the case, the Elizabeth Line service that OP is planning to connect to will depart from Paddington at 06:41, only 9 minutes before the departure of the Intercity one at 06:50.
By saving the change at Slough, it may be more convenient for him to do so.

(Though, putting a full-sized road bike / TT bike will be kind of a pain on Class 345 tbh)

On the other hand, consider how hacked off you'd be if you couldn't take your bike out to Worcestershire because someone's booked a bike space from Paddington to Slough! Just take it on the Liz Line.

 

[miklcct]

It sounds like all bike reservations have already been issued, although that would seem rather surprising for that time leaving London on a Saturday morning.

If your arrival at Taplow is time critical, I would turn up to Paddington earlier than 06:50 so that you can, if necessary, take a preceding non-80x service (where bike reservations aren't mandatory).

I understand now. I'm getting there to race a triathlon therefore it's not surprising that bike reservations will sold out. I'll take the preceding service instead.

 

[Horizon22]

I imagine your connection is off the 0641 depature from Paddington, so you might as well just stay on that all the way.

 

[miklcct]

I imagine your connection is off the 0641 depature from Paddington, so you might as well just stay on that all the way.

I have now brought my bike onto the 0641 slow train from Paddington and it turns out that 0650 high speed train from Paddington is delayed by 10 minutes upon departure.

 

[Horizon22]

I have now brought my bike onto the 0641 slow train from Paddington and it turns out that 0650 high speed train from Paddington is delayed by 10 minutes upon departure.

That’s a nice benefit then! Also if that GWR train is too late, the Slough stop is often removed.