The author was lucky to have a half decent experience on the train given the appalling state and cost of our rail network.
When it works and it's reasonably priced and you get a seat in a good environment it's the best form of travel. It's a shame those conditions so rarely all hold at the same time.
Chap got on at Doncaster, apologised for not having a ticket and handed over his card - £250!!
Of course the rest of the UK looks at London's well funded bus and tube network the same way we look at Tokyo, a symbol of unattainable perfection.
I'm travelling, fairly often to Essex, from London to Colchester and I find the trains to be clean enough, plenty of space most of the time, including when I go there on Friday evenings. From Colchester I usually take a bus to Brighlingsea and I find those buses to be clean, comfortable, cheap and you even can pay with a contactless card. They are not too often, but I get the why. I could say the same for my travels south, to Southampton. With the trainline app, I don't even have to queue to pick up my tickets, most of the time.
London wise, I use mainly the North Line and Victoria and while sometimes they are crowded, I don't find that to be terrible annoying. I think the only time I was pissed at tfl was before a Chelsea game at Stamford Bridge, when they barely had trains going to Wimbledon, from Earl Court and I missed the start of the game. Dully noted and since then I made my way to the Bridge with time to spare, just in case, for some reason those overpriced hot dogs taste really good.
I get it that if you use some of the public transport daily, the sore points will stick out, but I am really curios to know what you would call the Romanian public transport, if the uk one is appalling (really, what's worse than appalling?)