Using the Trip Planner on a PC: Choosing A Journey Option

The rail trip planning service on Conductor Sam is packed with tools you won't have seen before, along with shortcuts that can save time.

So to help you make the most of it, you can watch the video guide and / or look though the notes.

How to add each rail journey to a personal travel plan is obviously crucial to setting up the optimum trip.

Hence we have striven to land on the right balance between depth of choice and ease of selection -  because Sam can find all viable journeys on close to any mainline European route

So all Feedback, by using the button at the top of the planning page, would be particularly welcome.

The idea is that in List view you add journeys as layers, between the locations that you have added to the plan.

1 - Having clicked on 'Add Travel' you can then click 'Train' to take you towards the journey options which you'll be able to choose from.

2 - If some of the journeys on your trip will be by Bus, Ferry of Flight, you can click the respective buttons to add the details of these journeys as Notes, which can be saved to your plan.

1 - Clicking on the 'Search timetables' is the second and final stage of accessing the journey options.

Though you won't be doing the searching, as Conductor Sam will scan the timetable - it can already access around 98% of Europe's rail routes.

2 - Or if you already...

- know which trains you will be taking, or

- don't need to be specific, because trains are very frequent on the route, so you'll want to be spontaneous on the day, or

- Will be taking one of those 1% of routes which aren't yet on 'Sam's timetable' -  for the time being that includes the direct trains between Milan/Turin and Lyon.

...you can click here to add a Note to your plan.

While Sam is Finding All of the Journey Options

1 - Depending on the length of route, it can take Sam a minute or two to find every viable journey option, so a shortcut is to click 'Browse Results' when it first appears.
You'll then have instant access to the first departure options of the day .

2 - This is another option to instead add a Note, if you already know the trains you'll want to take between these locations.

3 - While you wait for Sam to find all of the viable options, or afterwards, you can Ask Sam questions to help you find your optimum journey

In this example Sam is being asked for confirmation of which of the departures on this route are by the Bernina Express trains.

Using the Preferences to Help Find your Optimum Train(s)

When setting up the plan you may have chosen a Travel Style, as mentioned on the guide to Adding A First Location.
If you did opt to do so, this can impact on the journey options you will see - particularly on long routes such as this example of London to Chur.

1 - The 'Adventure Seeker' style has been selected and it has a recommended maximum journey length of 10 hours, but London to Chur takes longer than that.

Hence, on this example, Sam is saying that 0 of the journey options are within this Adventure Seeker preference.
Though this won't stop you from choosing a journey option which Sam has found.

2 - Sam also allows you to alter the conditions of the Preference for this and your subsequent journeys.

1 - If you click 'Adjust Preferences' you can use the sliders to adjust your preferred length of end-to-end journeys and /or the maximum number of connections along the route.
The changes you make will alter the choice of the journeys that Sam has found for you.

2 - Or if you only want to take Direct trains, you can tick the box.

3 - You can use these tools to filter the options by your preferred timings

4 - If you want to ensure that seat reservations will be available, or if you want to avoid having to arrange and pay for them, you can use this tool.

Then whether you have or haven't made any adjustments, you can scroll down and...

1 - tell Sam to simply ignore any previously chosen 'Travel Style' for  this particular journey.

2 - Save these changes to your preferences, so that they can also be applied to any other journeys you'll be adding.

3 - If you subsequently change your mind about your choice of preferences when looking up further journeys, you can use 'Revert to saved'
It will switch back to the Travel Style you selected when setting up your plan.

Info to Help you Choose a Journey

1 - See at a glance how many connections are required on each journey option.

2 - Click the down pointing arrows to see the Journey Details (see below).

3 - Check the total number of options which are available on your route on this particular day.

4 - If you chose a Travel Style when setting up your trip, you can check how many of the journey options are a match for it.
Typically you will be initially offered only the journey options that are a fit.

5 - Sam will show which types of train are used for each option...

6 - ...well it will show the first three trains in a chain - This symbol is an indicator that a specific journey option can involve taking more than three trains.

7 - You can scroll down to see the other options.

Checking the Journey Details and Adding it to your Plan

1 - It's always a good idea to click the arrows to check the details of journeys which involve taking more than one train.

You can discover crucial info such as the time you will have to transfer between stations in Paris - If you need further details, you can Ask Sam.

2 - If you're happy with this option you can choose to add it to your plan.