What's the most expensive train ticket per mile?

MSE_Martin

The Sun asked us this question, which we thought interesting - so I thought we'd see who had found the most.

It wants to find the most expensive ticket per mile in the UK - the reason "It came about after the News Ed was charged a staggering £106 quid to go from Reading to Basingstoke, which is about 30 miles – and in Standard class!" So that's £3 ish a mile.

Can you better (or maybe that should be worsen) it?

Martin

dmg24

MSE_Martin wrote: »

The Sun asked us this question, which we thought interesting - so I thought we'd see who had found the most.

It wants to find the most expensive ticket per mile in the UK. It came about after the News Ed was charged a staggering £106 quid to go from Reading to Basingstoke, which is about 30 miles – and in Standard class! So that's £3 ish a mile.

Can you better (or maybe that should be worsen) it?

Martin

That is odd, I am getting a walk up fare of £6.70 for that route!

wealdroam

MSE_Martin wrote: »

The Sun asked us this question, which we thought interesting - so I thought we'd see who had found the most.

It wants to find the most expensive ticket per mile in the UK. It came about after the News Ed was charged a staggering £106 quid to go from Reading to Basingstoke, which is about 30 miles – and in Standard class! So that's £3 ish a mile.

Can you better (or maybe that should be worsen) it?

Martin

The most expensive ticket for that journey is £25.00 for a First Class Anytime Day Return.

dmg24

City Thameslink to Blackfriars is £5.00 on certain trains (though you can get cheaper fares). The distance between the two stations is 0.2 miles. That makes it £25.00 per mile!

Did The Sun do any research on this at all?

Livingthedream

Don't know if its one of the most expensive per mile, but it's one of the most expensive ticket to buy;
Mallaig to Penzance First Class Anytime return £640 (£486 for a single)

dacouch

Embankment to Charing Cross

dmg24

Livingthedream wrote: »

Don't know if its one of the most expensive per mile, but it's one of the most expensive ticket to buy;
Mallaig to Penzance First Class Anytime return £640 (£486 for a single)

700 miles, so 45p per mile or 69p for a single.

dmg24

dacouch wrote: »

Embankment to Charing Cross

Are we including tube, trams etc? That opens it up even more!

wealdroam

Manchester Deansgate to Manchester Oxford road is listed as ¼mile on Network Rail Timetable 82.

National Rail Enquiries says a Standard Class Anytime Single is £1.20.

Therefore the fare per mile for that trip is £4.80.

dacouch

dmg24 wrote: »

That is odd, I am getting a walk up fare of £6.70 for that route!

Must have put it through as £106 through on exspences...

The_Groat_Counter

wealdroam wrote: »

The most expensive ticket for that journey is £25.00 for a First Class Anytime Day Return.

Quite - is Martin basing this on the News Ed's expenses claim?!

This is the kind of question which can bring up at sorts of daft answers based on journeys no-one ever makes - e.g. Covent Garden to Leicester Square, paying for the full price £4 paper ticket (rather than £1.90 with Oyster) - I'm sure there are a handful of people who have done that... but they're stupid.

Looking at serious answers, I think Heathrow Express is probably up there - the distance is 14.5 miles, and the buy-on-board price of an Express (Standard) class single is £23, so that's £1.59 a mile (and for a £26 First class single it's £1.79 a mile).

However you can save £5 on an Express class single straight away by simply buying it at the station before stepping onto the train, save a little more than that by buying it online beforehand, perhaps save yet more by hunting around for a valid discount code, and of course save considerably more by simply not using Heathrow Express in the first place - the slightly slower (and admittedly less frequent) Heathrow Connect train from Paddington is much cheaper, and the Tube is cheaper still.