Train Fares

misiek404

According to Panorama, the newly privatised railway was starved of investment which has meant huge catch up costs plus the costs of providing even more services. Today those costs are being met by higher fares and also because the share of government subsidy have been shrinking.

Worth watching:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b082r7tt/panorama-the-trouble-with-our-trains

Stoke

misiek404 wrote: »

According to Panorama, the newly privatised railway was starved of investment which has meant huge catch up costs plus the costs of providing even more services. Today those costs are being met by higher fares and also because the share of government subsidy have been shrinking.

Worth watching:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b082r7tt/panorama-the-trouble-with-our-trains

Watching right now.

SailorSam

Train fares ? What are train fares ?
With my Merseytravel pass i can get on the train into town for free.

Stoke

SailorSam wrote: »

Train fares ? What are train fares ?
With my Merseytravel pass i can get on the train into town for free.

I wish pal

Voyager2002

Stoke wrote: »

Why are they so high in Britain?

It's because people here are willing to pay them.

Sicard

Stoke wrote: »

Why are they so high in Britain? Always wondered. Awful trains, awfully high prices.

Is it just that we pay 'British Tax'?

Sorry to raise your blood pressure further but fares are to increase by 2.5% in January.

PasturesNew

As a rule of thumb, whenever I've looked at train fares for any journey I wish to make, the car has worked out cheaper and half the time (with the added benefit I get a seat and can take as much luggage as I want without carrying it and I can leave when I want and have transport at my destination).

martindow

PasturesNew wrote: »

As a rule of thumb, whenever I've looked at train fares for any journey I wish to make, the car has worked out cheaper and half the time (with the added benefit I get a seat and can take as much luggage as I want without carrying it and I can leave when I want and have transport at my destination).

It very much depends where your journey takes you. A peak time trip into central London is not so much fun and then you need to find and pay for parking.

Voyager2002

PasturesNew wrote: »

As a rule of thumb, whenever I've looked at train fares for any journey I wish to make, the car has worked out cheaper and half the time (with the added benefit I get a seat and can take as much luggage as I want without carrying it and I can leave when I want and have transport at my destination).

However, if your time is of any value then that has to be factored in to the calculation. For me, the six hours that I would waste driving to London represents a loss of perhaps five hundred pounds. The equivalent journey by train would involve less than three hours sitting in a comfortable work-space, time that can be used productively, and so the saved time is worth a good deal more than the cost of the first class ticket.

I suppose that the calculation is different if you are unemployed: I have always thought that cars are for losers!

Stoke

PasturesNew wrote: »

As a rule of thumb, whenever I've looked at train fares for any journey I wish to make, the car has worked out cheaper and half the time (with the added benefit I get a seat and can take as much luggage as I want without carrying it and I can leave when I want and have transport at my destination).

My commute to work via a car costs about £4 a day.... ish. Is comfortable, warm, reliable, relaxing, all that guff and is flexible.

On a train, it costs about £15, isn't comfortable, isn't warm, isn't particularly relaxing and is usually completely inflexible and takes much longer.

Even with insurance and maintenance it costs significantly less with the car.

My commute isn't particularly far. Oh and btw, compared to Europe, our trains are insanely expensive, I've used European trains for work and they're nicer, and cheaper..... so uhmmmmm

Suppose the best you can do is try and avoid paying as often as possible