Public transport or not

sue34

hi all
wondering if this is the same all over
our bus company is Chambers Buses which travels from Bury st edmunds to colchester and surrounding villages
in april they put the fare prices up and now this week they are no longer doing a return ticket, just a single ,so now it costs more 'a extra 50p on journey' than it did before as it was cheaper to buy a return and just notice that they have a sign in windows saying bus fares are going up again due to fuel prices
what a rip off, i used to pay for the childern to get the bus into town to meet friends, but now looks like i will be using the car,
so much for goverment wanting people to use public transport instead of there cars when the cost of fares is a rip off

and in the news in Cambridge, it was free transport for over 60s, but they have now stopped it after this week, it only started in April, its a joke

IS it any wonder that people buy cars and hang on to them like grim death – no matter what?

Gavioli_UK

Unless it is a subsidised service deemed necessary by the local authority then bus companies can charge what they like.

The theory being if they are overchargeing another bus company will set up a competing service.

We are told this is how we like it in the UK, as opposed to the rest of Europe wher all public transport is regarded as a public service and regulated in favour of the passenger.

AdrianHi

No mystery here, it's getting more expensive to run vehicles requiring the use of oil products buses included. They have to put up prices to cover their costs or close the business when there will be no bus at all.
I bet the bus is still the cheapest option even with price increases.
Not that I'm unsympathetic to the additional financial strain this causes you understand, turning back to the car not necessarily the solution.

Charlie1986

Here it's 3 pounds for an all day ticket on the buses but normally there are 4 of us going into town at a time which would be 12 pounds :eek: We just take the car its much cheaper to park. There are also different bus companies running throughout the county and the same ticket cant be used on every one. For me to get to my partners house on public transport would cost 9 pounds alone. I may as well jump in the car, not have to wait for the next bus which will be late and be full of people, with no seats to sit on :rolleyes:

sue34

here its £3 each way for a 3 mile journey into town, costing £12 for them both, so its works out cheaper for me to bring them in and do a bit of shopping at the same time

unsure

"We just take the car its much cheaper to park"

So long as you also remember to figure in the cost of motoring at circa 40-50p per mille to get a real comparison.

hewhoisnotintheknow

unsure wrote: »

"We just take the car its much cheaper to park"

So long as you also remember to figure in the cost of motoring at circa 40-50p per mille to get a real comparison.

this is true but if you own a car and then never use it, that figure also goes up when you do use it

Idiophreak

unsure wrote: »

So long as you also remember to figure in the cost of motoring at circa 40-50p per mille to get a real comparison.

Can't get it to add up that high...cost per mile (aside from petrol) is wear and tear + a little bit of the insurance....say in my case, that adds up to around £300 per year for 13,000 miles - so, what, 2-3p per mile?

Add about 16p/mile for the petrol and you're still only looking at 20p/mile...

Have to say, I never use public transport these days..I used to use buses a lot, til they increased one of my two fares to the gf's house from 3.50 to 5.30 overnight...I decided I'd rather learn to drive and pay around £4 instead of £8 for the journey and do it in 20 minutes, not an hour and 20.

Public transport's a joke..just say no.

AdrianHi

Idiophreak wrote: »

Can't get it to add up that high...cost per mile (aside from petrol) is wear and tear + a little bit of the insurance....say in my case, that adds up to around £300 per year for 13,000 miles - so, what, 2-3p per mile?

Add about 16p/mile for the petrol and you're still only looking at 20p/mile...

Have to say, I never use public transport these days..I used to use buses a lot, til they increased one of my two fares to the gf's house from 3.50 to 5.30 overnight...I decided I'd rather learn to drive and pay around £4 instead of £8 for the journey and do it in 20 minutes, not an hour and 20.

Public transport's a joke..just say no.

I assume you have a car old enough to be loosing next to nothing in depreciation?
On younger cars around half or more of the pence per mile cost comes from depreciation.
Even if you are in the near zero deprecation part of the cars life, as it wear out it's handy to build up some money for it's replacement one day.

oldagetraveller

What public transport?
I probably would use it for local journeys if available, unfortunately it's non existent in a lot of rural areas (no profit) so using a car is unavoidable.

Titch89

I take it I'm the only one who doesn't have problems with local public transport then? Good thing as well, seeing as I'm not allowed to drive.