Train Ticket Prices

Soldato
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I'm starting a new job at London City Airport on the 24th. My start times for my training have not yet been confirmed but they did mention 9-5 for 2 weeks.

Driving from Luton for a 9am arrival in London is a big no no, so today I rang National Rail to enquire about a weekly train ticket. £81.50 said the voice on the other end :eek: :eek:

No thank you I thought, and so I went onto the Travelodge website to find that I can stay in the Travelodge next to the airport for 5 nights, all for £76.

No wonder nobody wants to use public transport !
 
Soldato
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Yep. Costs me £37 to get from Northampton to Stoke-on-Trent most weekends, for a 2 night stop over.

:mad:

It would cost half the price in petrol if i went by car.

Public Transport 0 - 1 Private Travel
 
Caporegime
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Spunj99 said:
I don't have one!
That pretty much sums it up.

It may cost half the amount in petrol, but you need to factor in having a car in the first place.

In fact, to you, the marginal cost of the first car journey would be orders of magnitude higher than a traing journey, as you would have to buy a car first.
 
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Borris said:
That pretty much sums it up.

It may cost half the amount in petrol, but you need to factor in having a car in the first place.

In fact, to you, the marginal cost of the first car journey would be orders of magnitude higher than a traing journey, as you would have to buy a car first.

true, but public transport should still be a lot cheaper to entice people to use it in the first place.

if the costs were the same in the long term, and the choice was either driving myself, listening to my favourite music or sitting on a cramped train with the great unwashed, full of chavs drinking stella and generally being rowdy i know what i'd choose.
 

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Soldato
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nealw said:
true, but public transport should still be a lot cheaper to entice people to use it in the first place.

if the costs were the same in the long term, and the choice was either driving myself, listening to my favourite music or sitting on a cramped train with the great unwashed, full of chavs drinking stella and generally being rowdy i know what i'd choose.
Oh come on it's hardly that bad. :rolleyes:
 
Soldato
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totally agree with the OP the price of rail travel is truly ridiculous in this country. If they want to get me out of my car there going to have to make it noticably cheaper so I'm willing to put up with the rubish seats annoying passengers and terrible time keeping. If it was a premium service then they could charge premium prices but it's not, it's one of the worst rail systems in the developed world! Any system which doesn't even count a train as late until 10 minutes have clocked by is always going to be in trouble if I pulled that one with meetings etc I'd be for the high jump!

And of Rant, but trinas in the UK really are awful!
 
Soldato
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Borris said:
That pretty much sums it up.

It may cost half the amount in petrol, but you need to factor in having a car in the first place.

In fact, to you, the marginal cost of the first car journey would be orders of magnitude higher than a traing journey, as you would have to buy a car first.

Not really. I chose not to have a car not only for financial reasons but i like to do my bit for the environment wherever possible. If i *can* get around any other possible way i can i will.

But with trains i'm penalised for doing do by the rediculous prices, just because i have to go towards London (god knows why i'd actually want to go there) for a change over at Milton Keynes i have to pay excessive prices.

Oh yeah, and also if i bought 2 seperate returns...one from Northampton to MKC and one from MKC to Stoke, it would cost me around £20. Unfortunately i don't have the time in between train changes to get to the ticket office etc so this is impossible, unless i fancied a 4-5 hour journey.

The pricing system is an absolute joke.

nealw said:
if the costs were the same in the long term, and the choice was either driving myself, listening to my favourite music or sitting on a cramped train with the great unwashed, full of chavs drinking stella and generally being rowdy i know what i'd choose.

Must have been a dodgy route/time of day, generally i'd much rather use the trains and sit back and relax before/after work with my iPod on that navigate the roads, which are generally full of clueless smacktards, every day.

It's just the pricing system...gah. Making myself angry! :(
 
Man of Honour
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Borris said:
How much did your car cost to buy / insure / clean / park?


Invalid point 90% of people need the car even if they used public transport for work.

cost £75 from bristol to sheffield the other week and that was booking 3weeks in advanced. would have been cheaper to drive but I had an interview.
 
Soldato
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Borris said:
How much did your car cost to buy / insure / clean / park?

Car = £100
Insurance = £50 a month
Petrol = £40
Parking = £0

So if i was to do this journey regularly, im fairly sure the car would work out cheaper.

Im trying to get prices for a train for me and a mate to go to the motorshow on the 20th.

Cheapest i have found is £37 each way. The only return ticket option i have is an open return at £282 :confused:
 
Caporegime
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James_N said:
Car = £100
Posh car :)

I'm not trying to defend the (still heavily subsidised) national rail system, or it's labyrinthine pricing mechanism, just pointing out that it's not an accurate comparison between the marginal cost of petrol per journey and the price of a train ticket.

If you want cheap - go by coach, and book in advance.
 
Soldato
OP
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I've just realised I've cocked up with the hotel, it's £76 per night and not for the 5 nights I wanted. My fault for not going as far as the booking screen but then again I have stayed there before for £24 so I didn't think the price was out of the ordinary.

You know what that means..... now where did I put that £81.50 :rolleyes:
 
Man of Honour
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Borris said:
Just pointing out that it's not an accurate comparison between the marginal cost of petrol per journey and the price of a train ticket.

As I said it is in 90+% of cases. Most people will still need cars for other things. Its hard getting to villages or carrying goods on public transport. My flat mate walks to work but still needs a car. Insurance, tax, car cost is irrelavent to the amount of trips and paid for once.

Thus in most cases you can directly relate cost of petrol = cost of train ticket.
 
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AcidHell2 said:
Invalid point 90% of people need the car even if they used public transport for work.

cost £75 from bristol to sheffield the other week and that was booking 3weeks in advanced. would have been cheaper to drive but I had an interview.

Ouch!

I get a return ticket from plymouth to stevenage (through london) for £35 (4.5 hour trip), although that is with a young persons rail card (£50 otherwise) the same trip by car costs between £50 and £80 in diesel so is a lot cheaper. Train companies do so many tickets though, super advance return, advanced return etc. that have huge differences in price, having said that i can always find supers the day before i want to go.
 

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Soldato
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AcidHell2 said:
Invalid point 90% of people need the car even if they used public transport for work.

cost £75 from bristol to sheffield the other week and that was booking 3weeks in advanced. would have been cheaper to drive but I had an interview.
lol I wanted to make exactly the same journey two weeks ago- Sucks ass. :( Didn;t go in the end.
 
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