alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Just checked on price to travel by rail to London: £175 second class return for 180 miles

Compare that with the MOST EXPENSIVE fare from Paris to Marseille, via TGV, over 400 miles: £80 first class return.

Cheapest I can get this weekend is £69.50, if I want any cheaper I'll have to book a month in advance

Alcazar

FlightMan

Good old rip-off Britain.

fatherpierre

Did you look the prices up on national rail enqs?

Sometimes you can get really cheap tickets for a specific time.

National Rail Enquiries - Official source for rail information, UK train times and timetables

PeteBrant

I'm my limited experiecne, the rail prices arent't too bad, for some trips. I sometimes do the trip up to the kids by train (Worthign to London) and that's £26 return (£19 if I had a national railcard). No way could I do it for that driving.

Similarly, I am going to visit a friend in Preston. From worthing, it is £86 return. I worked out the petrol cost to be around £106.

But it may depend son the time of day/when the return journey is.

fatherpierre

£70 isn't that bad for a return journey. About the same as petrol costs and no hassle either. Tightwad

fatherpierre

Nowt for me

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

You must be picking an open ticket for that price. Have you checked the saver fares and off-peak travel times?

(I pay £3.60 single or £4.20 return to Derby which is cheaper than driving and parking. Frankly it's cheaper than JUST driving at the moment!)

fatherpierre

Na, but I generally sit in 1st class

scoobyster

Trains to London are almost always bargains if you can specify which train you'll use a few days in advance (a few weeks in advance cheaper still, but days will do if you can be a bit flexible). Your £175 fare will be fully flexible and allow you to use peak time services. Granted that's a rip off but they're taking advantage of business passengers, much the same as fully flexible airline tickets do. If you know which trains you need to take then use National Express > Home > Train tickets for travel to London, York, Leeds, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow to find the cheap tickets for them.

dpb

20 quid return on the coach

coolangatta

This is the UK all over!!!
Bleat about how bad the public transport is and then in the same breath are not willing to pay a fair price that would ultimately support a good/excellent service.
The Japanese rail system is held up as one of the best. Is it cheap to travel, is it ****! Nor should it be if excellent service, punctuality and clean/safe transport is what you want.
The Japanese have invested very heavily in the rail system and the costs reflect that. There are no discount tickets, no weekend savers, no super savers etc.
You want cheap? Expect nothing more than bad

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Ever travelled SNCF TGV? I have. They are MUCH cheaper than the UK, and FAR better.

Alcazar

coolangatta

Subsidised to the hilt? No other explanation

EddScott

Me too. I would prefer freight.

I just bought myself one of these - and it really is loud!

YouTube - Bachmann Class 66 "Shanks/Freightliner"

My wifes brother has to take the train from Pontefract to Haverfordwest and it costs him £111 off peak return or £189 any time return.

It costs us a full tank in the wifes Leon there, the weekend and then the drive back on Monday on one tank - £65 ish

EddScott

As far as I'm aware, the UK rail services are still subsidised by around £6bn a year.

Least I think the are anyway.

coolangatta

You Sir are correct!
Having paid 'the going rate' for an excellent service, I cringe at our (UK) public transport. It 'is' worth paying for a better service and not having the problems created by the cheap and nasty system.

coolangatta

I agree, but it need not be paid by the tax payer.
It should be paid for by the ticket buyer.

ricardo

My wife just travelled from Southampton to Birmingham for a work thing, tickets provided were First Class, about 200 quid. Coming back on Thursday at about 3 there were five of them in the group, and all had to stand from Birmingham to Basingstoke. First Class was jam-packed down the aisles, as was the rest of the train.

I've travelled on the same route and the train was overcrowded by the time it pulled in at Southampton, no passengers were allowed to board at Reading at all even though they were 5 deep on the platform - there simply wasn't room for any more people, even in the toilets.

Apparently they aren't allowed to run a longer train on that route...

Kieran_Burns

iTrader: (1)

but the 3-5p wouldn't go on the public service you want improving.

Why not pay for the service you want to use when you want to use it? State run systems fall down at this point, there is no incentive to improve - in the private sector you have to - or go bust

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Yes, the vast majority of SNCF is subsidised, especially their freight.

But the TGV's make a profit.........so much so that the profit from one line helped to build the next, which then added on and helped build a third etc. They now have an enviable network of dedicated high speed lines, with more in the build stage and even more planned.

All it took was foresight, a bit of courage and investment from their government to get the first one up and running and away they went.

The latest line, from Paris (Gare de l'Est) to Strasbourg, carries trains at 350km/h, (just under 220mph!!) And technology from THAT line will be casceded to the older ones.

Alcazar

scoobmeister

I went from Dawlish-Exeter return last week for £3 - Bargain would of cost me £4 to park for 2 hours. For short trips into the City you can't grumble, not paying extortionate parking charges or drivimg round for hours looking for a space!