Travelling by train, what a rip off!

[gavroche]

Mrs G wants to go and spend a week with our daughter in Devon during the school half term. She is planning to go on the 25th this month and back on June 1st. She was going to go by train to Exeter from North Wales. Guess how much a return ticket is? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,




£280 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

This is an absolute rip off and extortionate. So I offered to take her to Bristol where our daughter will meet us there to complete the journey. She is willing to get back on the train though , even at a stupid price of £140.

I just can't see how they can charge so much in the UK when travelling by train on the continent is so much cheaper.

 

[johnnyb47]

Blimey that's disgusting.As bonkers as it sounds it would probably be cheaper to fly from Liverpool

 

[sheddy]

We know
https://weownit.org.uk/blog/rail-privatisation-top-30-failures-30-years

 

[DRM]

Mrs G wants to go and spend a week with our daughter in Devon during the school half term. She is planning to go on the 25th this month and back on June 1st. She was going to go by train to Exeter from North Wales. Guess how much a return ticket is? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,




£280 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

This is an absolute rip off and extortionate. So I offered to take her to Bristol where our daughter will meet us there to complete the journey. She is willing to get back on the train though , even at a stupid price of £140.

I just can't see how they can charge so much in the UK when travelling by train on the continent is so much cheaper.

Have you seen how much rail staff earn, it's no wonder the ticket prices are eye watering, and it's not like you are liable to get a job with any of them unless someone already working for them puts you forward for a job

 

[Drago]

I just can't see how they can charge so much in the UK when travelling by train on the continent is so much cheaper.

Because most enlightened continental countries subsidise the service to a higher degree than we do.

 

[DRM]

Because most enlightened continental countries subsidise the service to a higher degree than we do.

Usually by the profits from UK public transport companies that they own, instead of being ploughed back into our infrastructure

 

[slowmotion]

Don't kid yourself that train tickets are cheap on the Continent. Return train fares from London to northern Itally are at least three times the budget air fares, according to Lady Slowmotion.
Trying to emulate Greta doesn't come cheap.

 

[Time Waster]

Just so you know, you don't have to pay those extortionate prices. Buy as long as possible in advance. Shop around for best price, adjust your time of travel if you can.

For example an hour and a bit train journey my partner makes costs nearly £30 return. She rarely pays close to that even last minute. Usually it costs exactly £10 return. Imagine if the OP got similar reduced ticket price, Would less than £100 be considered reasonable?

Other train journeys she makes buying from train company sites can be cheapest other times trainline website is cheapest even with booking fee involved.

 

[DRM]

But it shouldn't be like that, peak time more expensive than off peak, but just a standard fair price to travel at a time that suits

 

[Drago]

Mind you, even leaving aside the cost of the ferry it was significantly cheaper to fly back home to Shetland than drive it.

 

[richardfm]

Have you tried split tickets? https://splitticketing.com/

 

[newts]

I'm going fron Exeter to Birmingham this week for work, an open return is £244. 2 x advance single tickets are £135 for the journey.

 

[Alex321]

But it shouldn't be like that, peak time more expensive than off peak, but just a standard fair price to travel at a time that suits

I couldn't disagree more.

Overcrowding on peak trains while off-peak run nearly empty is bad enough as it is, with varying prices. It would be even worse if the prices were all the same.

And it is no different to air fares, holiday costs, and several other "services", where off peak rates are lower than peak rates.

 

[Time Waster]

I'm certain I've read a similar moan thread on another forum which got a whole load of cheaper train travel options than the OP moaned about. Then others commented on similar continental routes costing similar prices or a lot more. Things like French faster routes costing a lot but more regional routes to same destinations costing a lot less. Or something like that. I really can't remember the exact details but it's like splitting your tickets in the UK I guess.

Overall you can travel 30 minutes earlier and save a lot. One trip from Darlington to Edinburgh cost very little but once on the train we got told the ticket was mot valid. It seems we'd bought it from one train company and travelled the exact route on another train operators service. Apparently the route ad something like A and B operators. The main A operator charged the most but operated twice the number of trains as the B operator. However b operator tickets aren't valid on a operator. Not sure if it is the other way around.

We had to buy a ticket on the train then claim back the original ticket price back m as unused. We did get that back but the ticket cost 50% more than if we'd got on the right train service.

It's really not joined up, but you can play the system if you spend enough time studying how it all works! Who does that I don't know.

 

[Brandane]

A bit too late now for the OP (or maybe not; online application is a quick process) but for us over 60's a senior railcard is a good idea for longer distance rail travel. Cost is £30 per year and gets you 30% discount on most train fares. So on your £280 fare, save £84, bringing it down to £196. Still stupidly expensive for a relatively short distance, IMHO.. Mine paid for itself with one return trip Glasgow to Birmingham for the motorbike show at NEC..