Travelling by train, what a rip off!

[Andy in Germany]

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

As a regular European train user, many thanks.

However I think you'll find in Germany it's because local, state and federal governments subsidise rail travel. Some local branch lines here are owned by the towns along the route and subsidised by them, and in urban areas it's generally subsidised by the city or metropolitan area. Franchises for inter regional services are let by the state.

As said elsewhere, the advantage of this is the politicians responsible for the decisions are nearby, so their a**e is in kicking range if it goes wrong. We recently had an ''international' operator fail and the state owned rail company took over everything.

 

[AndyRM]

I guessed at Rhyl as a starting point and my first result was £180 on the dates you wanted.

Train travel can be expensive if you do everything last minute, but tickets are released 3 months in advance so a bit of forward planning helps a lot.

As mentioned, Railcards, travelling off peak and ticket splitting make it considerably cheaper.

 

[Kingfisher101]

Well yes, train travel in the U.K can be very expensive unless you book well in advance like people have said. Its a well known fact, so I'm surprised you are shocked?
She could go on the coach? that tends to be a lot cheaper, but its if you can cope with it.

 

[Cycleops]

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

Which just means everybody ends up paying for it not just the travelling public.

 

[SuffolkBlue]

I guessed at Rhyl as a starting point and my first result was £180 on the dates you wanted.

Tried that on National Rail Journey Planner and got the same (unsurprisingly). Moved along to Chester as a start point (rather than drive to Bristol) and got £128 return.

 

[bobzmyunkle]

As someone said above, try split ticketing. Used to have to do it yourself by trial and error, but Thetrainline will do it for you automatically these days

 

[Andy in Germany]

Which just means everybody ends up paying for it not just the travelling public.
Labour have promised to bring it back into government ownership but you can bet the prices won't come down. Now we're getting into N&CA territory.

Everybody ends up paying for car travel even if they don't use it. On balance most European countries have decided it's cheaper over all to get people out of cars and onto bikes and public transport.

 

[richardfm]

Everybody ends up paying for car travel even if they don't use it. On balance most European countries have decided it's cheaper over all to get people out of cars and onto bikes and public transport.

In Luxembourg all public transport is free for the users.

 

[vickster]

In Luxembourg all public transport is free for the users.

Hardly a like for like comparison to the UK

 

[Cycleops]

I guessed at Rhyl as a starting point and my first result was £180 on the dates you wanted.

Train travel can be expensive if you do everything last minute, but tickets are released 3 months in advance so a bit of forward planning helps a lot.

As mentioned, Railcards, travelling off peak and ticket splitting make it considerably cheaper.

I used Wrexham on those dates and got £125 plus there's a 10% off on Omio at the moment.

 

[chriswoody]

Here in Germany they have introduced the Deutschland Ticket a €49 a month rail ticket that allows travel on all regional trains within Germany, as well as trams and buses within Cities. Technically I could travel the length of the country multiple times within one month all for the princely sum of €49. The only restriction is that I need to travel on slower regional trains.

Practically though it's even better than that, my local operating authority here in Hannover run a job card scheme, whereby I pay a monthly subscription pre-tax for my train ticket, which works out at €33 a month. To put that into perspective, before this scheme I was paying €180 a month for my train travel, now I pay €33 a month and my ticket is valid for travel all over Germany.

 

[vickster]

Everybody ends up paying for car travel even if they don't use it. On balance most European countries have decided it's cheaper over all to get people out of cars and onto bikes and public transport.

Still very high per capita vehicle ownership across Europe however
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/ve...g top spot is New,about 20% of the population.

 

[Paulus]

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.

I've just looked on the trainline app, Exeter to llandudno, I'm guessing at the destination here, out and back on the dates you said and I got return tickets on specified trains for £163. That's without any railcard discounts.

 

[vickster]

I've just looked on the trainline app, Exeter to llandudno, I'm guessing at the destination here, out and back on the dates you said and I got return tickets on specified trains for £163.
View attachment 730812

And as above, a £30 annual railcard could save over £50 on that trip alone

 

[Cycleops]

You need to be careful using the train ticket apps as some short journeys are cheaper direct from the train operators.