Cost of public transport!!

[wiggydiggy]

<Explanation>

Ah so its a condition of the ticket, ok fine well its still annoying nethertheless and should be changed

That said a single from Manchester > Stockport is about £3 so why risk it?

 

[srw]

But public transport has one significant advantage over travelling by car...

At-seat free wifi. I'm posting this from a train drawing into Liverpool. It's got here in two hours from Euston. My first class single was £34.50; the return fare will be £59.

The same journey any other way would cost me considerably more, take longer, or not be as pleasant. Or all three in the case of driving.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Ah so its a condition of the ticket, ok fine well its still annoying nethertheless and should be changed

That said a single from Manchester > Stockport is about £3 so why risk it?

Well, at the time we lived pretty much equal between Manchester and Stockport, the train we're on stops at, say, 7pm at Stockport - can get out and cycle home (bromptons, gotta love em); or can wait on the train for 10 mins, and then begin the cycle.

Or in your case, can spend an extra 30 mins (10 to Manchester, 10 till next train, 10 coming back to Stockport...!)

 

[wiggydiggy]

Well, at the time we lived pretty much equal between Manchester and Stockport, the train we're on stops at, say, 7pm at Stockport - can get out and cycle home (bromptons, gotta love em); or can wait on the train for 10 mins, and then begin the cycle.

Or in your case, can spend an extra 30 mins (10 to Manchester, 10 till next train, 10 coming back to Stockport...!)

Its not really a choice though is it despite the option you describe being the best. If the condition of the ticket says you have to depart at manc, then you cant complain about it when you sneak off and get fined. You can complain (and I'll help you!) that there should be a option to depart at stockport.

 

[SavageHoutkop]

Its not really a choice though is it despite the option you describe being the best. If the condition of the ticket says you have to depart at manc, then you cant complain about it when you sneak off and get fined. You can complain (and I'll help you!) that there should be a option to depart at stockport.

I think the main problem for the people who got caught (Stockport doesn't always have ticket checks and there are no barriers...) is that the ticket itself says nothing; but you were supposed to read the 'national rail terms of carriage' or something which is pages and pages of bumpf, which of course no-one reads!

Yeah, of course the ticket says 'Manchester', but it's easy to suddenly realise that you want to nip to the shops in Stockport, or go for a pint, or whatever, and the last thing on your mind is 'hang on, can't get off here' when the train is stationary with the doors open... It's just so anti-common sense that travelling a shorter distance, on the same train, would cost you more.

I have done it once or twice, although at the time I didn't know it was illegal.

 

[srw]

You got it in one, I live in Amersham.

Hello. Would it be embarrassing if I admitted that although I commute two or three times a week into London I don't have the faintest idea how much it's costing me?

 

[Archie_tect]

Once during GNER days I got on the wrong train with a specific Apex Advance ticket from Newcastle to London [ie the train I got on- at the correct time shown on the platform clock- was the earlier but delayed train in front of the the one I should have caught which was then similarly delayed behind the one at the station...OK so far?]. Asked the guard was this the London train- he said yes- so got on.

Later as the train was leaving York, the guard announced that the next and only stop before Kings X was to be Grantham.... my train was only supposed to stop at Peterborough, so realising a mistake had been made I went in search of the ticket inspector on the train.

I joined a queue of irate travellers [who had made the same error of getting on the train in Newcastle]. Every one of us was told we had to pay the full day fare from York to Kings X as we didn't have a valid ticket for that train, or be put off at Grantham, knowing that the following train that we should have got wouldn't stop at Grantham leaving us stranded.

There was no arguing with the guard who by this time was threatening to have any dissenters taken off the train by the BTP. So I paid the additional fare as I had to be in London for a meeting- only one person chose to leave the train inmprotest. Had the ticket inspector inspected the Kings X tickets in the hour before arriving at York, rather than after leaving York, we could all have simply got off at York and got onto our correct train immediately behind. I wrote to GNER as it was at the time but despite reminders got nothing back.

Had I had sufficient time to argue the case I would have refused to get off at Grantham and stood my ground until arriving at London Kings Cross... which I regret as it was a clear case of misrepresentation and laxness on the GNER staff's part.

 

[Mrbez]

Hello. Would it be embarrassing if I admitted that although I commute two or three times a week into London I don't have the faintest idea how much it's costing me?

Where are you commuting from?

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Pita by car, so looked at the trains, me and the wife, return - £160 approx

Farce Late Worsen (First Great Western) is said to be expensive, yes, but, conversely, I can go from Glasgow to Euston for about £18 single Standard class courtesy of Virgin Trains. 401 railway miles for £18, so it isn't ALL bad, you just have to know where to look and what to ask for.

I was talking to a guy who was going from Cambridge to London, and he said that it would have cost him about £100. I just about fell off my seat, I mean, what WAS he asking for, a gold plated, jewel encrusted ticket??

Public transport in this country is a rip off.

The trains were expensive in Italy when I was there earlier this month too. 108 Euros I paid for a return ticket from Napoli to Foligno (don't ask) via Roma .

Oh well, at least the Umbrian scenery was nice on the way to/from Foligno.
That said, I paid 56 Euros return from Napoli to Foggia (don't ask) another day.

I have still to see my Glasgow - London £18 single beat though

Was in Spain this year, local bus and a good one with a/c 4 Euro for me and the wife, return for a 8-10 mile trip. If i go to spain i never hire a car, just use the buses.

I arrived at Sorrento stazione last Friday there and had to get back up to where I was staying quickly because we were to leave for the airport soon.

It was a 5 minute journey by car, so I hailed the first taxi without thinking about it. I got up the hill, and at the top, the price was.... for a 5 minute journey....... 14 Euros!!

To say I was unimpressed would have been an understatement, and if the circumstances had been different, I would have refused to pay it, but it was my own fault for not checking

I could be heard ranting

'FOUR TEEN EUROS!!'

for quite a while afterwards.

If only in the uk

Like I say, with the trains, you just have to know what to ask for and when!

£18 from Glasgow to London standard class ya suckers!!

I doubt Queazyjet or Ryanscare could beat that!

 

[John the Monkey]

so it isn't ALL bad, you just have to know where to look and what to ask for.

And that's the thnig. You don't encourage people onto public transport by making the system byzantine and complex, or every day commuting (the journeys most of the UK, I'd imagine, do by car) the most expensive option.

It's arse about, favouring people doing their everyday short journey travel by car, and occasional long distance trips by train.

 

[vernon]

I live in Somerset, and the mother in law lives in Berks.

Pita by car, so looked at the trains, me and the wife, return - £160 approx

ok it was peak but could do it no other way.

Went by car, £50 inc petrol and a coffee at the services.

Public transport in this country is a rip off.

Was in Spain this year, local bus and a good one with a/c 4 Euro for me and the wife, return for a 8-10 mile trip. If i go to spain i never hire a car, just use the buses.

If only in the uk

I think that the rail service in the UK is incredible value for money. 'Travel on the day of purchase' are not cheap and not everyone has the luxury of being able to book well in advance. However the fare structures and discounting are fairly (sic) similar to France and Germany. The price per km might be higher in the UK but I currently don't have the stamina to research this.

In terms of passenger numbers - they are at their highest since WWII despite the loss of considerable numbers of branch lines and stations so something must be going right even though some folk elect to use alternatives.

 

[AnythingButVanilla]

I have still to see my Glasgow - London £18 single beat though

When I first met my boyfriend four years ago I was living in Glasgow and he was in London. I could get to London for £13.50 one way on the train and that was only booking a couple of weeks in advance, admittedly usually travelling midweek. When I moved to London 18 months later, I was looking at the best part of £90 return, booking a couple of months in advance and travelling midweek. I spent the first few months of this year travelling up and down due to family illness and a return ticket booked a month in advance was £120 and flying with BA was £124. Absolutely ridiculous!

 

[John the Monkey]

In terms of passenger numbers - they are at their highest since WWII despite the loss of considerable numbers of branch lines and stations so something must be going right even though some folk elect to use alternatives.

Which in itself is a problem. Operators feel they can afford to price passengers off their lines - the franchise system mitigates against extending capacity too (operators have asked to be allowed to do this, on condition that they are treated favourably when the franchise is extended, the government refused, so not unreasonably, the operators decide not to spend all that money on improvements others may benefit from).

So you have a situation where the journeys that would actually make a difference in freeing up the road network are expensive, and those that are a figurative drop in the ocean are cheap.

 

[wiggydiggy]

<Common Sense>

Absolutely

It should be clearer for these types of 'advance' tickets the the travel is restricted, although to play devils advocate how about you:

1) Buy your ticket as normal
2) Buy a single from manc > stockport
3) Get off the train, hide for a bit and then leave but if challenged present the stockport ticket

Would that work lol!

 

[Sara_H]

My bus route is served by different operators, in the morning its First in the evening its Stagecoach.

So I cant even buy a daysaver, because neither operator will accept a daysaver purchased from the other.

My 4.5 mile journey to work and back (no direct route, two buses each way) costs £7.40 and take 1 hour 15 minutes.