Public Transport Costs

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simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
So I'm planning a day trip to that there London (from Nottingham) in a few weeks time and I think about the travel options. A bit of Googling and I reckon the costs for 4 adults are:

1 - Car = fuel + parking at Stanmore tube + tube tickets (zone 1 to 4) = £76
2 - Train = bus to train station + tickets + tube tickets (zone 1 and 2) = £290
3 - Coach = bus to coach station + tickets + tube tickets (zone 1 and 2) = £290

I'm fortunate in that I have a company car and only pay for fuel, but even in a private car (costed at 50p per mile), option 1 would work out at about £160.

There isn't a great financial incentive not to add to the congestion on the M1 is there?
 

Robson3022

Senior Member
Horrific really. Ive recently been banned so have had to use a little public transport and the service + cost is terrible. Whats worse is I cant take my bike on an empty bus! (I have to drop my daughter off before work otherwise I would ride!)
 

dellzeqq

pre-talced and mighty
Location
SW2
I suppose it varies from day to day, but Southern will sell you the four tickets for midweek for about £128
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
There isn't a great financial incentive not to add to the congestion on the M1 is there?

In bits of Italy you'd be paying something in the ball park of about 8p a mile on the M1. All right so I know other countries do charging on motorways too, but that's the one I'm most familiar with.
 

ianrauk

Tattooed Beat Messiah
Location
Rides Ti2
2059094 said:
I see that Norman Baker wants smartcards to replace paper tickets, which apparently cost us 0.1p each, and to pass the saving on to us the great British travelling public. Well woopy f***ing do. What will you spend your share on?

A blackjack or a Rhubarb & Custard.
 
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simon.r

simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
I suppose it varies from day to day, but Southern will sell you the four tickets for midweek for about £128

To be fair, a bit more Googling and I can get it down to around that price, but travelling at odd times. Total cost still works out at about £170 though:sad:
 

snorri

Legendary Member
1 - Car = fuel + parking at Stanmore tube + tube tickets (zone 1 to 4) = £76
2 - Train = bus to train station + tickets + tube tickets (zone 1 and 2) = £290
3 - Coach = bus to coach station + tickets + tube tickets (zone 1 and 2) = £290

You must have miscalculated.
Every day there are people, including some of our politcal leaders, telling us of the huge costs of running a car, the same stories are in the newspapers so it must be true.:whistle:
 

Archie_tect

De Skieven Architek... aka Penfold + Horace
Location
Northumberland
If you are fortunate enough to be able to pre-plan any journeys by rail up to 3 months in advance you can get stupid prices to London and back from Newcastle but not at week-ends. Otherwise the day returns are ridiculous. But don't try cancelling and getting a refund or claiming on their insurance... I'm still waiting for a refund from a cancelled train journey in February.
 
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simon.r

simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
I'm a bit surprised by the coach option.

A bit of googling suggests a Saturday in London by coach would be £81 for 4 adults
Add in getting in to Nottingham bus station annd the tube and I'd have thought it would be less than £290?

http://coach.nationalexpress.com/ti...14f&returnid=d242108b4003985a6be51bcd85e3412a

You're right, a minor miscalculation, but not a significant difference:

I'm going on a Friday. Coach prices in my original post are traken from mega-bus as for some reason I can't get on the National Express website. £200 on Mega Bus + £18 bus to coach station* + £34 tube tickets. Total = £252

*I live about 8 miles from Nottingham centre, return bus fare = £4.50 each.
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
If you are fortunate enough to be able to pre-plan any journeys by rail up to 3 months in advance you can get stupid prices to London and back from Newcastle but not at week-ends. Otherwise the day returns are ridiculous. But don't try cancelling and getting a refund or claiming on their insurance... I'm still waiting for a refund from a cancelled train journey in February.

My impressions the last 3-4 years it's become more difficult (very far from impossible) to get (much) lower fares to London from places up north. I used to make trips to kent and occasional ones to London. On a broadly like for like comparison you now have to book further back and there seems to be fewer 'pot luck' deals where you could land something really cheap if you were extra lucky. The prices of the actual tickets have also crept up quite a lot as we all know (for tickets I've looked at 17 has become 20, which has become 23 and even higher). Even booking to Gatwick airport something like the amount of time you're talking about in advance I still had to wait in central London for five hours until the cheap tickets got released at 7pm and even then it was still £30 to get from London to Sheffield. It's a shame, because the actual two train journeys are a doddle and a lot more pleasant than complaining brits make out - the problem is not the journey but the cost and/or the long wait.
 
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simon.r

simon.r

Person
Location
Nottingham
In bits of Italy you'd be paying something in the ball park of about 8p a mile on the M1. All right so I know other countries do charging on motorways too, but that's the one I'm most familiar with.

8p a mile would add about £15 to the return journey (and that's not avoiding the motorway - using J21 to J4), so not enough to make a significant difference to the overall cost.
 

mangaman

Guest
You're right, a minor miscalculation, but not a significant difference:

I'm going on a Friday. Coach prices in my original post are traken from mega-bus as for some reason I can't get on the National Express website. £200 on Mega Bus + £18 bus to coach station* + £34 tube tickets. Total = £252

*I live about 8 miles from Nottingham centre, return bus fare = £4.50 each.

You should really try National Express simon - it's only £74 on a Saturday for 4 adults - that would arrive about 10am and leave London at 10pm this Friday coming - total £126 - so a bit more expensive than your company car but cheaper than a private car.

If you booked in a bit more advance it'd probably be cheaper :smile:
 

marinyork

Resting in suspended Animation
Location
Logopolis
8p a mile would add about £15 to the return journey (and that's not avoiding the motorway - using J21 to J4), so not enough to make a significant difference to the overall cost.

Was really agreeing with you. There isn't a great incentive not to, because unlike (some) other 'european' countries we don't toll motorways. So no, there isn't a great incentive because that incentive/disincentive is missing. It is trivial that such a scheme wouldn't be as much of a disincentive to four people as say one that did the journey all the time.
 
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