Rail versus coach travel

[Yellow Fang]

I wanted to travel from Reading to Milton Keynes today. To get there by train and back would have cost me £69-50. So I decided to look how much it would cost me to get there by coach: £5-60 return from Reading to Oxford, and £11-65 return form Oxford to Milton Keynes, £17-25 by my reckoning.

 

[GIOS]

Unfortunately you always tend to get what you pay for.

 

[Monsieur]

Unfortunately you always tend to get what you pay for.

Too right.
Was there a 4 hour wait at Oxford?

 

[Spartak]

Why didn't you cycle ?

 

[Yellow Fang]

Why didn't you cycle ?

Did consider it, for 20 seconds.

 

[Yellow Fang]

Too right.
Was there a 4 hour wait at Oxford?

No, about 20 mins. Overall the journey was about an hour, maybe an 90 mins longer than the rail journey would have been, but at least I got a seat.

 

[Dayvo]

Booking National Express (train and bus) tickets a few weeks in advance will save you a lot of money on the net.

Not always practical if you suddenly need to go somewhere.

 

[Brandane]

Train fares are just silly. It works out cheaper for me to drive on any route I have ever done, even on a solo trip. In the car I am guaranteed a seat and don't have to hear other peoples phone conversations.

 

[Fnaar]

I don't know why we can't get transport right in this country. Train fares are prohibitive unless you book well in advance, and coaches generally smell of vomit and poo, and seem to be a popular repository for 'care in the community' clients.

I've travelled round Spain quite extensively by coach, and it's SOOOOOOOOo civilised by comparison.

 

[oldfatfool]

Scrap all trains and turn the lines into dedicated cycle tracks, save the country a bloody fortune in subsidies, provide cyclists of all abilities a large, safe and useful cycling network.

 

[Globalti]

I did once read somebody who reckoned that railways were the most inefficient use of land ever, due to the fact that they are out of use for 98% of the time.

 

[BrumJim]

Don't know where that figure came from, but I guess it is one of those ignorant made-up stats.
A railway line can carry far more people per unit width than roads, and hence is more efficient in land use than any other form of land-based transport. Don't know how it compares with air though.

 

[P.H]

I wanted to travel from Reading to Milton Keynes today. To get there by train and back would have cost me £69-50.

That sounded like a lot of money, so I had a look, the off peak day return fare is £37.50.
I don't mind traveling by coach with someone, I don't tend to do it on my own, there's no telling who you'll end up sitting next to and there isn't always the same opportunity to find somewhere else to spend the journey as there is on the train. Some of the Mega Bus deals are fantastic value, I went Sheffield Newcastle for £6 last year. When I've looked at National Express it's usually been 30 - 50% cheaper than the train, that isn't usually enough to compensate for the added time and less comfort.

 

[Yellow Fang]

That sounded like a lot of money, so I had a look, the off peak day return fare is £37.50.
I don't mind traveling by coach with someone, I don't tend to do it on my own, there's no telling who you'll end up sitting next to and there isn't always the same opportunity to find somewhere else to spend the journey as there is on the train. Some of the Mega Bus deals are fantastic value, I went Sheffield Newcastle for £6 last year. When I've looked at National Express it's usually been 30 - 50% cheaper than the train, that isn't usually enough to compensate for the added time and less comfort.

I wasn't going off peak though. I needed to be there by 10:30.

 

[P.H]

I wasn't going off peak though. I needed to be there by 10:30.

I suspected that to be the case, I was just putting the fact that it isn't always that expensive even traveling the same day.
What time did you have to leave to get there by coach for 10.30?