The cost of train journeys

[mjr]

The price, for a single from Bridlington to Morecambe? SIXTY THREE of your English pounds!! (There does not appear to be any off peak option in my search for 21st March). It also involves at least 2 changes of train, and a total journey time of nearly 5 hours.

There seems to be something deeply strange going on there. I think I've looked at the Yorkshire Coast Line before and concluded the rail regulators aren't working for it: high prices, strange off-peak times and poor connections. Same as I wouldn't judge the whole network as excellent because I used to be able to travel Edinburgh-Manchester for £2 or something, I wouldn't judge it as awful because of one anomaly.

If you own a car in any case, then there are fixed charges for insurance, MOT, and VED.

For the second time, mileage-linked insurance policies are available.

If you miss your train because of another train's oops I think you usually are allowed to catch the next train going. If you miss it because of something unrelated to a train (like a bus, tram, or car...) your tough luck.

Yes, if it's all on one ticket, you can get the operator that caused the problem (or whoever runs the next station you alight at) to endorse/open the ticket. That's a benefit of having the whole journey on one ticket (or using the special London International CIV destination if you're connecting to a Eurostar), but some travel insurance will pay out if you miss a train because bus/car/whatever had a problem.

Also,

The small print probably has something along the lines of if the connecting service is provided by the same train company.

Nope! The two complications are that it's better to get the delayed train company to endorse the ticket (the connecting one may not know it was late) and that if you want to claim a refund due to late running (one hour late = full refund) then you need to claim from the one whose delay caused it. Once I had a full refund from Deutsche Bahn Cross-country because their service was nine minutes late and it caused a cascade of missed connections totalling exactly an hour.

I played around with Bridlington - Morecambe and you can definitely buy Bridlington - Seamer - Leeds - Morecambe for about £40 as 3 separate tickets

I think it's £30 for 2 Advance tickets via Sheffield but it takes even longer (45+min waiting in Sheffield, 30 min somewhere else) and if the train to Sheffield gets cancelled, you're stuffed. It's really not good.

Fiddly journeys to or from the back o' beyond, or any journey that has to be done now, it really has to be the car.

Another option often overlooked that I sometimes use is to drive the car to an intermediate train station less than the 2 hours maximum driving-without-a-break time away. I did that for the CycleNation annual meeting last weekend: drive from the fens to Rugby (£22 cost), £3 parking, £10 walk-up return ticket into Birmingham, 4 trains an hour = £35. I would have used Stamford (£14+2+23) because it gives me another 90 minutes reading but the fair was on, which means motorists queuing to get into town, which makes predicting arrival times tricky and it's only one train an hour.

 

[PhilDawson8270]

Including parking, and fuel. I can commute quicker, and cheaper into Manchester City Centre using a train than a car. The issue is that the trains don't run at times when I regularly finish work! So I'm stuck with a car commute

 

[nickyboy]

I think it's £30 for 2 Advance tickets via Sheffield but it takes even longer (45+min waiting in Sheffield, 30 min somewhere else) and if the train to Sheffield gets cancelled, you're stuffed. It's really not good.

I think the "best" route is Bridlington - Seamer, Seamer - Leeds, Leeds - Morecambe which comes in at about £40. The benefit of this is that these are off-peak rather than advance so if you miss the connection you can get the next one

 

[jefmcg]

I think the "best" route is Bridlington - Seamer, Seamer - Leeds, Leeds - Morecambe which comes in at about £40. The benefit of this is that these are off-peak rather than advance so if you miss the connection you can get the next one

Might there be some point in the middle that has reasonable connection to both ends, and get a train to the start, and back to the car at the end?

(I could look at a map, but that would be work )

 

[mjr]

Might there be some point in the middle that has reasonable connection to both ends, and get a train to the start, and back to the car at the end?

Not likely, else wouldn't you do the original trip by getting a ticket from the start to that point and then a ticket from that point to the end, avoiding the car journeys?

 

[Brandane]

For the second time, mileage-linked insurance policies are available.

Yes I know; I've got one. In fact it's a fairly standard question on proposal forms now - "How many miles do you expect to do in a year?" or some such wording. Of course you have to be generous with your estimate "just in case". I put myself down for 15k per year because I never know how busy my work is going to be, or what distance I might have to travel to get there. As it happens, it's been quiet. I'll be surprised if I do 10k miles in the car during this particular period of insurance.

 

[Drago]

Gonna have to start paying for my train journeys in 20 days time. Bummer.

 

[mjr]

I'll be surprised if I do 10k miles in the car during this particular period of insurance.

So either you'll get some sort of reward (refund, discount next year, ...) for doing fewer miles (and in which case the insurance isn't a fixed cost) or the policy wasn't the sort I'm trying to describe.

 

[midlife]

Gonna have to start paying for my train journeys in 20 days time. Bummer.

Just out of curiosity, why so?

Shaun

 

[Brandane]

[QUOTE 4198062, member: 259"]Drago is reversing in time, so he will stop being a pensioner by then. He's due to get his own hair and teeth back in 2025.[/QUOTE]
.... Or @Drago will become a pensioner, and in so doing will be required to part with the ID card he currently has to carry around which entitles him to some free local (?) rail travel. . A perk which did not apply in my day (certainly not north of the border anyway).

 

[Brandane]

So either you'll get some sort of reward (refund, discount next year, ...) for doing fewer miles

You have more faith in the generosity of insurance companies than I do.

 

[Drago]

.... Or @Drago will become a pensioner, and in so doing will be required to part with the ID card he currently has to carry around which entitles him to some free local (?) rail travel. . A perk which did not apply in my day (certainly not north of the border anyway).

Regional. A bit more than regional even. Good for cheap days out in the smoke.

 

[mjr]

You have more faith in the generosity of insurance companies than I do.

No, I just selected a policy that is mileage-linked in such a way. I feel that selective quoting was very naughty.