I now commute by train - 50% of the time!

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by Gazza77

Exactly, it needs more subsidies to encourage more people off the road. Get rid of subsidies and you could be talking £50 to Leeds and no-one would use it. Trains are never going to be self funding in most cases, however they provide other economic and social benefits, eg keeping traffic off the roads.



That's privatisation for you..... even the local PTE's won't deal with each other to encourage cross county travel. I travel anywhere in WYorks for £965 pa on any bus or train. A season ticket to Manchester (approx same distance as Leeds) costs over £1500 for that one journey alone, simply because it crosses between WYPTE and GMPTE.

No it needs to be nationlised and forced to run as an integrated whole. There is more public money going on the railways than ever before (in percentage terms) to aid private companies! Madness! If British Rail had had the level of funding now going into the rails, it would have been a good service. (and I hate labour / left wing policies as a rule - so this is not party political)

[yorkie_chris]

Go ask some old russians how it used to work there... just shoot the managers if a train is more than 13 seconds late...

I did a bit of mental arithmetic the toher day regarding how much it would cost to buy a weekly travel card for london, and how much that would cost per year compared to running the SV.

Turns out, I save so much money on fuel for the SV (for all the petrol I buy in a year, I could buy 4 months worth of weekly travel cards I think...i spend about £15 on fuel compared to £37.50 or whatever it is on a travel card...maria said that isn't a peak fare though!), i still have enough left over for the MoT, tax and insurance. And after all that, I'm still quids in.

So.....I'll stick to the SV thanks, and get to work in at most 40 minutes instead of at least an hour by tube.

Matt

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

Why the hell should people pay tax for a service not all use?

Part of my taxes (NI) pay for NHS which I rarely use
Part of my taxes pay towards income support / child support / dole money which I don't use
Part of my taxes pay for lots of things not all people including me use - it's swings and roundabouts really isn't it

Originally Posted by yorkie_chris

That's a quid more than my fuel to do the same.

There are many journeys I do that are cheaper on fuel than the bus fare. Getting into brighton town for me and maria costs £7 for two returns; its about £1.50 in fuel for the whole trip (there and back inclusive), and probably cheaper if I'm not having a bit of throttle-based fun with it.

Originally Posted by Gazza77

Everyone has different circumstances.
...[snip]...
No brainer really.

For those circumstances, it definitely seems the better option!


I tried my luck with the trains again last night as I was heading into the centre of Manchester (as it made sense to get the train in as to not worry about parking, and also meant I could have a drink or two with a meal).

Firstly... it was 20 minutes late, making us only JUST able get in on time for a comedy act we were seeing... which was the annoying part...

I can't complain too much though as there were some advantages to it:
- On the way there: At the station we get on at, there are no ticket machines, so we have to rely on paying for it on the train after a certain time in the afternoon when the ticket office closes. On the way in, there was no ticket collector on the way, nor anyone checking tickets at the other end when we got there.
- On the way back: We were in a rush to get the train (as they're only once an hour) so didn't get chance to use the automated ticket machines, and again, hoped to rely on the ticket collector, for which again there wasn't one.

The train has it's uses.

I can get from the M8 corridor to the centre of Edinburgh or Glasgow in 25 minutes. It takes a minimum 1 hour by car during the week, and can take 1hr 45 including getting in and out of car parks. It's about equal to taking the bike, but on the bike I have to know the customer I am going to see doesn't mind me not wearing my best suit and tie.

The West Coast main line train from Glasgow Central to Birmingham New Street now takes 4 hours and advance single tickets are usually available a few days before for £25 quid each way, so I can door to door faster and cheaper than the car and I can relax and sleep/read/web/ipod. I just wish I could use it more as when going to Birmingham, I often have the family and dog in tow.

The East Coast main line train is considerably quicker and easier than the car 'cos the roads from Edinburgh to Newcastle are crap and full of speed cameras, so you are usually better going down the M74/M6 and across the A69 or A66, which takes 3 hours. Not sure about cost 'cos I always buy the ticket on the day as work is paying and I need flexible times.

Originally Posted by Steve_God

I can't complain too much though as there were some advantages to it:
- On the way there: At the station we get on at, there are no ticket machines, so we have to rely on paying for it on the train after a certain time in the afternoon when the ticket office closes. On the way in, there was no ticket collector on the way, nor anyone checking tickets at the other end when we got there.
- On the way back: We were in a rush to get the train (as they're only once an hour) so didn't get chance to use the automated ticket machines, and again, hoped to rely on the ticket collector, for which again there wasn't one.

Completely free journey, result!!

Sometimes you wonder if the train companies want our money, other times there's no bl00dy doubt that they do! If they bothered to put more ticket barriers on platforms, they wouldn't need to charge such extortionate fares when you need to travel at short notice.

[jamesterror]

Just noticed an ad on the local free paper which is from London Midland £5 advanced single to London which I thinks quite good as its a 100 mile drive from here.

[Stu]

Originally Posted by gemma1675

Cheap?
We just bought a couple of train tickets into London for the bike show at the end of Jan and I am shocked at how expensive it is. We avoided peak times, but it is still £80 for two of us.

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/pj/fa
You should have bought 4 single tickets for £30 instead of 2 return tickets for £80.

HTH