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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to be shocked at the price of public transport?

51 replies

TooManyButtons · 03/03/2011 10:16

I needed to go to town this morning. With the ridiculous cost of petrol, I thought I'd try the bus instead. I live on a main bus route, 6 miles from town.

A return to town cost me £4.80 Shock. £4.80 to travel a total of 12 miles, coupled with a 10 minute wait at a freezing cold bus stop. And what is usually a 15 minute journey took 35 minutes.

I'm at uni in a city 25 miles away. To get there would take 2 buses and a train journey, and take over 2 hours, whereas I can drive there in 40 minutes, and the parking is free.

I'm all for public transport, but why would I want to pay more/take longer when I can travel in my warm, comfortable car?

OP posts:
SecretNutellaFix · 03/03/2011 10:20

That doesn't sound so bad.
It costs £1.05 to travel by bus from the town centre to the closest bus stop to my house (1/2 a mile). Less than a mile, but due to an ankle problem, I can't walk it. Not after a 9 hour day of being on my feet at work.

That is single fare as well.

CharlotteBronteSaurus · 03/03/2011 10:20

that's privatisation for you.

I was shocked to find out that the cheapest return fare here is £4.10 - even just for a few stops - when i was heavily pg and couldn't face walking to the midwife clinic with a toddler in tow. next time i took the car - free parking, minimal petrol.

in london transport is still subsidised and the buses are much better value (£1.30 single i think).

KnittedBreast · 03/03/2011 10:21

if you live that far away from uni you should get extra help with travelling costs. i think its outside of a 3 mile radius

QueenOfFlippingEverything · 03/03/2011 10:23

Where we live, to go to the nearest town-with-proper-shops on the bus with DD costs us £13.80!!

Its a fucking joke.

If there was decent public transport at a reasonable cost we would give up the car in a flash. I only learnt to drive a year ago, til then we managed everything on public transport. But when we moved to a rural area that became impossible.

thefurryone · 03/03/2011 10:25

The cost of public transport in many parts of the country is ridiculous, and seriously undermines all strategies to get people out of cars and ease congestion. Really really really annoys me.

BetsyBoop · 03/03/2011 10:25

When I go to the regional hospital I always walk from the train station to the hospital - it takes about 20 minutes, so about a mile I guess?

Last time I went it was absolutely tipping down with rain so I thought sod it, I'll get the bus - £1.80 Shock - it took 7 minutes, half of that sat at traffic lights... needless to say I walked back after my appointment Grin

YANBU

Original poster
TooManyButtons · 03/03/2011 10:30

Bloody hell QueenOfFlippingEverything £13.80 makes it seem a real bargain here!

KnittedBreast No help with travel costs I'm afraid. Luckily I live near a fellow student who car shares with me. Another reason not to use public transport!

So how are we supposed to get about, to places with shops where we can spend and boost the economy?

OP posts:
BaroqueAroundTheClock · 03/03/2011 10:40

YANBU - and the irregularities in prices have me Angry too.

2yrs ago I moved house to the very edge of a "nice" estate, it had a local bus serving it ran 1/2 hourly and was only really full at rush hour times (not that we really have rush hour in our town, but anyhow).

across the main road just a 2 minute walk from my closest bus stop was another bus stop that the bus serving the mucher poorer area stopped at. The distance from down was equal, It ran every 15 minutes and was always really really packed.

I can't remember the exact prices now (and can't find the threadI started at the time ranting about it either) - but for me and the 2 DS's to get to town it was nearly £2 more expensive on the bus that ran serviced the "poor" area to the bus that serve by area! And yes it was the same bus company!

lesley33 · 03/03/2011 10:41

IME people who don't use public transport regularly are always shocked at the cost.

Rhian82 · 03/03/2011 10:42

Heh. We have extortionate bus charges here as well (Bath), but there's no free parking in the city centre, so it's still dramatically cheaper to take the bus. Parking fees are insane (yet in Keynsham, which is the same council, they're in pence rather than pounds).

lesley33 · 03/03/2011 10:44

BTW knittedbreast students in scotland get help with travel costs if more than 3 miles; students from england and wales don't.

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 03/03/2011 10:44

lesly - I use public transport and I never fail to be shocked at the cost.

ASecretLemonadeDrinker · 03/03/2011 10:46

I think it's awful. I could get to Durham for about £60 petrol - all the famiy in the car. Costs £188 a person by train! Why would anyone bother?? Pennies to get to town & free parking but about a fiver return on the bus. If PT was alot cheaper, I'd use it. But it's so much more expensive.

QueenOfFlippingEverything · 03/03/2011 10:46

Its not £13.80 each - thats for two adult returns and one child return.

Still a rip-off IMO when it costs me less than the price of one adult return to drive there and back.

Dolcegusto · 03/03/2011 10:47

Most bus fares are set by the local council not the bus companies. You can usually buy a weekly ticket if you use it regularly.

TotemPole · 03/03/2011 10:49

Have you worked out how much your car costs to keep and run compared to using public transport all the time?

Add up the insurance, tax, petrol, parking, servicing, repairs, MOT etc.

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 03/03/2011 10:51

£188 a person by train to get to Durham - where do you live Shock!

I can do Northamptonshire to Edinburgh for 2 adults and 3 children (although actually there's only me as an adult, and I do't need to pay for DS3 yet Grin) - just using it as an example for £200 for all of us if I wanted to travel today.

OR with an advance single to say go during half term I could do it for £93.50 for 5!

TotemPole · 03/03/2011 10:52

Just to add.

If the car is cheaper, keep the car.

If public transport is cheaper, consider getting rid of it. Though obviously there's the convenience to consider.

If you use public transport frequently there are various travel cards, discounts that can make each individual journey work out cheaper.

MackerelOfFact · 03/03/2011 10:55

It is insane. I even think London buses are expensive (£1.30 with an Oyster card compared to 70p in 2003 when I first moved to London), but I know that's cheap compared to elsewhere in the country.

Trains are just robbery, especially when they're so unreliable and overcrowded. I think they should give up 3 carriages of every train, remove all the seats and equip them with extra poles - this can be the 3rd class carriage where you pay less and don't expect a seat. Better than the current system where you pay full price, don't get a seat, and have to contort yourself around seated passengers to reach something you can grab onto.

TotemPole · 03/03/2011 10:57

£188,Shock sits on the shocked bench with Baroque, that must be first class.

I can do one adult, one child, London to Darlington for around £100.

The friends and family railcard is good value. It works out cheaper to buy the railcard(that lasts a year) and ticket together than just buy the ticket.

iskra · 03/03/2011 11:00

I agree with charlottebrontesaurus. Outside London the public transport in this country is pretty rubbish. Deregulation destroyed it, frankly. In my home city most of the bus companies run up & down the main student route trying to undercut each other in price, & leaving all over routes to be heavily over-charged with an infrequent service.

iskra · 03/03/2011 11:01

sorry, all other routes I mean.

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 03/03/2011 11:02

I knoew Totem - 2 adults, 3 children Northants-Edinburgh £200 to travel today -admittedly that's with the family and friends railcard - but even without it an advance return is £173 total (so like you said you could get the railcard and the ticket and stll save money), travel today without a railcard would be £390. But that's still a lot less than £188 each Grin

Olessaty · 03/03/2011 11:05

It's alright here. We pay £1.65 for an all day ticket to use all the buses around the town. Going further afield is more expensive though, the next town over, less than eight miles, costs about £5.50 for a return. If you are working there, going to college, or making regular trips to the hospital (as I am at the moment) it can get very expensive.

BaroqueAroundTheClock · 03/03/2011 11:05

Hand on let me check first class prices Grin

£784 (not matter when you travel) - so £156 per person.