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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think the prices of train tickets are a disgrace

125 replies

justfoundout2014 · 01/02/2015 08:04

I live in the East Midlands and thought a trip to London would be nice in half-term, especially since DD has been full of her school topic on the Great Fire of London and Samuel Pepys etc

The cheapest tickets are £150, and those are at times that are far from ideal. I thought maybe I could get a better deal by booking further ahead, but on the sites I've looked at so far, prices are similar for Easter hols now and besides, I really want to go soon while dd's project is fresh in her mind. Sites mention peak and off-peak times, but there seems to be little variation in prices across the whole day.

Coach is a lot cheaper but takes 3 hours - a bit much for a day-trip. I could pay the money, though find it hard to justify that amount for one day, but obviously many would never be able to even consider it.

So privatisation has worked so well, hasn't it? Look at competition bringing those prices down...oh, wait a minute... Seems rail travel is the preserve of the wealthy now, aside from commuters who have no choice but to pay up.

These companies are being subsidised through our taxes - aibu to think they should be forced to do something about their ridiculous prices?

OP posts:
BeyondRepair · 03/04/2015 18:25

You right op, its National disgrace, its crippling, I cannot afford to use the trains.

And its not even as if the service is good, its appalling.

Dowser · 03/04/2015 20:07

Tried splitting the ticket Cardiff to Brum -£55
Brum to darlo....- £88

£143 ....one way

Haven't bothered with the return. Where are you all getting your bargains from

textfan · 03/04/2015 20:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Dowser · 03/04/2015 21:20

Flights are £322 !

Ratfinkandbobo · 03/04/2015 21:23

Yanbu rail the cost of train travel is extortionate! I get a network rail card from where I live to go to London, get a third off the fare. Is there similar in your county?

Dowser · 03/04/2015 21:24

Bristol to Newcastle flight is £66 return!

BarbarianMum · 03/04/2015 21:26

4 of us travelled Sheffield to London (return) for £65 over February half term. Booked 3 weeks in advance with a family and friends railcard. We did stay overnight though and travelled off Peak.

DamselNotInHerDress · 03/04/2015 21:32

What I resent most is travelling at peak time (obviously the most expensive) and not getting a seat, leaving me either standing for 50 minutes or sitting on the scummy floors, with only 1 working toilet out of 4. For the bargain price of £40 Hmm
For a bloody 50 minute journey it's disgusting.

Dowser · 03/04/2015 23:53

Damsel

Too right it's disgusting.

I don't think we complain enough as a nation. That is to the right people.

The whole system needs scrapping and starting again. When a return flight is £66 and a train ticket £140 . There's something seriously wrong.

When a bus company can do it for half the price.

No wonder there are fare dodgers.

CatHammock · 04/04/2015 00:14

For a while until my house sale went through, I had to commute from Reading to Bristol. The mortgage is less than my monthly ticket was. Granted, it's a long journey - but it's also a nice house.

Chchchchanging · 04/04/2015 00:18

Look at London midland rather than virgin
Or drive to stanmore and get tube?
Or if your more north east mids than me they sometimes have air link special from em parkway
But you will need to avoid peak travel so 930 onwards

keepitsimple0 · 04/04/2015 00:41

I don't mind that much whether trains are public or private, I do care about whether they are subsidised. As far as I know they still are to some extent. That needs to be phased out, which means prices need to go up or profits down. As trains are already very expensive compared to road, I expect that would put some pressure on profits.

Are you willing to be even handed about it? if trains aren't to be subsidised, then neither roads? the problem is that then we won't have any infrastructure (and I wouldn't trust private investment for the nations infrastructure).

That doesn't really help the OP take her school age child at half term though. There's a limit to how flexible people can be. And, like other types of travel, train prices take a hike during school holidays.

that's a great argument for abolishing this idiotic draconian national system of school holidays, not for rail companies not to respond to demand. No matter what you do, demand during this period is higher, and one way to deal with that is with spiking prices. You can't demand that train companies store hundreds of trains just so half term travellers can have cheap fares. it's simple supply and demand.

I am a foreigner and have been won over to the british rail service. prices are relatively cheap (if you are flexible) and the service is reliable, and that's pretty hard to achieve. I will echo what someone above has said that the most annoying thing about the system is the complexity of the rail fares, and that's just out of control. You can literally have 20 different fares for trains between the same two places. Often, it's not clear what the price difference between two fares reflects (flexibility?). there should be a much smaller number of fares (advance, peak, off peak, first class etc).

keepitsimple0 · 04/04/2015 00:43

also, i repeat what has been said - get the appropriate rail card.

Dowser · 04/04/2015 09:12

Is there one for an under 60 single person

keepitsimple0 · 04/04/2015 09:36

Is there one for an under 60 single person

there's the network railcard for the London area.

BoneyBackJefferson · 04/04/2015 10:43

keepitsimple0
"Are you willing to be even handed about it? if trains aren't to be subsidised, then neither roads? the problem is that then we won't have any infrastructure (and I wouldn't trust private investment for the nations infrastructure)."

The hole in this is that roads are publicly owned and if they are privately owned they are not subsidised.

keepitsimple0 · 04/04/2015 11:17

The hole in this is that roads are publicly owned and if they are privately owned they are not subsidised.

sure. But we have to decide what's a good investment for infrastructure. It's possible that while roads are publicly owned and subsidised they may be entirely inefficient, and they certainly are not self funding. What seems odd to me is to take this no subsidies stance in one area and not another (without some basis for it). This applies even if the provider is private - we can still decide it's a good idea to subsidise rail travel.

Dowser · 04/04/2015 12:07

But we don't live in London. This is for a trip from Cardiff to Darlington...maybe twice a year.

DocHollywood · 04/04/2015 12:22

Dd coming down from coventry on Wednesday and I just checked her train (Virgin) and you can get a day return to Euston for £43 for I adult and child. Plus the cost of a one day adult travel card for London for £17.00. Other days might be even cheaper!

ifgrandmahadawilly · 04/04/2015 13:12

YANBU. It's cheaper to fly.

DocHollywood · 04/04/2015 13:38

Lol at flying being cheaper! By the time you've factored in the time and costs spent getting to and from the airports, you've lost the will to live. Grin

Binkybix · 04/04/2015 13:51

The hole in this is that roads are publicly owned and if they are privately owned they are not subsidised

I might be wrong but I think the tracks and infrastructure are also publicly owned, but I agree it's the overall principle of whether we should subsidise types of travel that's more important.

DocHollywood · 04/04/2015 14:35

But airfares are ridiculously subsidised aren't they? That's a subsidy I wish they'd get rid of.

textfan · 04/04/2015 21:18

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

cruikshank · 04/04/2015 21:30

It's not just a question of whether or not we subsidise though, is it? I mean, my issue with the rail companies is that since privatisation the amount of subsidy they get has gone through the roof. They now cost more in subsidies than they used to cost since it was BR, and the price of travel is also more expensive. So, privatisation hasn't worked. It's more expensive, because they are less efficient than the old national system was. So they should be re-nationalised. It's as simple as that. You might disagree on ideological grounds, but you cannot disagree on economic grounds. It was an experiment, it didn't work, time to put it to rest.