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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think train prices are crazy? Just spent eye watering sum London to Edinburgh

115 replies

AbsentmindedWoman · 01/08/2018 16:39

Almost £200 for two adults return. We are going next week, so it is fairly last minute, plus I know it's a lengthy journey, but woah.

Train prices seem pretty haphazard to me depending on the line.

Before the railways were privatised, were prices a lot better and more consistent?

OP posts:

28holid · 01/08/2018 22:55

Next week. Just under £50 per person each way.

I would say that's cheap tbh

Also....

Before the railways were privatised, were prices a lot better and more consistent?

The east coast is under government control.

MrsLandingham · 01/08/2018 23:05

The East Coast main line is indeed back under government control. It was renationalised in late June. When it was last nationalised it made £££ for the treasury. I was unreasonably delighted that all of the cheery 'Welcome to Virgin Trains East Coast' have now been removed from my nearest station .

MrsLandingham · 01/08/2018 23:06

Missing word - VTEC posters

NewtScamandersNaughtyNiffler · 01/08/2018 23:20

Seems cheap to me.

We were planning to visit family in Liverpool in October. (We live near London) The trainline quoted just over £600 return for 4 of us

Just checked megabus. It would be £34 return plus the cost of getting to Victoria.

manaftermidnight · 01/08/2018 23:24

Its not cheap. It's expensive. It's just not as insanely expensive as 600 quid.

phlebasconsidered · 01/08/2018 23:28

I wanted to travel 4 stops to our nearest town on the Norwich / London line so we wouldn't have to drive. There are fewer and fewer buses rurally. For all 4 of us for a return it would have cost £140, and that's with a child under 3! Total nonsense. Even booking a week ahead didn't reduce the price by much.

No wonder people drive. Living rurally i drive 22 miles each way to work every day. It still costs me less, all week than that one train journey!

28holid · 01/08/2018 23:30

Its not cheap. It's expensive.

It's less than £50 each way.

Not remotely expensive for a journey from London to Edinburgh.

DammitOedipus · 01/08/2018 23:32

How can people possibly think that £100 is cheap for a train? It is public transit! The company is making that much PER SEAT! It is absolutely bogus that this is an acceptable price for a standard return ticket (not first class) booked in advance. The fact that people think this is a reasonable price suggests that people of MN have far too much money to burn.

KlutzyDraconequus · 01/08/2018 23:35

I was reading that some times it's cheaper to fly from city to city in the UK now.

www.newstatesman.com/spotlight/transport/2018/07/every-major-connection-business-travel-within-uk-cheaper-air-rail

Ssssurvey · 01/08/2018 23:50

I would love to love traveling by 🚆. It just isn't that good. I suppose if you travel alone you can enjoy looking out the window (at the back-arse of the UK) rather than concentrating on the motorway. However, it is normally cheaper (depending on occupants) to drive. Journeys often involve changes, varying levels of basic cleanliness. My young son could not stop himself from patting the seat next to him and declaring 'smoke, there's a fire', the lack of basic cleanliness was grim. I tried to buy at the local station but the guy was confused (as was I) and instructed me to tell them at the main station there was a fault locally. Travelling with a little one is far more appealing in a car.

28holid · 01/08/2018 23:58

How can people possibly think that £100 is cheap for a train?

The distance travelled. You do know Edinburgh is hundreds of miles from London?

It was for 2 people so under £200 return equates to LESS than £50 each way.

It can be done much cheaper by booking well in advance, but for next week, height of the summer, less than £50 to Edinburgh is cheap!

manaftermidnight · 02/08/2018 00:00

1. The distance travelled. You do know Edinburgh is hundreds of miles from London?

Funny its the same distance to fly it, and I did that last time for 9.99. That is cheap. 100 pounds is not cheap.

Weedsnseeds1 · 02/08/2018 00:05

I agree rail is expensive. From my town in Somerset to London varies from £98 to £180 depending how far in advance you book and what time you need to travel.
Domestic flights are generally cheaper and quicker, even with taxi or car/ parking factored in.
The real disparity is when you look at European flights on budget airlines.
Flights from £25 return, even " expensive" budget flights are way cheaper than trains.

Bibesia · 02/08/2018 00:11

How can people possibly think that £100 is cheap for a train? It is public transit!

It's for a return ticket travelling 400 miles each way. That's less than 12.5p per mile. manaftermidnight, if you got a flight at £9.99, it must have been a special deal - the cheapest I can find online is £19. But of course that isn't the only cost of travelling from London to Edinburgh, because to get that sort of deal I would have to flog out to Luton or Stansted or Gatwick, none of which comes cheap, and I would also have all the hassle of getting through security etc.

28holid · 02/08/2018 00:12

Funny its the same distance to fly it, and I did that last time for 9.99. That is cheap. 100 pounds is not cheap.

Again, under £100 was for TWO people. So while yes, you got a cheap flight, you can't compare the cost of one flight against 2 train fares. Factor In the cost of getting to and from both airports as well, then it will be a more reasonable comparison.

28holid · 02/08/2018 00:14

Funny its the same distance to fly it

Forgot to add, no it's not!

manaftermidnight · 02/08/2018 00:26

Again, under £100 was for TWO people. So while yes, you got a cheap flight, you can't compare the cost of one flight against 2 train fares

You can, obviously, but if you need a hand with that, then 9.99 times 2 is a lot less than 100 times 2.

HTH

manaftermidnight · 02/08/2018 00:28

if you got a flight at £9.99, it must have been a special deal - the cheapest I can find online is £19. But of course that isn't the only cost of travelling from London to Edinburgh, because to get that sort of deal I would have to flog out to Luton or Stansted or Gatwick, none of which comes cheap, and I would also have all the hassle of getting through security etc.

19 is also a lot less than 100, fyi.

And Gatwick is much handier for some of us than central london train stations are, plus lack of security isn't worth 80 to 90 quid.

28holid · 02/08/2018 00:31

19 is also a lot less than 100, fyi.

Oh I know. But he point there was that you were trying to compare one airfare with 2 train fares. Not the same is it?

And Gatwick is much handier for some of us than central london train stations are,

That's great. But the point was unless you cost it station to station you cannot compare it with the train fare. Comparison only works for similar journeys.

It would be like me saying I can do London to Birmingham cheaper and that's fine because I don't want to go to Edinburgh.

28holid · 02/08/2018 00:32

You can, obviously, but if you need a hand with that, then 9.99 times 2 is a lot less than 100 times 2.

HTH

Erm, it wand time trying to compare ONE airfare with TWO train fares and omitting the cost of journey to and from airports.

If anyone needs help, it's not me

28holid · 02/08/2018 00:33

*it wasn't me

safariboot · 02/08/2018 00:50

Agreed. Walk-up tickets are expensive, for two or more people it's cheaper to drive and can be quicker too. It can even be cheaper for one person if you've got an efficient car. It would cost me about 80 quid in fuel but with a good modern car you could do it for 40. And it would still be the same price if you have four people in the car.

Advance tickets are cheaper but if you want to be locked into a particular departure time, with the resulting stress about making it, then the trains face stiff competition from the airlines.

EBearhug · 02/08/2018 00:57

Peak time one day travel card (train & tube) from Basingstoke to London on Tuesday was £56.20. The journey to Waterloo is less than an hour. There weren't any spare seats, so I had to stand all the way.

At the weekend, a super off-peak one day travel card with a Network Railcard is £16.70. Forty quid difference.

(Mind you, work will be paying for Tuesday's ticket as soon as my expenses clear.)

manaftermidnight · 02/08/2018 01:09

Erm, it wand time trying to compare ONE airfare with TWO train fares and omitting the cost of journey to and from airports

I am sorry for crediting you with enough intelligence to know that to compare two fares to one fare you had to simply double the one fare. Or halve the fares. You are quite correct that I should have explained to you how to do the calculation in my first post and not assumed you could do that for yourself.

I also assumed you could work out that some people live closer to airports and some people live closer to train stations, and that the costs to the airport were unlikely to be 9 times the cost of the flight anyway.

Better?

lornathewizzard · 02/08/2018 08:02

FYI you can get 3x value Red Spotted Hanky vouchers with clubcard points, for buying train tickets online

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