To think £75 a week to get to work is a bit steep

[justloseit]

Why is public transport so expensive??

It's £42.60 for the PP's journey from Rainham - so, Zone 6.

Just looked it up.

When fuel price are unfrozen & shoot up, parking place become as hard to find as rocking horse pooh - then things will change

I am so glad for my commute after reading this thread
4 miles for me from home - work so 8 miles a day. And we have free parking which is mega secure (can leave car unlocked/windows open etc)

But wouldn't things actually get worse? Higher demand so more excuse to charge more.

I pay, well actually my work pays thank fox, £5 k a year for a season ticket for a 50 mile journey into London for a shit service.

I would still pay £30 a week for the bus if my DP did not give me a lift to work. It. Might sound cheap compared to some costs here, but it is only five miles away and takes 40 minutes by bus on a good day. If I had someone to share a taxi with, That would actually be cheaper.

Mine was £72 a day. So I've recently had to hand in my notice after my second maternity leave as train fare + two sets of nursery fees meant I was actually paying out to go to work (and that was only going into the office twice a week, working from home on the third). And now have the joy of job-hunting

There was talk of pro-rata season tickets for part-time workers but that veeeery quietly went away.

My dh pays almost £500 every month. The trains are regularly late or cancelled, and he often has to stand for most of the 50+ min journey.

I would say 3 every week, sometimes more, rarely fewer. It's appalling, really. I've no idea how other countries make it affordable, especially as their services are usually much better/ more frequent.

Until public transport is free or very cheap, then global warming ' Extinction Rebellion' warnings are a load of useless 'hot air'.

A job came up recently that I would've have been perfect for - but the commute would be £100 a week which is completely not-doable. I feel your pain.

Best part is you pay all that money and the bus/train/whatever is usually late anyway!

£33.60 for 3 days a week train and tube, which i dont think is too bad.

There was talk of pro-rata season tickets for part-time workers but that veeeery quietly went away.

when i worked the opposite way to the rush hour it was cheaper for me to buy a ticket every day than buy a season ticket! I worked 3 days a week then as well and a pro rata ticket would still not have been worth it, I paid £7.20 a day and a weeks season ticket was £47

Costs us £10 per day to travel (together) for an hour and a half, then a half hour walk at the other end for me. Not bad I know, the alternative is a bus which is £80 each per month but won't get us both into work on time. They are also bringing in the CAZ which will be an additional £12.50 per day in a car so is bound in bump the bus fare up too. So either way it's expensive and rubbish

In answer to the OPs question, largely because of a political decision to raise fares by at least the rate of inflation every year, and because of the expensive structure of the rail service. The 3p in the £ profit figure is a lie, given the profits of the leasing companies and those contracted to Network Rail.

The separation of track and train creates a costly industry of blame attribution, and policies on maintenance that deny the opportunity for growth at times of day/week and year where there is the greatest potential.

I pay £20 a week for petrol but have free parking, I'm lucky, I was paying £30 a week 20 years ago in London

Depends on what you earn really!

Felford If you are making the same journey on 3 or more days within a week a 7-day Season ticket is likely to save you money compared to buying daily tickets

A weekly season ticket from my station costs £95.80 - I just looked it up. With my rail card, buying a daily ticket and travelling 5 days I pay £72.50.

Why would I buy a weekly season?

Buses are relatively cheap where I live but getting to see DPs and PILs (have to go via London for both) is so expensive. DH is learning to drive so we can see them more.

It's £42.60 for the PP's journey from Rainham - so, Zone 6.
But if you use oyster or contactless that same journey costs £10.20.
@Magicpaintbrush if you do that journey again, you could buy a peak open return from sittingbourne to rainham for £4.90. Then use oyster/contactless from rainham. Total cost £15.10. But you'd have to get off at rainham and swipe in and get the next train

Private car travel is subsided, fuel has been frozen

Virtually all buses and some trains are using the same fuel. There's no tax exemption, except for planes. So raising our already high fuel taxes does nothing to make public transport more affordable, it just makes all non-electric land transport cost even more.

London is introducing hydrogen buses, taxes use LPG in many areas which is 40% cheaper consumption @safariboot

Taxi 🚖 not taxes!

I can't believe Rainham in Kent is in Zone 6, Dartford is in zone 8 content.tfl.gov.uk/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf ... are you sure you're not confusing it with Rainham in Essex which is??

Yes, taxis have long been quite enthusiastic adopters of LPG. And indeed for a group travelling together, a taxi can end up cheaper than public transport. Which I think says more that public transport is expensive.

Otherwise, though, despite a few high-profile initiatives I think zero-emission buses are in their infancy. Electric trams and trains are ZE of course but require infrastructure building.

Even if all buses were zero-emission, economics predicts that increasing the cost of car driving will increase, not reduce, the cost of public transport because it will increase demand. (Also, the bus drivers have to get to work!)

Indeed cheaper for 4 people to get a taxi from Coventry to Heathrow at £108 v £30 each for the coach

Added to which you’d have to get to the coach stop

The train is more expensive than both these alternatives