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Original poster

The price of train tickets!

182 replies

PopNotPolitics · 30/12/2023 18:19

The cost of train tickets is rising AGAIN! We seem to get this every single year!

I earn okay, but I almost always take the coach when I travel between cities as I just can't justify the cost of the trains anymore as they are.

Surely they will just be unaffordable to most people soon, and what will happen then?

OP posts:
DdraigGoch · 30/12/2023 22:19

RockaLock · 30/12/2023 21:54

We (me, DH, 2 DC) looked at the price of train tickets from south London to Cardiff last year.

Even booking several weeks ahead, it was going to be well over £200 for all of us. Or we could drive it on one tank of petrol.

We drove...

Do you have a Family & Friends Railcard? I've just checked fares from South London (checking several random stations for balance and they all had the same price) and Super Off Peak Returns to Cardiff came to £65.05 per adult and £18.70 per child, so £167.50 for a family of four.

It's still a lot of money but considerably less than you were quoted. Slight issue that you can't leave Paddington before 10:15 Mon-Fri but otherwise it's a flexible ticket which can be purchased at any point until boarding, no need to book ahead.

Driving would have cost around £140 or so, using the HMRC mileage rate.

rtyfs · 30/12/2023 22:35

It's one of the reasons I fight the back to the office crew at work. People's commuting costs have sky rocketed but pay hasn't kept pace so our staff will be severely out if pocket if we try and force them in more

NeverDropYourMooncup · 30/12/2023 22:48

I detest coach travel as the level of pain from being crammed into one of those for five hours left me barely able to walk. However, the journey cost next to nothing instead of £180 for a trip where we had to spend it sat on the floor by the toilet door because they'd cancelled the service before and suspended all the seat reservations, so there were giant suitcases blocking the aisles and in every third seat.

If we can get a seat, the train is far less painful - but there's no guarantee of that and pain+guaranteed seat+reasonable cost is better than pain+no seat+hundreds of pounds to pay for the privilege of seeing some twat's samsonite in your seats.

Oh, and coaches don't tend to go on strike every holiday or close down the entire road network at the other end of the break, so there's more chance of getting both there and back again in the first place.

Not looking forward to a 150 mile trip we have to do next month. But that would have been £285 for Advance tickets with a railcard for two. Compare to a tenner each on national express, plus getting to the coach station. Just have to hope that I can walk at the other end.

kitsuneghost · 30/12/2023 23:04

DdraigGoch · 30/12/2023 22:19

Do you have a Family & Friends Railcard? I've just checked fares from South London (checking several random stations for balance and they all had the same price) and Super Off Peak Returns to Cardiff came to £65.05 per adult and £18.70 per child, so £167.50 for a family of four.

It's still a lot of money but considerably less than you were quoted. Slight issue that you can't leave Paddington before 10:15 Mon-Fri but otherwise it's a flexible ticket which can be purchased at any point until boarding, no need to book ahead.

Driving would have cost around £140 or so, using the HMRC mileage rate.

Edited
Show quote history

Eh!!!
London to Cardiff is only 150 miles
1 tank of petrol (£60) does 450 miles
Where are you getting £140 from.

airforsharon · 30/12/2023 23:09

About 18 months ago i did the same journey approx 6 times over 2 months, travelling to and from an ill relative. Train should've taken approx 2 hours & involved 1 or 2 changes. Easy, right? Hahhahaa. Every single time there was a problem - train broke down, points failure, a connecting train left from the wrong platform with no notice given, several delays so i missed the connection....

A few weeks ago dh took a dc to the theatre in London. On the home journey several trains were cancelled - he messaged at one point to say they had no idea if any trains were going to run. One eventually did, but obv had to cram on several train's worth of passengers so dh & dc stood, packed like sardines, for over an hour. Arrived home 4 hours late. Paid over £100 for the privilege. Complete joke.

FlabMonsterIsDietingAgain · 30/12/2023 23:18

On the rare occasion I need to travel into London for work it's £193 from Leicester. Mainly because I can't guarantee a time to travel back due to meetings over running or changing last minute so need an open return.

everyredsock · 30/12/2023 23:18

I would say my DH and I earn well. We'd much rather travel by train both for work and for holidays. But the cost is just so prohibitive that it makes much more sense to drive.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 30/12/2023 23:46

Deleted - Double posted.

XenoBitch · 30/12/2023 23:53

My best friend moved 150 or so miles away. A train to visit her costs over £220. It is madness.

DontKaleMyVibe · 31/12/2023 00:06

DdraigGoch · 30/12/2023 22:19

Do you have a Family & Friends Railcard? I've just checked fares from South London (checking several random stations for balance and they all had the same price) and Super Off Peak Returns to Cardiff came to £65.05 per adult and £18.70 per child, so £167.50 for a family of four.

It's still a lot of money but considerably less than you were quoted. Slight issue that you can't leave Paddington before 10:15 Mon-Fri but otherwise it's a flexible ticket which can be purchased at any point until boarding, no need to book ahead.

Driving would have cost around £140 or so, using the HMRC mileage rate.

Edited
Show quote history

I think your maths is off 🤔 when we do that journey it costs £45 max for a round trip

user1497207191 · 31/12/2023 00:11

Ostu · 30/12/2023 19:11

Very frustrating. Councils up and down the country are doing everything they can to stop people driving while at the same time public transport is bloody awful and trains especially so.

Yep, they clearly don’t want us to travel and want town centres to become derelict!

DdraigGoch · 31/12/2023 01:23

kitsuneghost · 30/12/2023 23:04

Eh!!!
London to Cardiff is only 150 miles
1 tank of petrol (£60) does 450 miles
Where are you getting £140 from.

Show quote history

Round trip of 310 miles, HMRC mileage rate of 45p/mile. That'll cover not only fuel but all of the other costs involved too.

DdraigGoch · 31/12/2023 01:29

DontKaleMyVibe · 31/12/2023 00:06

I think your maths is off 🤔 when we do that journey it costs £45 max for a round trip

Show quote history

My maths is fine. 45p/mile is what HMRC consider a reasonable expense claim for driving (drops to 25p/mile after 10k miles/year though). HMRC aren't likely to inflate this as it's in their interests to minimise this as much as possible. On that basis I consider it a reasonable approximation of the full cost of driving. Fuel isn't the only expense after all.

Aaron95 · 31/12/2023 01:31

Trains are very expensive to run. The government over the past 10 years or so cut the subsidy they used to pay to the train operating companies so you are now seeing the true cost of travelling by rail.

Should the government subsidise trains again? I don't know. There are large areas of the UK with virtually no access to trains.

christmaspawpaws · 31/12/2023 01:33

WellWillWoll · 30/12/2023 21:47

Gets me so cross that it's considerably cheaper for me to drive to work than it is to get the train. And that takes into account all the costs of running my car, not just the petrol.

Why would anyone choose to help save the planet and use public transport when it's over crowded, unreliable, dirty and expensive??

It's crazy. I live 5 miles from my work (WFH now thankfully!)

To get a bus I would have to get one from my home, the opposite way, into town to the bus station. Then from the bus station back out past my house to near work, then a 15 min walk. I looked at it once and with bus changes/times it would be about 2.5hrs
Or I could drive in 15 mins

Lincs90 · 31/12/2023 01:57

Until earlier this year I was commuting to work by train. I've started driving in - it costs slightly less, is quicker and more convenient. But it feels like a huge step backwards. I believe in public transport, I've previously chosen to use it even when more inconvenient. But after nearly two decades of commuting to work by it, I can no longer justify the personal sacrifice of time and cost especially with caring responsibilities that require reliable and quick access to home.

mjf981 · 31/12/2023 02:04

Whenever I visit the UK I'm gobsmacked at the cost of train travel. You are all getting well and truly ripped off left right and centre. Its an outrage.

Does anyone have a comparison chart of costs between countries? I'd wonder if on average per mile travelled, the cost in the UK is the highest in the world. I can't think of anywhere else which would come close, and I'm relatively well travelled.

kitsuneghost · 31/12/2023 10:11

mjf981 · 31/12/2023 02:04

Whenever I visit the UK I'm gobsmacked at the cost of train travel. You are all getting well and truly ripped off left right and centre. Its an outrage.

Does anyone have a comparison chart of costs between countries? I'd wonder if on average per mile travelled, the cost in the UK is the highest in the world. I can't think of anywhere else which would come close, and I'm relatively well travelled.

www.euronews.com/travel/2023/01/09/rail-fares-across-europe-the-countries-with-the-most-expensive-train-tickets

ExtraOnions · 31/12/2023 10:16

…and The Mail wonders why people want to continue WFH ..

daffodilandtulip · 31/12/2023 10:23

I looked at trains when we were visiting Leeds uni. For two of us, it was around £180. Petrol was around £30.

We used to often travel to Manchester by train but it's now cheaper to drive and park, even with the ridiculous parking charges in the centre.

SilverGlitterBaubles · 31/12/2023 10:33

It makes zero sense that they are pushing environmental initiatives to discourage car use while actively discouraging people from using public transport by making it so expensive. Despot what some well meaning quango thinks we can't get everywhere by bicycle.

kitsuneghost · 31/12/2023 10:34

DdraigGoch · 31/12/2023 01:23

Round trip of 310 miles, HMRC mileage rate of 45p/mile. That'll cover not only fuel but all of the other costs involved too.

Show quote history

That's not a real consumer cost though
You pay £200 for the train or £60 for petrol is the real cost that means anything
Nobody's Car costs them 45p a mile to run in real life unless you are really unfortunate and have a gas guzzler.
My figure is half that including service MOT insurance etc but other cars will vary.

PinkVest · 31/12/2023 10:35

Sorry haven't RTFT but is everyone aware of TrainSplit? Tickets often massively cheaper!

tescocreditcard · 31/12/2023 10:36

I don't normally moan about the UK but my God, we could do with a better and more affordable public transport system. We live on a small island for god's sake, how hard can it be.

SausageAndEggSandwich · 31/12/2023 10:37

Used to be a regular train traveller. Like others have defected to national express. £30 return instead of £120. I don't mind paying a bit more for a train but 4x the price is a piss take