The price of train tickets!

[PopNotPolitics]

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?

But the point is that we should not have to use an app specifically to fiddle the algorithm to work it out - when you book a ticket it should show you the best option available.

If a journey goes A-Z then the ticket should cost the same regardless of whether you have one ticket going A-Z directly or 24 tickets going from A-B; B-C; C-E; E-F ... X-Y; Y-Z - you shouldn't be penalised if you want to go A-Z and don't know (or just don't have the time) to search all the possible combinations to work out if the ticket can be bought cheaper in stages, not to mention all the different prices based on when you book.

I use the Trainline who also use split ticketing but you shouldn't have to have a degree to get a ticket for less than £100 for a journey that costs £40 in petrol but can be bought for £17.65 if you've got two hours to beat the algorithm.

They are bonkers!

In September I took the train from Northampton to Brighton, and that was nearly £80.

Nowadays, if I'm not in a hurry, I get the National Express. It's about £16 return, if that, and perfectly pleasant.

@melj1213 I agree, it shouldn't be necessary. But I just don't understand what you mean about it taking 2 hours to beat the algorithm. It's instant. No fuss at all.

Rubbish, it was the Major government who took the lean, well-functioning BR that existed by 1994 (the reputation it deserved in the '70s was no longer true) and broke it up into bits.

Breaking it up created duplication, inefficiencies, and a competitive market for skilled staff so the poverty wages paid by BR (people were working 30 days without a day off in those days to feed families) escalated as private companies fought to poach skilled staff off of each other rather than pay to train them from scratch.

Privatisation also (ironically) resulted in far more government interference. BR used to be given an annual budget and told to get on with the job. Through the Labour, Coalition, and Conservative years DfT control has got progressively tighter to the extent now that MDs cannot so much as fart without permission from Whitehall. Any expense over £500 needs a sign-off from a civil servant and given how much Unipart charge for spares that's resulted in a considerable extra admin burden for Production Managers in Fleet. Strikes? It's worth noting that Scotland, Wales and Merseyside haven't been affected by industrial action, the action has been confined to staff under the control of the English government.

Oh yes, life would be so much better if everything was more like the uncontrolled privatised water companies, just pumping shit into the rivers whilst ripping off customers and giving our money to shareholders.

The rail unions are pretty much the only thing stopping the government dismantling what is left of the railway service.

*Kazzyhoward · Yesterday 11:49

The reality is that trains are a job creation exercise rather than a public service. Unions have ruined them, like everything else is ruined when there's a strong stroppy union in control*

They were ruined when they were privatised. They should be a state owned service. You can even guarantee catching a train near me.

Most are state owned! Network Rail (infrastructure) is state owned. Many of the train operating franchises are now controlled directly by the state and paid a fee for running the trains. It wouldn't really be much different if there was overt state control - the likes of drivers etc wouldn't be directly employed by the state - nor would train manufacturers, maintenance etc - it would still all be contracted out.

I’m not sure bringing them under government control ) especially this government) is the same as nationalising them,

Nothing works anymore in broken Britain.

does anyone remember Ladies Days, bring back Ladies Days !

So now we've got the worst of both worlds. Incompetent management with central government, but without the efficiencies of being a common organisation.

I can't remember the last time I travelled long distance by train, apart from a brief spell in my 20s (over 30 years ago) when my employer was paying for it.

These days I travel by bus, just hand my suitcase over to the driver or assistant to put in the hold, climb aboard and sit back and relax. There's always either a usb port or 3 pin socket to charge my phone or tablet for a long journey. Even better if I can reserve the top deck front seat for the best views. I have an insulated lunch bag with shoulder strap which fits all my food and drink for the trip, and there's usually a pull down tray in front of the seat. I'd advise taking loo roll and hand sanitizer in case it's run out in the toilet, but it's not always needed.

Either way, it's usually around a third of the cost of rail - so bus it is for me.

Same has happened with other public services. Just look at the state of the NHS now that it is so fragmented with multiple different trusts being responsible for the treatment of single patients if they have multiple health conditions, none of which communicate with eachother leaving the patient as a "piggy in the middle"!

Or local authorities arguing over which should be responsible for gritting roads on boundaries or fencing/road signs, litter picking etc. I.e. with litter, the "responsible" authority for motorways refusing to do litter picking on slip roads saying it's local council responsibility, but local council refusing saying it's the motorway authority, the end result being that litter remained unpicked for 20 years!!

An old thread, but I’ve been considering moving to Bath (1hr 15mins from London). I need to be in London 3 days a week. This would cost me £165 per day at peak time, or a grand total of £2,000 per month, or £24,000 per year (I’m not eligible for any railcards or other discounts that would help). This is absolute insanity!!

Rail travel in the UK is ridiculously expensive, as compared to every other country I have ever been.

Why is this? Less governement subsidies? Inefficient business models? Greed? Can someone please explain and attempt to justify the outrageous cost?

It's ridiculous. We use to love getting the train to London for a show/shopping etc. if we booked well it would be around £30 (from up north) now even the 'cheap' seats are triple that.

This is insane especially when we should be encouraging people to use public transport rather than cars.

Re-Nationalise Rail

Bath is more than 1hr 15 from London. I agree the prices are too high for standard tickets, but it does seem a bit mad to live approximately 2 hours away from somewhere you need to be half the week. It's not sustainable.

Sorry for your loss. Could you look into getting the bus?

Yes - I’ve concluded it’s not really feasible unfortunately, even if I were to go in two days a week. If the services were cheaper and more reliable, it might be different.

Trains are expensive to operate. But the biggest difference is that in the UK there is no longer any government subsidy of rail fares. Until about 15 years ago trains were subsidised to the tune of around 50% of fares. Essentially for every pound spent on a ticket the government contributed a similar amount. This was phased out by previous governments and now rail subsidy is practically zero.

The funeral was in January. I hope she made it.

The train system is a joke in this country. How can a coach be cheaper? Think about it. Trains have their OWN road which is exclusively for them. Trains can carry 200, 300, sometimes even more people, whereas a coach is about 50. Trains don't need to pay to park, congestion charges, tolls, road tax, etc. Trains should be the cheapest form of transport going but no no no.

Oh, my bad. 😔😔😔

I'm not sure it's that simple, although agree that trains should be cheaper.