Heartland

I've just seen on the News the it costs £220 for a Day return ticket from London to Edinburgh , I had no idea it was anything Like that price, and the Government wonder why people don't use public transport as much as they'd like

I can still get a child's fare to Sheffield if I ask nicely, and for a day return that's £6.50

scotty wrote:I've just seen on the News the it costs £220 for a Day return ticket from London to Edinburgh

That's the price you would pay if you just walked into the train station and bought a standard day return (but who would buy a day return from Edinburgh to London, it must be about a 12 hour trip one way?). If you bought the ticket in advance it would only(!) be £94.10

I am fairly fortunate to be under 26 so am eligible for a Young Persons Railcard which I can use to get a third off all rail ticket prices. This is handy when you go to Brighton once a month and it only costs you £25.10 instead of nearly £40!

As a very regular user of public transport (every day), I cannot believe them when they say "If you want better public transport you will have to pay for it" (they said that on the news I saw). They will simply cream off the extra profit as far as I am concerned.

When we were on our way up to Leeds for the recent HL do, myself and LazCorp were relegated to having to sit on the floor between carriages infront of the toilets which was wonderful. Not what I expected when I had spent £117 on train fares for the weekend eh?!

Pfft. Must be favouritism.

£15 for the same distance (Liverpool to Sheff) with my railcard. I guess they just sell them for whichever price people will pay. Exploitative bastards

A quick Google found I could Fly from Edinburgh to London for seventy quid, it takes about an hour or so I think?, I don't use public transport at all really, there's only a couple of buses run close to where we live which is six miles from the Town, we did take the train from Forres to Aberdeen a couple of months ago and it cost us about £30 which I thought was a bit steep. I just had no idea it cost as much .
So, are standards getting any better on the trains?

scotty wrote:So, are standards getting any better on the trains?

I don't think so to be honest. As someone who has always used public transport (parents never had a car when I was small and I have had no inclination to learn how to drive yet) I can't say that I have seen any improvements apart from two later trains back from Norwich to my town (a later one on sundays and one mid-week)

I got on a train to Norwich once and there were only first class carriages which I thought was weird as you never have first class on this journey. So I sat down in one of the carriages and asked for a single to Norwich (as I was being a dirty stop out that night ) and the ticket man gets all snotty and says "I should really charge you 1st class fair as you're in 1st class accomodation" Where else was I supposed to sit ffs!

The long distance ones that I've been on are rather nice, provided you can get a seat, which I generally can, since Liverpool is the terminal station on the transpennine line. The local trains were a bit crap until recently, but they're slowly getting better - comfier seats, warmer and generally better decorated (it shouldn't matter, but it does ).

As with Bof, I'm obviously doing the same journey every month (at different weeks, otherwise it'd be silly ) but in the opposite direction. Brighton to north Norfolk is £36 if I manage to book a "Super Advance Return" (otherwise it's £52). And to be fair, £36 to travel all that distance (and back) isn't too unfair. However, the cost of a "standard open return" is £100.

The moral is: book in advance and find out about all the possible tickets (the online booking system is quite good at suggesting cheap tickets - it save me about £50 on the Blocktober weekend by suggesting I checked out the prices of single tickets rather than returns, which actually came out cheaper)

The Brighton to London Victoria train is fine - nice and clean (strangely the firm that runs the Brighton to Kings Cross Thameslink train doesn't have such high standards).

Then, after a stint on the tube, it's onto the diabolical disaster that is One Trains (who operate all the trains between London and the East of England). Never have I experienced such a continual level of incompetence and late-running as I have found on One Trains.

scotty wrote:I've just seen on the News the it costs £220 for a Day return ticket from London to Edinburgh , I had no idea it was anything Like that price, and the Government wonder why people don't use public transport as much as they'd like

I usually get from Glasgow to London return for around £30 if I book far enough in advance. Last time I upraded to 1st class on return journey for an extra £20 I think. I prefer the GNER route and their trains are much nicer, but Virgin West Coast do the cheaper tickets so I usually go that route. Hoever I'm most disgusted with their expensive new Pendalino trains. I admit they have cut the journey to an acceptable time again but the automatic doors shut too soon and just about cut you in half, and one can smell the stench from the toilets throughout the whole carriage. Not to mention the deceptive push-button toilet doors that don't always lock when they should. I've been confronted one time too many with some poor woman trying desperately to pull her clothes back up and shut the door at the same time - and failing dismally. I was mortified so god knows how she felt.

for future reference scotty, contact the Andrew S booking agency, well in advance

James Blast wrote:for future reference scotty, contact the Andrew S booking agency, well in advance

And take a clothes peg for the journey.

I can't wait untill the megatrain goes to more places so I can try it out myself. Whenever possible, I travel by megabus because it's amusingly cheap.
But trains do take the pish a bit with some of their prices. I wouldn't mind so much, but for that price I'd expect at the very least a train that arrives on time, an unflooded toilet and under 1 foot of litter on the floor.

James Blast wrote:for future reference scotty, contact the Andrew S booking agency, well in advance

I think I'll stick with this mode of transport, it got us from Forres to Leeds via Glasgow and Galashiels for about £80 return, it stops where and when you want it to, you can pick the music and don't have to share it with people you don't know!

London - Edinburgh is one of the fastest (and thus most expensive) routes in the country. It's much less than 12 hours one way. I'd guess about five would do it, which still makes a day return slightly pointless.

But it's like booking flights: if you sacrifice a bit of flexibility and buy in advance, it's not a bad deal. Also, booking early means you can reserve seats and don't have to stand.

Locally things are pretty good, even if one railways are involved. Their Liverpool St - Southend line works fine, and hasn't increased off-peak fares this year. It could be quicker, but it runs late enough to get me home from gigs in London so I can't grumble.

The alternative c2c line into Fenchurch Street has more modern trains, also keeps running until about 1am and has actually reduced weekend fares into London. A ticket which cost me £14 last year was £11.30 yesterday. That includes an all-zone travelcard for tube, DLR, rail and bus throughout London, plus a 40-mile journey each way along the estuary. I don't think that's bad value to be honest.

Some of the engineering work is a pain, but with access to two lines there's nearly always an alternative. Maybe I'm fortunate, but I've always found the rail network to be prettyhelpful. Beats the hell out of driving, except when it's a train full of West Ham fans on a match day.

scotty wrote:A quick Google found I could Fly from Edinburgh to London for seventy quid

Can I point out that I fly from Brussels to Dublin AND BACK for that price?

IZ.

IMHO I think people also severely underestimate the true cost of driving; when silly prices get bandied about for public transport, folk are bound to have a sharp intake of breath. If people stopped to think about the sheer bloody time, expense and hassle of the private motor car, they'd never get in the bloody things.

Which still doesn't excuse the profits/subsidies being creamed off by said operators et al of our fine network. Privatisation my arse.

lazarus corporation wrote:The Brighton to London Victoria train is fine - nice and clean (strangely the firm that runs the Brighton to Kings Cross Thameslink train doesn't have such high standards).

Bloody Thameslink sucks!

It's obscene. The government couldn't care less about promoting public transport, or the environment or preventing congestion either, for that matter. Perfect example of why they're full of hot air.

Fares should go up by at least 50%.....

Might get a decent payrise then

snowey wrote:Fares should go up by at least 50%.....

Might get a decent payrise then

Wishful thinking mate. It would all just go to the shareholders and fat-cats.

markfiend wrote:
and fat-cats.

..cats in hats?

I pay £1 for a days travel on london transport (from 9.30am - 4am next day).

markfiend wrote:

snowey wrote:Fares should go up by at least 50%.....

Might get a decent payrise then

Wishful thinking mate. It would all just go to the shareholders and fat-cats.

Bloody Oi! Who you calling "fat"