Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 47 total)
  • £188.00
  • Gordy
    Free Member

    Err, wee sanity check please. Mostly for the novelty I thought me and a pal might take the train to Aberdeen on Friday instead of the car (returning on Saturday). It seems that’ll cost £188.

    I use the train in Edinburgh a lot but not often further afield (and clearly I’m not about to start doing so at that price!) but is this normal? I’m very good with pooters but maybe I cannae work thetrainline.com properly?

    Thanks for listening!

    Flaperon
    Full Member

    Trains is for the rich, innit?

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    is that 188 each or for the two of you. Theres ways of wangling cheaper tickets on the train, but as soon as theres more than one person travelling it’ll always be cheaper by car

    I’m very good with pooters but maybe I cannae work thetrainline.com properly?

    one way to bring the price down is if there are any connections treat the legs of the journey as separate journeys, on longer trips through tickets are often more expensive than the sum of their parts

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    glupton1976
    Free Member

    £113 for pretty much any service via scotrail website.

    Liftman
    Full Member

    I get it coming in at £45 return, what times are you travelling at

    CountZero
    Full Member

    I’ve only booked a train once, and that was about a fortnight in advance. AFAIA, leaving it until pretty much the last minute means you get hammered, they rather have you over a barrel. My knowledge of this is, quite clearly, very limited, so there might well be ways to wangle it to get tickets much cheaper.

    andrewh
    Free Member

    Is that from Edinburgh?!
    .
    I knew trains were pricey but…
    .
    Fortunaely I’ve not had to use one for about 4 years. Two off peak singles from Reading to here in South Lincolnshire £96.
    Diesel for same trip in my van £15.
    And they wonder why there’s so much congestion slowing the traffic down. At least the train will be quicker. Oh wait, no it’s 2hrs in the van and 5hrs on the train when you get to Kings Cross and find yours has been cancelled.

    andrewh
    Free Member

    Also, you can hire a tiny car for a weekend for about £50, petrol to Abderdeena and back (240m round trip?) would be about £20 in a runabout. Train looking a little daft TBH.
    .
    Saw an article in a car mag a few years ago. Two blokes wanted to get from London to Newcastle and back. Price of 2 on the day return tickets, second class, was whatever it was.
    They found it was cheaper to buy a car, insure it, tax it and buy petrol to get them there and back. It was an old Sierra they bought for about £200 IIRC.

    Gordy
    Free Member

    I was only moaning; don’t go asking a lot of questions. 😉

    Between about three and five o’clock on Friday, returning after lunch on Saturday. Oh, and in fairness it was £188 for both of us.

    The thing is, CountZero, they don’t have me over a barrel at all. I’ll just take the car and they’ll get nowt.

    Edit – aye, Edinburgh to Aberdeen and back, Andrew.

    glupton1976
    Free Member

    Aye – £113 for the pair of you. Off peak return.

    CountZero
    Full Member

    The thing is, CountZero, they don’t have me over a barrel at all. I’ll just take the car and they’ll get nowt.

    Well, yeah, that’s the thing, innit! It’s always ‘get people out of their cars, use public transport, won’t someone think of the polar bears/children/kittens’, but faced with your circumstances, only the completely daft is going to opt for the train.
    Or the carless… 😀

    DT78
    Free Member

    Last weekend, wife and I were going to take the train, southampton – birmingham, cheapest rail fare was £66 each. Took the car, third of a tank of fuel there and back approx £35.

    Even if I had travelled alone it was about the same price as driving, without the convenience of the car.

    Surely people will stop bothering using trains?

    Gordy
    Free Member

    Right you are, glupton, but the car still wins I think. Thanks for the tip though.

    jota180
    Free Member

    Darlington to Guildford return for me on Friday is £380 ish (can’t remember exactly)

    tomhoward
    Full Member

    Andrewh, top gear did he same thing, bought 3 cars (an Audi, Volvo and a rover), taxed fueled and insured them to drive from that London to manchestoh for lots less than the price of 3 train tickets.

    grantway
    Free Member

    Makes me Laugh as the high speed trains in Spain are about to drop there fares from 30 to 70%

    I remember once when I went unto Manchester on business 5 years back
    and ask first for a return and that was £55 and for a single was £ 54 so returning they
    valued it at £1 pound what the ffffff.

    andrewh
    Free Member
    plecostomus
    Free Member

    Due to the snow I had to use a bus to get into Llangollen I live 4.5 miles outside of town it cost me and ms plecostomus £12 return! I thought we are supposed to be encouraged to use public transport! It’s a rip off.

    andrewh
    Free Member

    Could have bought 12 Volvos for that!

    cfinnimore
    Free Member

    Unassociated post:

    Can get from Edinburgh to Fort Bill and back with the bike for 20 quid with my 16-25 railcard.

    They even let you get pished and talk Gaelic with the locals. BOOSH!

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    managed to get 2 of us on the train from stonehaven to glasgow once for 22 quid each – had to book 12 weeks in advance

    but had to book from aberdeen to glasgow – then get on at stonehaven to do it as parking at aberdeen is more than my train – stoneys free

    then i got on the train – was standing room only , found my booked seat with someone in it , explained that they were in my seat – they didnt seem too fussed about moving and were not at all disabled so just explained move or ill get the conductor to move you as i have paid for that seat and you have not – they moved begrudgingly.

    given the chance again i think id just take the car and be done as it was not convienant , it wasnt plesent and it wasnt comfortable.

    the ukraine has a better rail service than we do , ours is a bloody joke – and dont get me started on the busses , my mother works for stagecoach , i got free bus travel when i lived at home. I took a bus to uni once and decided not to bother again – took me 2 hours to travel what i can do on the train in 20 minutes with less walk at each end.

    gonefishin
    Free Member

    but had to book from aberdeen to glasgow – then get on at stonehaven to do it as parking at aberdeen is more than my train – stoneys free

    then i got on the train – was standing room only , found my booked seat with someone in it , explained that they were in my seat – they didnt seem too fussed about moving and were not at all disabled so just explained move or ill get the conductor to move you as i have paid for that seat and you have not – they moved begrudgingly.

    You may not have found the conductor quite as amenable as you think. If someone books a seat but doesn’t get on at the correct station then it becomes fair game. Booking a seat doesn’t (or didn’t) cost anything, you paid for a ticket not a seat. Also on most train journeys you aren’t allowed to break your journey so you would have been more in the wrong than the person sitting in “your” seat.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    wah wah wah. took me that long to find my seat if the conductor asked 😉

    Can I break my journey? Yes
    •You can break your journey at stations along the route of travel.

    from the scotrail website – seems scottish trains actually have a sense making system unlike virgin and eastcoast.

    just another reason NOT to use our failing antiquated rail system.

    piemonster
    Full Member

    Was looking at moving down into sunny Sheffied not so long ago.

    Decided on staying in Scotland as the GF can get London quicker, for less money. Go figure.

    (there’s a requirement for short notice travel)

    binners
    Full Member

    The better half recently had to travel to London from Manchester at short notice. At peak time, the standard ticket price quoted was £270 return! 😯

    She declined Virgin Rails perfectly reasonably priced offer, and made alternative arrangements.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    like a private hire car ? a limosine ? a private jet ? all of which are probably on par with our train service at short notice :d

    HoratioHufnagel
    Free Member

    Its pretty simple, how much do you want the government to subsidise the railways?
    Should it always be cheaper than the fuel for 1 person in a car, what about 2 people? Should you factor in the other costs of running a car, or just the marginal increase for your journey once you already own it?

    The tories don’t want you to get out of your car and save the environment either (what makes you think that?!), they’ve stopped increasing fuel duty, tried to make the speed limit 80mph and made it harder to install speed cameras.

    glupton1976
    Free Member

    Also on most train journeys you aren’t allowed to break your journey so you would have been more in the wrong than the person sitting in “your” seat.

    In Scotland you can break your rail journey anywhere you like – certain tickets which are few and far between have some limited restrictions on them.

    toppers3933
    Free Member

    I needed to be in aylesbury for 9am. leicester to aylesbury on an anytime return ticket is £181. and takes 3:38 minutes. I could hire a car, brim it with fuel drive there and back, brim the tank again, pay to get it washed and hoovered out, return it to hire company and a taxi home from hire company for less. and get there at least an hour quicker.

    trail_rat
    Free Member

    181 for 3:38 minutes ….

    3200 quid an hour* …. i need to get in on that ……

    *course i know you mean 3:38 hours* !

    * i hope

    gonefishin
    Free Member

    …certain tickets which are few and far between have some limited restrictions on them.

    At a guess I’d say that the ones that get you from Aberdeen to Glasgow for 22 quid a head having been booked 12 weeks in advance probably fall into that category. Also the “I’ve only just got to my seat” is laughable for anyone who knows how trains from Aberdeen to Glasgow actually run. They are only four carraiges long, and generally sit in Aberdeen train station for quite a while allowing you to get to your seat long before the train even departs. Oh and the journey to Stonehaven typically takes about 20 mins further emphasising the ridiculousness of the statement.

    njee20
    Free Member

    Between about three and five o’clock on Friday, returning after lunch on Saturday. Oh, and in fairness it was £188 for both of us.

    Edit: Clicky. Outbound the 14:27 is £21.50 each, return on the 14.52 is £17.50, so that’s £39 each, £78 for the two of you. Not cheaper than the fuel (although cheaper than the ‘true’ cost of driving), and less than half the price you found!

    piemonster
    Full Member

    And remember to take some tinnies on to share with the riggers

    toppers3933
    Free Member

    hours. 🙂

    Cougar
    Full Member

    It’s all about the times. I was told by Virgin that 3:00pm is off-peak, 3:01pm is peak. Rather than travel ‘between 3 and 5’, go slightly earlier; it’ll be loads cheaper.

    Gordy
    Free Member

    I would if I could but I’m not all that flexible on the times. I can’t even make the earlier and later trains njee used to get the price down.

    I’m not even going to start on buses and taxis from the train station to where I actually want to get to. 🙂

    WorldClassAccident
    Free Member

    I had to get from near Gatwick to Manchester at short notice a few years ago.

    The train was more expensive than flying…

    …flying Gatwick to Holland, Holland to New York and then New York to Manchester!!

    njee20
    Free Member

    I can’t even make the earlier and later trains njee used to get the price down.

    So when you said:

    Between about three and five o’clock on Friday, returning after lunch on Saturday

    You didn’t really mean “about” 3 and 5, and what time is ‘after lunch’ if not 2:30? If you get the 18:32 outbound it’s the same price, and coming home at any other time is only about £8 more. Admittedly travelling in the evening peak is more expensive. That’s fairly simple supply/demand really.

    It’s all about the times. I was told by Virgin that 3:00pm is off-peak, 3:01pm is peak.

    Fair enough really, they’ve got to have a threshold at some time.

    verses
    Full Member

    Someone mentioned splitting tickets to get cheaper fairs. Money Saving Expert have a handy tool for working it out for you;
    http://splitticket.moneysavingexpert.com/tool.php

    BigButSlimmerBloke
    Free Member

    try 2 sets of return tickets -> edinburgh-perth and perth-aberdeen
    doing this between dundee and glasgow is around 40% cheaper than buying dundee-glasgow returns.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 47 total)

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