tj I don't think it's snobery to want to travel in civilised condition. Sorry I don't like the smell of Piss and the breath of drunkyard. Plus when you work, you most of the time are not free to choose your timetable, therefore having to travel at some specific times.

I'm happy that TJ can exist happily without a car

Well he doesn't.

Quoting prices for trains at specific times is pointless – who cares if you can get 90% off every time Tuesday falls on a Wednesday?
You need to quote typical prices

An off-peak return from my nearest station [Darlington] to Guildford [My office] is £178
Fuel cost to drive is about £55 – I can certainly do there & back on a single tankfull
Travel time is about the same @ ~5 hrs
I'll ignore the extras for getting to & from the stations

ps Canary Wharf to Edinburgh City Centre in 3 hours is entirely doable (Tube to Canning Town, DLR to City Airport, through security, time for a piss and a sandwich, onto plane, off at Edinburgh, pay for parking, drive into Edinburgh, park on Castle Terrace, walk to work). Personal best is 2 hours 40.

Train would take twice as long for that journey (at best) and usually costs more.

used to travel to dundee

return at peak was 9 quid each

Weeks ticket was 40 quid each

80 quid per week for 2 to go to uni

Car was 20quid of fuel for a week and took me and my mate to the door not to a 20 min walk at each end ! we just swapped who took their car each week

Aberdeen is cheaper by train however if there is only 1 person going – its 20 quid of fuel or 20 quid for a return ticket !

iirc it was cheaper for goan to travel edinburgh to aberdeen for uni than it was to do edinburgh to glasgow !

Seeing as many train timetables appear to be works of fiction, I have decided to go for the extremely expensive option of the Edinburgh to Glasgow route. I do get a 16-25 railcard which gets me a 1/3rd off though and can claim travelling expenses, so it isn't all bad.

The glasgow-edinburgh service is pretty damn good, to be fair- comfy modern trains, nice stable ride. It takes me longer to get to glasgow by public transport than by motorbike, that's for sure, but I prefer the train as I can spend the time reading or similiarly chilling out, instead of riding.

I had to laugh when I took the train up to fort william, edinburgh to glasgow to FW- the entire ticket price was £17, the single to Glasgow alone would have been been £9.80.