Just brought a ticket to liverpool for tomorrow as I have to attend a meeting at short notice. Standard was £265 and 1st was £404.

My first car (a old Merc which including tax and MOT) came to less than the 1st ticket price.

I'm in a stunned state of disbelief. The carriage will doubtless be standing room only and stink of p1ss. What a rip off.

Que, people telling me that if I had booked it four months in advance, traveled after 2pm, specified a specific train, sacrificed my first born to the gods, and had a rail card it would have only cost me 35p and that would have included the deeds to Bob Crow's house.

from where? What time is your meeting?

surely the company is paying?
.
as a regular train traveller from London to the North East and North West, I agree that it's a f****g rip off
but still cheaper than me running a car

Woking. Yes the company are paying. But I'm still shocked.

What they actually charge you to travel to liverpool,they usually export more people than arrive there.

Where are you travelling from.

£72 for an off-peak return? maybe your company should schedule meetings to take advantage of this fact?

I am assuming from london – there is a £51 single tomorrow am that gets into Liverpool for 11.30Would that do?

Or a £22 single that leaves at sparrowfart but gets you to liverpool before 9

You can get a train from Glasgow to Edinburgh for £1.90 first class. So not all trains are a rip off.

Yes the company are paying

What are you worried about then?

Client dictates meeting times – I can't very well turn round and say 'lets do it later the trains are cheaper then'.

It's from woking btw and I need to get back again. God forbid having to stay in liverpool.

the peak hour prices are high so that off-peak can be lower, it's a bit like business class and economy in a way? it's mainly folk like you travelling in the peak times, companies paying so who gives a ****…

I can't very well turn round and say 'lets do it later the trains are cheaper then'

why not? in the end, the client will end up paying for it right?

Just brought a ticket to liverpool for tomorrow

Trains work out cheap if you can book in advance…

So, as Tandemjeremy has pointed out, there is in fact a non-rip-off version available, or is that inconvenient for you?

If you travel at peak times, then tickets will be priced accordingly.

As for the carriage stinking of piss; just wear loads of powerful aftershave, and your journey will be much more pleasant.

I have to attend a meeting at short notice.

Webex 😛

Well the ticket that TJ has pointed out is from the wrong place at the wrong time. It's also only one way. So I guess that counts as inconvenient.

As for telling the client to change their meeting…. right.

The company may be paying for it, but it doesn't not make it a rip off.

(I also note all my predictions as to the reaction I'd get have come true!)

Sounds more like poor business management to me; last-minute meeting, bad scheduling re times meaning premium travel costs.

Train ticket prices are high, for peak time journeys. There's a simple economic reason for this. It's called supply and demand.

Ah well. At least your clients are helping to support the rail networks! 😀

It's from woking btw

Jesus, train pricing should be the least of your worries!

Sounds more like poor business management

sounds like normal business management

A – Travel up tonight, stay in hotel and come home?

B – Drive up first thing, claim 40ppm.

C – Drive up tonight, stay in hotel, claim 40ppm.

I don't disagree that the prices are crap, but… I'd go for option B, and make money.

I have to agree, turn up and go fares are V expensive these days. There are so many ticket variations across the whole network (200+ IIRC) that its a complete minefield.
The railway companies are geared more to demand responsive type tickets, so the later you book the more it costs. It means they can presict demand better and make more moeny out of the poor sods whole do plan their whole life a month in advance.

What time is your meeting then? Woking to liverpool for what time and lets see if there is a better priced ticket. ( where the **** is woking anyway?)

Ewan, yes predictable response from the green tendency saying its your fault for living in the real world where shit happens.

As you're just next door to Gatwick you could fly from Gatwick to Liverpool for around £280 return with Flybe and do your bit for global warming.

Privatisation mate…………there's your answer.

You didn't actually believe the Tories when they said privatisation would be bring in competition and drive the cost to the consumer down………..did you ? 😯

And the taxpayer now provides the private train companies with five times more subsidy than was provided to British Rail. How British Rail ever managed to actually get trains running, and at so little cost to the consumer, is quite frankly a miracle.

cycle up there you bender!

The thing is, while its possible that the OP can, if he does some detective work, get a less expensive (rather than cheap) ticket, I cant really understand why some of you are defending the confusing pricing structure of the railways.
I have been on few trains (mostly for the above reason) since the much-maligned days of nationalisation, when it seemed to be simple and cheap to go anywhere, albeit on a slightly run down carriage.
Is it too much to ask that in a modern European country, that you should be able to get on a train, for less than the cost of a flight or even sometimes a Taxi, and with a consistant price structure?.
It looks to me like operators , with regard to peak times are simply charging what the market will bear.

God forbid having to stay in liverpool.?
I see through you

Very true westkipper – although even pre privatisation these weird tickets existed.I can remember a return being cheaper than a one way ticket and so on .

Its just irritating when people go – the ticket is this ludicrous amount when infact even without booking a head a cheaper one is often available – the OP still has not said what time his meeting is – I found two much cheaper tickets – one to get him there before 9 and the other before 12.

Cheap-er, maybe, but still not exactly cheap though TJ.
I still dont think the huge price difference renders the 'ludicrous amount' complaint invalid.
I'd be complaining too if I had to travel at short notice… nahh, second thoughts, being a cheapskate, I'd probably try walkin' it! 😉

I wrote a nice long reply and then lost it… oh well…

There are only 5 ticket types and not 200 – the complication comes from the "Rovers and Rangers" which are specific to certain areas (but good value)…

With regards the higher cost since privitisation – you're comparing apples and oranges… under BR there was massive under-investment in both infrastructure and rolling stock…

Safety is also now orders of magnitude better then it was then…

By way of geeky example – people used to be killed regularly by stumbling as they walked down a moving train and accidentally falling on the door handle, opening the door and ending up on the tracks – all because the doors didn't have locking mechanisms to stop it… Barmy…

Now I've mounted a defence I'll agree with you… Train tickets are disgustingly expensive…

had a similar issue myself the other week, wanted to get to Chester from Milton Keynes for 10am, a return ticket was £154. Ended up buying a single up there for £54 and another single back in the afternoon for £17.50. Work were paying but explaining the cost would be interesting.

on the flip side my normal commute of kettering – loughborough works out cheaper on the train (with season ticket) than petrol to drive would, and I get to ride my bike to the station 🙂

Meeting is at 11 o'clock. Need to get from station to a building about a mile away from it. Meeting finishes at about 3 – could be an hour earlier or later. I want to get back to woking as close to 6.30 as I can (it's a 3.5 hour journey) as I have a life outside of work.

It's a moot point now as I've spent the money. All this buy a off price this and a peak this, is properly retarded.

For the sake of comparison I drive a not particularly efficient (38mpg) mondeo which will do the round trip in £61 quid of petrol. If it can beat that or come anywhere near then I'll concede that trains are not a massive rip off. Sod it. If you can get to within twice the price of the car journey i'll concede it's not a massive ripoff.*

*Oh and before anyone goes 'what about insurance' or anything like that, i'd have the car anyway even if I weren't going to liverpool. It's the incremental cost that matters.

buy a merc?

I have no problems with the ticket price argument, it is madness. however…

God forbid having to stay in liverpool.

…that I find a little offensive, epecially from someone coming from Woking!

so go in the car then*?

or does the train other advantages that you're not admitting to, or costing into the comparison?

* i too often drive places i could go to on the train: trains can be expensive.

Book the journey separately Woking to Birmingham then Birmingham to Liverpool it nearly always works out cheaper by splitting the ticket up but the website never tells you this

The only advantage of the train over the car, is the fact that I don't have to drive into liverpool (unfamiliar city, etc). Hence I said I'd consider it cheap if it were twice the price of the car.

As I say, I've brought the ticket now.

Edric – How am I meant to know that? The whole ticketing thing is stupid.

Coffeeking – I don't like liverpool. You don't like woking. I think there is a good solution here…

Private company prices to what the market will stand and it seems that £265 is it.

Bloody communist

Only cheap (£28) outward ticket is too early by a couple of hours. there is a return at teh correct time for £35.

So if you are prepared to be a couple of hours early then £63 is possible, if not then its £105. thats Woking to Liverpool and return tomorrow arriving at 11 and leaving at 3. I haven't tried the splitting the journey thing.

Ewan – Member

The whole ticketing thing is stupid.

Its more than stupid. That I agree with. Its beyond stupid! Teh other advantage is you can sit and read or work on the train

I am used to using trains and working out tickets – its reasonable straightforward on the trainline.com

Hmmm I didn't find that when I searched nationalrail earlier. Is the second ticket flexible? Meeting might drag on and I can't just up and leave unfortunately…