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Amazing isn't, that you can get to London by train for the same price as us - and we live in Buckinghamshire!But then how far in advance have you to buy those tickets, and how restrictive are they?
Bit of a delay, but yeah, those are super saver tickets, booked in advance for specific, off peak trains. No railcards or anything though.
Prices are crazy as a rule, they should be cheap enough to provide an attractive alternative. As a demonstration of pricing idiocy, including the local, (Hartford to Crewe) leg of one person's return trip to London I was once quoted an extra £150.00! Buy that ticket at the station on the day, it's about eight quid. I think that when you buy tickets that include more than one operator that's often when the expenses rise to stupid levels.
As a family, it is cheaper for us to drive into Nottingham and park than it is to pay for 3 of us on the tram (little one still free). And it is more convenient if you are doing a lot of shopping to have the car.
That said, had a meeting in Birmingham today - £14.60 return by train, plus £3.50 to get the bus into Derby rather than pay £11 to park at the station. Travel time of about 2 hours each way, against maybe 1.5 hours each way if I'd driven in. If I'd driven I'd have got 40p per mile, so roughly £100 with parking.
Least my car dosnt smell of piss.
Catching the 06:10 leeds to kings cross tomorrow and the 18:00 back. £233 that ticket cost. Next time I will drive and stay in a hotel, its easier and cheaper.
EDIT Of course I would really rather take the train, but at £233, taking the car is almost a protest vote against rip off fares.
"Prices are crazy as a rule, they should be cheap enough to provide an attractive alternative. As a demonstration of pricing idiocy, including the local, (Hartford to Crewe) leg of one person's return trip to London I was once quoted an extra £150.00! Buy that ticket at the station on the day, it's about eight quid. I think that when you buy tickets that include more than one operator that's often when the expenses rise to stupid levels. "
Yup, I use the trains a lot, I'd sooner get a train to London than fly or drive or take the motorbike but the pricing structures wind me right up. One time I remember shopping for tickets, they were £60 that night, the next day I did it again and they were £30, 2 weeks later they were about £80. And then I discovered that the train ran from Glasgow via Edinburgh to London but it was cheaper to book from Glasgow to London via Edinburgh than Edinburgh to London! Genuine wtf. Privatisation's been a disaster for public transport in the UK tbh.
Nobody's claiming trains are perfect, anyone who does hasn't ever used them, but they can be [i]very [/i]good. Glasgow to Edinburgh is a great example.
Least my car dosnt smell of piss.
*pisses in parkesies car*
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