40 odd minute journey – £18.80 return. I guess I'll be taking the car then.

What a rip off. No wonder the roads are congested when the train companies are ripping folk off like that.

I can take the car, pay for fuel and parking all day and it works out cheaper and more convenient.

A couple of weeks of travelling on the M8 and you will be glad to pay the fare 😉

Indeed, such is the joy of privatising the railways in the hope competition will drive the prices down. BTW, someone will no doubt be along in a minute to tell you that your car is killing the planet and that that diesel-powered relic chugging along half empty is a much greener means of transport.

Take the mega bus for something like £1 each way!

I recently went to Manchester for a meeting at 1000.
Cost to go by train? Over £300.
Cost to fly? About £80 return. Nice breakfast in the BA lounge at Gatwick before the flight. Friendly service on board.

So, why would I take the train?

Duggie Style – its only going to be for a couple of days. I have an alternate route sorted out for next week which is much much cheaper, even though it is a lnger train journey. Unfortunately I cant do that this week.

Aye the off-peak fares twixt Edinburgh and Glasgow are horrendous. When I did the C2C from Workington to Sunderland, two train tickets cost £15 – just depends on the service and when you're travelling…

*wonders how much tickets will be on the new fangled reinstated Borders branch if it ever gets built – Glentress by train?*

Goan – did you look into the Carstairs option?

Yup – it costs me 8 quid a day from fife. 15 miles.
It takes me just 10 mins longer to ride home than to get the train.
Cramped, overcrowded, overheated. and cost rising every 1/2 year.

Scotrail at it's finest !

I'd ride both ways but there's no showers @ work.

Dunno where you guys get your train fare prices from – I have done the above journeys for less than you say.

Goan – 90 miles driving will be nearly that in petrol anyway. Add in the other costs of a car – 40p a mile or so the RAC state – thats over £30 to drive.

Train is cheaper and quicke than a car Edinburgh/ Glasgow – and you can have a coffee and read the paper.

Still – any excuse to drive eh?

Druidh – Lanark is the best option and is the one i'll be taking from next week. It will work out quicker and around 1/3 of the price.

Which line was this ? Queen street or central ?

Lanark? It never occurred to me that it had a railway station. Just had a look at the map and I see there's a wee spur line…

90 miles driving will be nearly that in petrol anyway. Add in the other costs of a car – 40p a mile or so the RAC state – thats over £30 to drive.

90 miles for me is still only ~£9 of fuel, so less than half the cost of the train ticket. Meanwhile much of that 40p a mile can be discounted if you already own a car anyway, as it covers fixed costs (insurance, VED, depreciation) which you have to pay whether you drive the car or take the train.

Yip Lanark, it has something like a every 30 minute service with a 50 minute journey time.

Offroading – that was for either line.

Jesus man.

Thanks for letting me know, will take the car next!

Goan is this to go to your university if it is a believe you may be able to get a young persons/student rail card for reduced fair? Or if you buy a season ticket cheaper also. Still i agree that is very steep and is the reason people drive, british rail travel especially east to west has got to be some of the worst in any first world country.

Tails, it is indeed to go to uni. I only need to go via edinburgh this week as we are down to one car and I need to drop the wife off at work.

We are however taking delivery of a nice new audi next week, so i can take the more direct and cheaper route via lanark.

I think I am too old for a young persons railcard.

90 miles driving will be nearly that in petrol anyway. Add in the other costs of a car – 40p a mile or so the RAC state – thats over £30 to drive.

£18.80 for fuel, what on earth do you think he's driving?

anyway, all you need is a paying passenger & you're quids in

Most of the time train prices come out at around double the driving cost for the sort of journeys I do [NE England – London/Manchester/Birmingham]

50 minutes between Scotland's capital and its biggest city.

I suggest you move to Kirriemuir and see how you like the public transport there.

I think I am too old for a young persons railcard.

But i think it is for either young people under 26 or anyone in education regardless of age, don't quote me though.

still as matey above says take a passenger and your laughing must be able to find someone easy enough, take a weapon for first week or so for security.

It will be more than £9 in petrol to drive 90 miles – motorway and town. What MPG are you claiming? 40 mpg would be good for that run and so thats 2 1/4 gallons – thats more than £9 is it not?

Then you have to find somewhere to park and pay for the parking. It will take longer than the train and you can have coffee and read the paper on the train.

The 40 p a mile is total cost – additional cost per mile after fixed costs is lower but still more than the petrol – servicing is per mile and so is tyre wear.

total additional cost including parking will be only a few quid less than the train. if not more depending on tyre servicing cost

Its a no brainer – train is best every time – but you can always find a reason to drive if you want

Tails – I lived in some of the roughest parts of Glasgow for a number of years and spent 10yrs in the city in total. Number of fights, attacks, muggings or any tpye of trouble whatsoever – Zero.

TJ – I'm currently getting 70mpg on a combined cycle.

The 40 p a mile is total cost – additional cost per mile after fixed costs is lower but still more than the petrol – servicing is per mile and so is tyre wear.

I don't pay for any of that – I have a company car 🙂

BTW – the wife's little Peugeot would return around 55mpg for that journey

Number of fights, attacks, muggings or any tpye of trouble whatsoever – Zero.

yeah but thats because your not just hard but double hard. 😉

Or perhaps I simply dont go looking for trouble so dont find any. Being triple hard also helps though.

The 40 p a mile is total cost – additional cost per mile after fixed costs is lower but still more than the petrol – servicing is per mile and so is tyre wear.

Yes but all the other variable costs get nowhere near adding up to the same amount as the fuel. The maths is easy – doing 10k a year, that's ~£1k worth of fuel, and I certainly pay far less than half that a year in servicing for mine. Not to mention that servicing is only partially per mile unless you're doing a lot of miles – you need a service every year, so a lot of that is actually fixed cost. £250 for a set of tyres for me, which last ~25k miles, so only ~£100 a year. For me at least, the real variable cost is ~15p a mile. Total cost something between 20p and 25p a mile (depending on how much depreciation is really costing me).

15 p a mile additional cost. I think it will really be more than that but even taking that – the 90 mile round trip costs £13.50 plus the car parking. Not really saving over the train is it? a couple of quid for half an hour to an hour more travelling? My time is worth more than that and so is the chance to read the paper rather than drive the M8

Your money, your time, your choice but don't try to pretend its got any logic to it.

You are still underestimating costs. Look at the RAC site for an idea of real costs. You will be using more fuel than that and there are other costs as well that you forget to include.

Time wise, at least the car will take you from your house to fairly close to your destination. Unless you live near / want to go to a station, you need to factor in additional travel time plus the possibility of other bus fares at either or both ends.

The only journey I've ever found trains cost-effective for were ones like Liverpool to Glasgow off-peak. On peak they dont even come close to car value, dont get you close to your destination and you have to sit in discomfort and with half a carriage full of sick/ill/unhealthy people. No trains for me. I happily drive glasgow to ed to glas and park in the city centre for most of the day, all in, for the cost of that train ticket. The fixed costs of my car are written off anyway as I have to have the car for other reasons and I'd pay those fixed costs purely for those other reasons, commuting with it is just a convenience – its not as though I'd do without a car if I didnt commute by it.

Incidentally Goan, depending on which uni you're going to, parking is as cheap as chips – If I cant get in a work space I park on the road and it costs me ~2.40 all day.

You are still underestimating costs. Look at the RAC site for an idea of real costs. You will be using more fuel than that and there are other costs as well that you forget to include.

No I'm not – I don't need the RAC site to tell me how much my car costs to run, since their costings are based on buying and running a new car on finance, not what I have (just for a laugh I went and checked, and over half their cost per mile was due to depreciation and finance). I know what mpg I get. Exactly what additional costs do you think I'm not including? Here's a list of those I am:
Fuel
Tyres
Servicing (includes all other consumables)
MOT
VED
Insurance
Breakdown cover
Depreciation

p.s. don't really care about the relative cost and ease of the train – tend to agree with you about that – just pointing out that you've no idea how cheap it can be to run a car.

Glentress by train?
nope. that's not the line they're planning on re-opening. closest stations will be c. 20 miles away. get pedaling! 🙂

coffeeking – Member

……………. you have to sit in discomfort and with half a carriage full of sick/ill/unhealthy people. No trains for me…………

At least you are honest that its snobbery not economics

My experience is that trainsa are quicker, cheaper and less stressful than a car – and I use trains a fair amount Edinburgh to Glasgow and other routes.

Aracer

Exactly what additional costs do you think I'm not including? Here's a list of those I am:
Fuel
Tyres
Servicing (includes all other consumables)
MOT
VED
Insurance
Breakdown cover
Depreciation

Many of those you did not say you were including and I think if you actually add up the costs it would be moer than you think.

No repairs needed at MOT time? No other repairs in the year?

If it's cheaper to take the car than the train, then it's obviously time that the government increases road tax and tax on fuel, 😈

I'm quite happy to pay half the price for fuel here in Aus though 😆

well if you want to go from devizes to melksham bus return (around 16 miles)it costs £6.70.public transport is great. 👿

Not wanting to sit next to ill/sick/unhealthy people is hardly snobbery Teej. For once climb off the outrage bus and realise its not always about snobbery/elitism.

TJ is still ignoring the point raised by druidh

namely that you'd also need to factor in getting to & from the train station either end

Petersfield to London is about a 50 mile trip, takes about an hour and in peak time costs £42, seems crazy to me.

well off peak from edimburgh to aviemore was over 40£ TJ. And If you want I can send you a picture of the train ticket.

Taking the train in uk is a nightmare. Price changes everyday at every hours depending on what company you travel with. Plus I sadly agree with the antique comment how come one the dawn of the 22nd century train can still work on diesel.

Its a no brainer – train is best every time

If you used your brain, you wouldn't have posted that!

Travel between Rachub (my small village 6 miles from Bangor in Snowdonia) and my girlfriend's village of Belmont (small village in the West Pennine Moors – North of Bolton) involves:

1.5-3 hour (depending on bank holiday-induced motorway pile ups) 100 mile car journey, which even in my silly GTI golf costs about £25-30

OR:

1) Bus to Bangor station £2, 20 mins
2) Train from Bangor to Bolton (last time I tried, £30ish), 3.5 hours, also including a change
3) Bus from Bolton to Belmont £2.50, 30 mins. This is hourly, so you can gues that as the train pulls in, the bus is just leaving, leaving me with an hour to hang around.

To me, that's a no brainer + I can take a weekend's worth of luggage, and my bike with no extra faff.

Factor in the cost of my time if I were to have to leave work early and come in late on monday due to trains, and the cost rises astonishingly versus driving.

As you say, TJ – a no brainer….