Thank you Mrs Thatcher. You did a fine old job with privatising England's regional train system, with horrendous private train fares. If she is not to blame, I don't care. She represents what has happened.
I can't vouch for authenticity of this from the Hampshire Live website. I take it as I read it.
This man travels about 100 kilometres from Hayward Heath to London and then returns. He makes the trip a couple of times a week using his Senior Railcard. The Senior Railcard return fare is a flabbergasting £441. I don't understand that at all. I think the town is on the same line to Brighton, which is further, and we didn't pay anything like that. I am just so doubtful about this story.
He managed to lower the fare to a much more reasonable £82 return by buying nine different train tickets and changing trains a couple of times. There are websites that work these deals out for you.
A close to equivalent trip here for a senior costs about $23 return, say £13 using our equivalent to an Oyster card.
Ok, this in nonsense. A pup I have been sold. I've checked myself and the fare is well under £20 return for a senior at peak time. I won't pursue this any further but the story is at this (reptuable?) Hampton Live website, https://www.hampshirelive.news/news/uk-world-news/man-saves-360-single-train-7870604
Post discard but still UK fares are terribly expensive.
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I am glad that you were able to sort it out. Himself commented about how expensive UK fares were when he was there a couple of years ago. Expensive but not astronomical.
ReplyDeleteNot so bad EC if you book in advance but goodness help you if you want last minute regional travel.
DeleteCan be expensive, London to Holyhead in Wales was about 100 GBP per person in 2020, then the train was an hour late.
ReplyDeleteOuch TP. That is absurd even for an ontime service. I am not sure about your dollars but it is an awful in our dollars.
DeleteMoral of story and I’m sure your mother (or possibly father) told you, don’t believe everything you hear or read!
ReplyDeleteUK train travel has been pricy for years, booking seats in advance helped lower the cost
Yes Cathy, book well in advance for cheap fares, but that is not always possible for some people. My parents told me nothing. I was a neglected child.
DeleteTrain fares can be expensive -- BUT, according to that Hampshire news site, he's traveling from Haywards Heath to Liverpool, not to London. Liverpool is a long way from Haywards Heath! So that explains some of the expense and the discrepancy with what you were finding.
ReplyDeleteI can't quite remember what we paid on our recent trip to Brighton but it didn't seem unreasonable, and we took a direct train.
I think that guy in the article is going overboard splitting up his journey so much. Imagine if he misses any one of those connections -- which must happen fairly frequently. Sometimes you have to pay a little more for some enjoyment and peace of mind!
Steve, I assumed Liverpool Street Station London. Is there such a station? I really knew I had something wrong about the tale. But even so!!! Maybe he is going overboard with the ticket splitting and yes, I am happy to pay a bit more for comfort and not changing, but not to the degree of the published figures.
DeleteWe just used our Oyster cards to travel to Brighton. I know it didn't cost too much. Our friend used her Freedom pass to the limit and then the supplement to complete her journey.
Oh, I see. Yes, there is a Liverpool Street Station in London. But he's going to Liverpool Lime Street, which is in Liverpool. :)
DeleteOur train fares here for Amtrak are incredibly expensive.
ReplyDeleteOn the upside Strayer, the trains are very comfortable.
DeleteI travel to London, 120 miles, on my senior rail card. I go quite frequently to visit the Tate, The Royal Academy, The National etc. I pay £32 return fare. I travel to arrive in London after 10am but that is fine. Coming home I can travel on whatever train I want.
ReplyDeleteRachel, it is on the high side compared to our fares but not unreasonable for a reasonably fast trip. Generally our trains are anything but fast.
DeleteAs I often say to people, don't believe everything you read in the newspapers here.
ReplyDeleteIndeed not.
DeleteOh and Mrs Thatcher didn't privatise the railways, she actually didn't want to. It came later under Major.
ReplyDeleteI thought that may have been the case but everyone likes to blame Thatcher the whipping boy, so to speak.
DeleteYes that is definitely so, particularly on one or two blogs.
DeleteWell that takes England off my list of places to go when I win Lotto.
ReplyDelete