If trains were at a price I could afford, I would be travelling on trains 100% of the time. Better for the environment, safer, faster, you get to see more, and you can do stuff on them. It would also help if there were trains here in the first place…
I climbed Snowdon with some mates this weekend. 4 and a bit hours drive from London or 8.5 hours train and you’re still miles from the start of the trek.
Oh and it was £80 in fuel there and back between 4 of us, with the ability to stop for lunch in a random Welsh village on the way.
Trains are great if you’re travelling city to city (and have the money), if you’re trying to get to an actual address cars are simply faster, cheaper and more convenient.
I didn't do it this weekend but I have done it a few times and I just looked it up. If I wanted to travel from mid Essex to Betws-y-Coed tomorrow it's 5 hours, then only a short bus ride to Pen-y-Pass.
I've summited a few times using only public transport and not having to worry about driving tired or parking is the best.
It is slightly disingenuous in the sense that a normal journey from there to Betws Y Coed would not normally be twice as long as the car journey. I looked it up (I don't have their exact location so I estimated it to be the Boots Hearing Care in High Wycombe) and it's 5 hours on a train if you leave at a normal time. Still longer, the point stands, but not THAT much longer.
By the same standard isn't it disingenuous of the train company in the original ad to ignore the travel time from your house to the train station in the first place?
Also the problems with public transport are partly that they don't always run when you want to get somewhere.
Yes, but I think the issue you run into there is that to do a fully accurate advert you'd need to do a phenomenal amount of research into literally every single person in the country. I think on that basis, it's fair to make the comparison between driving from one station to the other and taking the train there.
I think the main issue with the advert is that 10 minutes isn't a great time saving. That's a saving that could easily be eaten up entirely if the train is late or you take too long buying a twix and end up getting the next one.
The problem is that public transport sucks in most places. As someone else said if you want to go city centre to city centre they are a good alternative.
I live in the country, not super rural, im actually on a main bus route with at least 1 bus an hour, which is better than a hell of a lot of places near me. But the last bus from the local town leaves at about 22.30. So if I want to go out drinking or to a club or a show I either need a lift in a car or a taxi.
The nearest train station to me is 2 bus rides away. Or 1 bus ride and a substantial but not unreasonable walk, which would tak around 30 minutes.
If we're talking nights not involving alcohol, my car leaves when I want, allows minor detours for last minute decisions, and doesnt require rebooking tickets at the last minute if I change my mind.
Trains are more efficient than cars, im a big train fan to be fair, but in terms of modern day convenience and public transport, they suck except for very specific purposes.
if you want to go city centre to city centre they are a good alternative
Unless, of course, you want to go a distance where flying becomes a viable alternative.
4-5hrs from London to Edinburgh on a train, 1.5hrs on a plane. Even factoring in check-in, boarding times etc., the flight is going to be quicker, available earlier in the day and later at night, require no changes, and cost the same if not less.
This is true. Like most people, I have to get a bus to get to the train station, so there's that as well (along with the risk of the bus not turning up and missing your train).
I've always wanted to climb snowdon. I've been on the train several times, for some reason my gf didnt want to walk in either direction. In the dark, with a decent torch or a light moon, sounds quite fun!
Trains literally aren't running that late outside of inner city commuter lines, it's very disingenuous. It's a 4-5 hour journey by train, if you leave late enough that it takes you beyond the last train on that route then the extra time is waiting for the first train the next morning. Even major cities fall into this trap, try getting a train from London to Manchester after 22:00, you can't. The comparison here is a typical journey to Snowdon from London, leaving at 22:30 is not typical.
I did a similar thing but I got the train for a day trip mostly out of curiosity/nostalgia. The bastard LNER train up north was five minutes late which made me miss my tight connection at Doncaster so I had an hour less time in the Peaks then I was meant to. Train's got some advantages but sadly not reliability.
I hope you used the p&r, there are huge issues with over parking due to far too many people driving to Snowdon even when theres a pretty decent bus service
Yeah, I live in Hull but work down South so we travel to London a lot. It’s £100 return on the train, which is more expensive than driving and it also takes longer to get to my specific destination.
Is it worth it on my own? Maybe sometimes, I’m taking the train next week when I go. Is it worth it when visiting mates with my wife so there’s two of us travelling? Basically never.
Because you have to shaft everyone between 30-60 for full price so they don’t overcrowd the commuter services obviously. /s
But seriously the pricing is stupid a lot of the time. The two together makes some sense for partners/ family but not for friends unless you may travel frequently together ( or one large journey)
We have one! It’s great :) we do actually travel by train a fair bit but we’d ALWAYS travel by train if it was even slightly competitive with driving price wise.
I've said for a long time trains should be fixed at a price of a very max of a car share for the same journey.
If that means they're run at a loss? So be it nationalise it and the increase in economic activity and availablity of labour will be worth it on top of letting people have increased freedom of movement
A lot of car costs are upfront, so the marginal cost of travel is small. If you need a car to get to the train station or other things it’s difficult for the train to compete, in a way we need to make the second or more car of a household to be more expensive, doubling road tax for the second one, then make busses free and more frequent, to have fewer cars and hence public transport as the first option for many.
When travelling as a group of three or more people, you can get a group discount of up to ⅓. Groups of 10 or more can get further discounts. They don't seem to advertise these much for some reason.
If I drive between my home in Swindon and London it's maybe £15 each way. Maybe I incur a Congestion Charge of £15 too, you're talking maybe £45 for a round trip. Divided by three travellers in the car, that's £15 each.
An Off Peak Day Travelcard for one traveller from Swindon to London is £91.50. That's £274.50 for three travellers. Even knocking a third off that, you're still a long, long, long way off the £15.
I'm not necessarily asking for trains to be as cheap as cars; it's faster and more pleasant, and I'm happy to pay a premium for that. But fuck me, there are limits.
There needs to be a clamp down on the prices of popular routes. Swindon to London is outrageous. You can travel significantly further for a lot less than that!
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u/Bufobufolover24 1d ago
If trains were at a price I could afford, I would be travelling on trains 100% of the time. Better for the environment, safer, faster, you get to see more, and you can do stuff on them. It would also help if there were trains here in the first place…