Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 20:15 06 Jan 2025
 
- Taxi driver who stoked Southport riots jailed
- Works on 'road from hell' to end after 23 years
- 'Second chance at life' after UK's first liver transplant for advanced bowel cancer
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 08/01/25 - Steam loco restoration - IRTE
09/01/25 - Bath Railway Society
24/01/25 - Westbury Station reopens
24/01/25 - LTP4 Wilts / Consultation end

On this day
6th Jan (1968)
Hixon Railway accident (link)

Train RunningCancelled
19:06 London Paddington to Bedwyn
20:05 Liskeard to Looe
20:37 Looe to Liskeard
20:42 Bedwyn to London Paddington
21:05 Liskeard to Looe
21:37 Looe to Liskeard
Short Run
18:38 Barnstaple to Exmouth
19:36 Didcot Parkway to London Paddington
19:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington
Delayed
17:18 London Paddington to Swansea
18:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
18:34 London Paddington to Cheltenham Spa
19:18 Trowbridge to Cardiff Central
20:22 Reading to Shalford
20:38 Maidenhead to Marlow
21:30 Shalford to Reading
07/01/25 04:50 Fratton to Salisbury
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
January 06, 2025, 20:18:18 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[103] New Adlestrop Railway Atlas update
[46] DFT - Where is the South Devon Railway
[44] 2024 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury...
[42] Bridport branch reopening proposal
[41] Bath to Bridgnorth and back 4/1/25
[38] Rail Replacement bus - OK, but I prefer the train.
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Poll
Question: On a typical day out, how much of your cost is the train fare?  (Voting closed: December 07, 2024, 08:03:55)
Only a small part - 2 (16.7%)
rather less than half - 1 (8.3%)
about half - 6 (50%)
rather more than half - 2 (16.7%)
most of my spend - 1 (8.3%)
Total Voters: 12

Pages: [1]
  Print  
Author Topic: Cost of travel - how much is in the fare?  (Read 1668 times)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 43052



View Profile WWW Email
« on: December 02, 2024, 08:00:09 »

From the BBC» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Quote
Station parking price increase of up to 185% begins

Commuters and visitors to a railway station will have to pay up to 185% extra for parking as new charges have been brought in.

The rates for Corby's station followed a public consultation by North Northamptonshire Council. (NNC)

Both the Labour MP (Member of Parliament) for the area, Lee Barron, and Corby Town Council opposed the increases which will result in the daily charge for the car park rising from £3.50 to £10.00.

If I go from my home in ['burb of market town] to [nice seaside town] for the day - return trip by train - how much do I spend in excess of what I would spend on a day at home, and how is that split down?  Is the train fare a significant part of the cost of the day out, or has it shrunk to being a minor component of my costs?
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 43052



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #1 on: December 02, 2024, 08:16:33 »

I have added a poll - and NOT provided an "it depends" because I am asking about a typical or average day out.

Thinking of a typical day out of mine, I might classify an early £2 bus fare into Trowbridge at the start of my day (the 06:32 train being too early and the 09:10 too late) and then £3 for a cup of coffee from the van at Trowbridge station.  Fare of £15 headed for Weymouth, it's a "large" coffee and a cherry a yoghurt flapjack at Westbury as I change trains - let's say another £4.    Even without parking, my costs add up ... and I may include the cost of fish and chips and another coffee in Weymouth during the day, as opposed to a chesse and marmite sandwich and an apple at home.   Numbers *not* checked against current costs - it just seems to melt away and I get shocked when I go into my wallet and realise I have pulled out the last note, or when the credit card bill comes in for the month.

I do know that when I buy my internal pass, that will just be a small part of my spend once I add in accommodation, food, drink, and other ancillaries and it makes the current 25% discount on the pass look trivial in the total picture - but I have a window of opportunity between being retired and being unable to move around on such a trip and I am going to take it, even if it reduces any inheritance I pass on to the kids.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 13019


View Profile Email
« Reply #2 on: December 02, 2024, 20:55:14 »

It does depend though.....on where I go, and thus just how much the fare is, and thus how much that compares to the day's expenses when I get wherever. I can't answer that poll  as it depends....
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 43052



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #3 on: December 02, 2024, 23:06:42 »

It does depend though.....on where I go, and thus just how much the fare is, and thus how much that compares to the day's expenses when I get wherever. I can't answer that poll  as it depends....

Indeed it depends ... which is why the question asked in the poll says "typical", and looks for the comparative spend on a typical or average day.

I can find you a day trip on which I took guests from overseas to London and then on a tour of the town on a TravelCard, without stopping in to any of the paid attractions but rather noting them to perhaps go back later.   Most of the spend on travel.    But then another - a day trip to Weymouth as part of a FOSS (Freedom of Severn & Solent Rover) 8 out of 15.  Add bus fare to Trowbridge (no suitable connection from Melksham), coffees at Trowbridge and on change of train at Westbury, and you can consider a stop in a restaurant / lounge before the 19:30 return train to Melksham as an extra expense. And most of the spend is not on travel.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 43052



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2024, 07:08:54 »

The number of passenger journeys between April 1 2023 and 31 March 2024 increased by 16% on the previous year to 1.38 billion, according to Office of Rail and Road statistics.

If the average fare paid for each journey was £7.50 and the typical extra paid on each journey are similar (guessing all over the place here), that's a spend of £10 billion pounds on each of rail fares and ancillaries from travel by train.

From Statistica
Quote
From April 2022 to March 2023, Network Rail limited generated approximately 10 billion British pounds.

I'm not sure what (if any) conclusions I'm starting to draw here ...
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, TravelWatch SouthWest Board Member
CyclingSid
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 2101


Hockley viaduct


View Profile
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2024, 12:00:01 »

Definitely more than half, but in my case it is usually for a cycling trip with food and drink carried from home.
Logged
ChrisB
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 13019


View Profile Email
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2024, 12:23:39 »

I can find you a day trip on which I took guests from overseas to London and then on a tour of the town on a TravelCard, without stopping in to any of the paid attractions but rather noting them to perhaps go back later.   Most of the spend on travel.    But then another - a day trip to Weymouth as part of a FOSS (Freedom of Severn & Solent Rover) 8 out of 15.  Add bus fare to Trowbridge (no suitable connection from Melksham), coffees at Trowbridge and on change of train at Westbury, and you can consider a stop in a restaurant / lounge before the 19:30 return train to Melksham as an extra expense. And most of the spend is not on travel.

Indeed - so which is typical if they are in equal amounts Huh
Logged
johnneyw
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 2456


From station to station, back to Bristol city....


View Profile
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2024, 13:10:00 »

The poll got me thinking about my non travel expenses on a day out so I had a quick review of all the day trips I've had in this calendar year and come up with a very rough figure of just over half the spending being on transport..... mostly rail.  The increase in the rail fare element of my transport costs in the coming year should be partially offset by the bus pass that I've now been the owner of since last week.
Logged
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: [1]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page