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The UK press has spent decades telling people about "rip off Britain". There are usually plenty of choices for people willing to pay. In transport, you can cho

The UK press has spent decades telling people about "rip off Britain". There are usually plenty of choices for people willing to pay. In transport, you can choose between comfort, speed, time, flexibility, reliability, and a few other factors, and make your choice. London to Manchester options on the train have * Time -- travel by train "offpeak" and save a fortune over peak * Comfort -- travel by train "peak" and have more space. Travel in First Class and have more space. * Speed -- travel by London Midland and Northern rather than Virgin and save a fortune * Flexibility -- book a fixed train and save In addition to the plethora of options on the train there's also * Fly -- can be faster (depends where you're going, but from west London to West Manchester it's faster), can be cheaper, can be more comfortable (you're guarenteed a seat), tends to be pricey if you want an element of flexibility, not as flexible as the train or car * Coach - slower, less comfortable, cheaper * Drive -- very flexible, slower than the train, requires effort, twice the off peak train cost * Taxi -- not that expensive, especially for a few people However people complain that "it's too expensive", despite being able to travel from Manchester right now for £20, or in a couple of hours for £12.

vertex-four 9y ago
In practice, however, doing your research is hard - it can take me up to an hour to decide on the best way to travel for a certain event, across multiple booking sites, some of them unknown to the general public (such as TrainSplit). Sometimes it turns out that the best way to travel involves booking three separate journeys, and then I get to worry about delays - nobody will take responsibility for onward travel if you do that, and you may end up stranded in the middle of nowhere. Megabus winds up incredibly pricey - sometimes moreso than the train - on arbitrary days, so I have to keep that in mind. Sometimes flights are actually cheaper than a train, even when booking several weeks in advance, but then there's the worry about public transport at either end properly matching up - and again, a flight delay could cost me the better part of £40 if I booked an advance train ticket rather than a flexible one on the other end. There's also the fact that long-distance travel in the UK is priced significantly better than short-distance travel. There's been times where I've been able to get to London from a small town for cheaper than it'd cost to get to the nearest city. First class on East Coast used to be priced at a rate where it was cheaper to upgrade (and get food and drinks included) than to get food on the go - on local services, there's often no competition aside from a car, so prices even for standard class can be raised almost arbitrarily, especially if there's any tourist traffic on the line. Even for long-distance journeys, pick the wrong date or need to be there for the morning, and my options become far, far more limited, and far, far pricier, since we don't have sufficient capacity for peak dates - we barely have capacity for everyday services on some modes of transport - and we have very few overnight services. Edinburgh to Paris next month - we were stuck with the choices of taking the bus, or flying for 2-3x the price. Train was more expensive than the flight - a remarkably common occurrence, even for travel entirely within the UK. We eventually chose the bus, despite it being a 24 hour journey.
- dazc 9y ago
  I often hire a car to travel long distance in the UK since trains are so expensive and with flights you really need to book very far ahead to get a decent price. With flights also I never find a convenient outward and return trip that will not involve staying overnight.
  - isostatic 9y ago
    And that's a great choice. They're door-to-door (if you have the car dropped off at home), and costs are easily understood too - cost of hiring the car and cost of the petrol. This can be as low as 10p/mile, plus say £60 for the car for the day The downsides of hiring the car - time isn't very useful while you're driving (compared to on a train/plane where you can work, or read, or watch netflix) - usually slower - especially with city centre to city centre - parking stress - Driving is tiring, and more dangerous. A 3 hour drive, then an 8 hour day, then another 3 hour drive. Choice is wonderful. Ideally I'd have something that costs 5p per mile, runs every 5 minutes, is is door to door, and I travel on my own sofa with 300mbit wifi, power, and waiter service. However as that's not possible I, as a consumer, can choose what's important for me for a given journey. Sometimes that's the train, sometimes it's the plane, sometimes it's a coach, sometimes I'll drive
- isostatic 9y ago
  Yes, putting effort into finding a cheaper method is another option. It's the same with shopping for anything - you could go to 4 different shops and compare them, or you could just take the easy option. You can buy from John Lewis and get a 5 year no quibble guarentee, or you could save 10% and buy online, but have a hassle if it breaks. Choice is a right pain, but it allows you to choose what's important Edinburgh to Paris is a long trip - 1360 mile return. That's £600 for a car (HMRC give you 45p per mile, they wouldn't give you that if that was a grossly high amount), plus the cost of the ferry. I can get a train leaving tomorrow and coming back on Saturday for £400 return, or 30p per mile. I can fly on the same days for £276 return, or 20p per mile. What is a fair price? Transport is a low margin industry. The fact that some people can travel really cheaply is possible because others are willing to pay more for flexibility. This means those who want flexibility win (London to Edinburgh trains every half hour), and those that want cheap tickets win (12p/mile), and those willing to shop around win (even less than 12p/mile). What would you change?

vertex-four 9y ago

In practice, however, doing your research is hard - it can take me up to an hour to decide on the best way to travel for a certain event, across multiple booking sites, some of them unknown to the general public (such as TrainSplit). Sometimes it turns out that the best way to travel involves booking three separate journeys, and then I get to worry about delays - nobody will take responsibility for onward travel if you do that, and you may end up stranded in the middle of nowhere. Megabus winds up incredibly pricey - sometimes moreso than the train - on arbitrary days, so I have to keep that in mind. Sometimes flights are actually cheaper than a train, even when booking several weeks in advance, but then there's the worry about public transport at either end properly matching up - and again, a flight delay could cost me the better part of £40 if I booked an advance train ticket rather than a flexible one on the other end. There's also the fact that long-distance travel in the UK is priced significantly better than short-distance travel. There's been times where I've been able to get to London from a small town for cheaper than it'd cost to get to the nearest city. First class on East Coast used to be priced at a rate where it was cheaper to upgrade (and get food and drinks included) than to get food on the go - on local services, there's often no competition aside from a car, so prices even for standard class can be raised almost arbitrarily, especially if there's any tourist traffic on the line. Even for long-distance journeys, pick the wrong date or need to be there for the morning, and my options become far, far more limited, and far, far pricier, since we don't have sufficient capacity for peak dates - we barely have capacity for everyday services on some modes of transport - and we have very few overnight services. Edinburgh to Paris next month - we were stuck with the choices of taking the bus, or flying for 2-3x the price. Train was more expensive than the flight - a remarkably common occurrence, even for travel entirely within the UK. We eventually chose the bus, despite it being a 24 hour journey.

dazc 9y ago
I often hire a car to travel long distance in the UK since trains are so expensive and with flights you really need to book very far ahead to get a decent price. With flights also I never find a convenient outward and return trip that will not involve staying overnight.
- isostatic 9y ago
  And that's a great choice. They're door-to-door (if you have the car dropped off at home), and costs are easily understood too - cost of hiring the car and cost of the petrol. This can be as low as 10p/mile, plus say £60 for the car for the day The downsides of hiring the car - time isn't very useful while you're driving (compared to on a train/plane where you can work, or read, or watch netflix) - usually slower - especially with city centre to city centre - parking stress - Driving is tiring, and more dangerous. A 3 hour drive, then an 8 hour day, then another 3 hour drive. Choice is wonderful. Ideally I'd have something that costs 5p per mile, runs every 5 minutes, is is door to door, and I travel on my own sofa with 300mbit wifi, power, and waiter service. However as that's not possible I, as a consumer, can choose what's important for me for a given journey. Sometimes that's the train, sometimes it's the plane, sometimes it's a coach, sometimes I'll drive
isostatic 9y ago
Yes, putting effort into finding a cheaper method is another option. It's the same with shopping for anything - you could go to 4 different shops and compare them, or you could just take the easy option. You can buy from John Lewis and get a 5 year no quibble guarentee, or you could save 10% and buy online, but have a hassle if it breaks. Choice is a right pain, but it allows you to choose what's important Edinburgh to Paris is a long trip - 1360 mile return. That's £600 for a car (HMRC give you 45p per mile, they wouldn't give you that if that was a grossly high amount), plus the cost of the ferry. I can get a train leaving tomorrow and coming back on Saturday for £400 return, or 30p per mile. I can fly on the same days for £276 return, or 20p per mile. What is a fair price? Transport is a low margin industry. The fact that some people can travel really cheaply is possible because others are willing to pay more for flexibility. This means those who want flexibility win (London to Edinburgh trains every half hour), and those that want cheap tickets win (12p/mile), and those willing to shop around win (even less than 12p/mile). What would you change?