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Aren’t there far cheaper options for regular commuters? Here in Berlin, a single one-way ticket is €2.60, but a monthly is around €80. That’s less than a euro p

Aren’t there far cheaper options for regular commuters? Here in Berlin, a single one-way ticket is €2.60, but a monthly is around €80. That’s less than a euro per ride for the average person that commutes by subway and uses it for some other trip every second day. Trains are, unfortunately, rather expensive, at least compared to flying and to taking a car you already own. I believe fuel and vehicle taxes should increase to the point where they pay for most if not all of road construction costs. Contrary to popular opinion, large parts of those costs are currently financed from general taxation. Because tracks and stations make up the bulk of the cost of train rides, increases in ridership have low marginal costs. Any move to get people to use trains would therefore tend to lower per-trip costs.

leifg 7y ago
Having lived in Berlin and now living in London I asked the same. The monthly ticket that is very common in Germany either doesn't exist here or is ridiculously expensive. Even if you go by tube on a daily basis you are better off paying for each trip.
- gcoleman 7y ago
  That's not true - season tickets are definitely cheaper than pay as you go if you travel every day. e.g. Annual Travelcards give you 12 months travel for the price of ten and a half. https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/travelcards-and-group-tickets https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets...
  - jsmith99 7y ago
    Annual tickets are barely worth it if you just take the tube, not buses, and don't use it at weekends. Single fare prices were frozen by the mayor, but travelcards were not.
  - cbzoiav 7y ago
    I commute Canning Town to Bank. Daily its £5.30. Weekly cap is £35.10 / Monthly £134.80 so you won't hit them on just commute. In reality I have a railcard so its actually £4.50pd / even less likely to hit caps.
mytailorisrich 7y ago
There are weekly, monthly, annual season tickets but the discount is small. I think for most people commuting into London daily the saving of an annual ticket would be the equivalent of one month, so 8% off. And that of course requires paying upfront... Which means several thousands of Pounds for many people. ~£500 a month for train commute into London + tube is not uncommon.
clappski 7y ago
I commute into London from about 60 miles away. It costs me either ~450£pcm or ~4600£pa, depending on if I get the monthly or yearly season ticket, and the journey is 30 minutes (if I make it onto my regular train). My employer essentially loans me the money to by the annual season ticket, and it's deducted from my wages monthly (this is a pretty common system in London). A standard peak time return for my train into London is about 22£, according to the National Rail season ticket calculator the average journey price on the annual ticket is only 9£, so a pretty reasonable saving if you're going every day. This is without the tube ticket (which is an add-on option on regional trains going into London), so I spend about 75-100£pcm on that as well, with contactless payments.
esotericn 7y ago
IIRC only about half of transport is for the purposes of commuting. I wouldn't own a car if I only used it for commuting; that's the easy case because generally most people have the same job for months at a time. By contrast I can't simply move back to my home town without giving up work; I can't live near all of my friends that moved around the country; I can't simultaneously live everywhere I visit. So the fact that a single or return train ticket costs hundreds of pounds makes it completely infeasible really. Most people in the UK consider it an exciting treat, not a normal mode of transport, particularly families (sod paying for 4 tickets, one is already more than the car).

leifg 7y ago

Having lived in Berlin and now living in London I asked the same. The monthly ticket that is very common in Germany either doesn't exist here or is ridiculously expensive. Even if you go by tube on a daily basis you are better off paying for each trip.

gcoleman 7y ago
That's not true - season tickets are definitely cheaper than pay as you go if you travel every day. e.g. Annual Travelcards give you 12 months travel for the price of ten and a half. https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/travelcards-and-group-tickets https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets...
- jsmith99 7y ago
  Annual tickets are barely worth it if you just take the tube, not buses, and don't use it at weekends. Single fare prices were frozen by the mayor, but travelcards were not.
- cbzoiav 7y ago
  I commute Canning Town to Bank. Daily its £5.30. Weekly cap is £35.10 / Monthly £134.80 so you won't hit them on just commute. In reality I have a railcard so its actually £4.50pd / even less likely to hit caps.

mytailorisrich 7y ago

There are weekly, monthly, annual season tickets but the discount is small. I think for most people commuting into London daily the saving of an annual ticket would be the equivalent of one month, so 8% off. And that of course requires paying upfront... Which means several thousands of Pounds for many people. ~£500 a month for train commute into London + tube is not uncommon.

clappski 7y ago

I commute into London from about 60 miles away. It costs me either ~450£pcm or ~4600£pa, depending on if I get the monthly or yearly season ticket, and the journey is 30 minutes (if I make it onto my regular train). My employer essentially loans me the money to by the annual season ticket, and it's deducted from my wages monthly (this is a pretty common system in London). A standard peak time return for my train into London is about 22£, according to the National Rail season ticket calculator the average journey price on the annual ticket is only 9£, so a pretty reasonable saving if you're going every day. This is without the tube ticket (which is an add-on option on regional trains going into London), so I spend about 75-100£pcm on that as well, with contactless payments.

esotericn 7y ago

IIRC only about half of transport is for the purposes of commuting. I wouldn't own a car if I only used it for commuting; that's the easy case because generally most people have the same job for months at a time. By contrast I can't simply move back to my home town without giving up work; I can't live near all of my friends that moved around the country; I can't simultaneously live everywhere I visit. So the fact that a single or return train ticket costs hundreds of pounds makes it completely infeasible really. Most people in the UK consider it an exciting treat, not a normal mode of transport, particularly families (sod paying for 4 tickets, one is already more than the car).