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> but still cheaper than cars Overall for society yes, but in most places where transit is widely used, it is quite costly. E.g. a season ticket between Readin

> but still cheaper than cars Overall for society yes, but in most places where transit is widely used, it is quite costly. E.g. a season ticket between Reading and London is 512UKP/mo. For the individual traveler it may not be cheaper especially if they already need to own a car to go to Tesco etc.

pessimizer 3y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_privatisation_of_British_Rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_privatisation_of...
TulliusCicero 3y ago
Meanwhile, when I was living in Munich a few years back, an annual pass covering the whole city was like 500 EUR. For the year. That plus a bike made for great urban transportation.
bluGill 3y ago
That price is much higher than I expected. About $650 US dollars if I did the conversion right. I have a truck I almost never drive (the fuel gauge is broke so I fill it 2x year just to ensure I never run out). Between taxes, insurance, fuel, and maintenance I'm still spending $100/month just to keep it in my driveway - that is about as low as you can possibly get for a car. That trip it is about 40 miles (plus distance to/from the stations, but lets assume you live next to the station and are going to the other station). At 20mpg, going to/from work every day you are using a bit over $200 of gas per month (In Europe fuel prices are a lot higher than the US, I don't know must how but $600 would not surprise me) Of course realistic if you are driving that much you are not going to be able to keep a paid off car on the road for very long, plus you have maintenance. Between payments when the car isn't paid off and maintenance you are probably averaging $200/month - for the cheapest car. (you can lease new cars for $900/month). I'm already at $500/month to drive a car, and I'm assuming the cheapest reasonable prices. Realistically people making that trip every day are likely to have more expensive cars. And of course I used US prices while UK prices would be very different. Cars are expensive, and so even when you pick a transit trip much more expensive than I think is reasonable cars still come up expensive.

pessimizer 3y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_privatisation_of_British_Rail https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impact_of_the_privatisation_of...

TulliusCicero 3y ago

Meanwhile, when I was living in Munich a few years back, an annual pass covering the whole city was like 500 EUR. For the year. That plus a bike made for great urban transportation.

bluGill 3y ago

That price is much higher than I expected. About $650 US dollars if I did the conversion right. I have a truck I almost never drive (the fuel gauge is broke so I fill it 2x year just to ensure I never run out). Between taxes, insurance, fuel, and maintenance I'm still spending $100/month just to keep it in my driveway - that is about as low as you can possibly get for a car. That trip it is about 40 miles (plus distance to/from the stations, but lets assume you live next to the station and are going to the other station). At 20mpg, going to/from work every day you are using a bit over $200 of gas per month (In Europe fuel prices are a lot higher than the US, I don't know must how but $600 would not surprise me) Of course realistic if you are driving that much you are not going to be able to keep a paid off car on the road for very long, plus you have maintenance. Between payments when the car isn't paid off and maintenance you are probably averaging $200/month - for the cheapest car. (you can lease new cars for $900/month). I'm already at $500/month to drive a car, and I'm assuming the cheapest reasonable prices. Realistically people making that trip every day are likely to have more expensive cars. And of course I used US prices while UK prices would be very different. Cars are expensive, and so even when you pick a transit trip much more expensive than I think is reasonable cars still come up expensive.