Why Are Our Rail Fares So Expensive?

[anotheoldgit]

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/01/30/00/30B5D57300000578-3423668-image-a-23_1454113084881.jpg

Here we have a chap who saved £7.72 by travelling from Sheffield to Essex via Berlin.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3423668/He-s-exposed-rip-fares-flying-Sheffield-Essex-Berlin-cost-train-ticket-Meet-6ft-5in-teenage-brainbox-save-fortune.html

[Prudie]

I'd like to know too. Last weekend it cost £120 for 2 of us to spend 3 hours on a train. You'd think they'd price themselves out of the market but it's never happened.

[anotheoldgit]

Prudie

And were you lucky enough to even get a seat?

[Prudie]

On this occasion yes but it was a Saturday and we got on nearer the start. I don't know how regular commuters fork out hundreds for a season ticket and then stand a lot of the way.

[jackthehat]

Mrs JtH travelled from Blackpool to Northampton last Friday and did the return trip on Monday.....£10 there and £10 back again.
And we bought the tickets about 14 days before the travel date.

[wolf63]

I think that the guy took it to the extreme. He spent 12 (twelve!!!) hours getting home just to save £7. The guy is a moneysaving blogger - and all this media cover is publicity for him.

I wonder if the prices for journeys are as high now as say ten years ago relative to the average wage or whatever they do to get a true comparison.

[anotheoldgit]

wolf63

/// I think that the guy took it to the extreme. He spent 12 (twelve!!!) hours getting home just to save £7. ///

Yes but he enjoyed 7 hours looking around Berlin.

[wolf63]

My dad was in Berlin during the airlifted, mind you that was a while before I arrived on the scene.