Public Transport costs a bloody fortune

UndercoverElephant

Right, I'm on the train today, due to a works night out. My costs so far:

Return train ticket - £7.20
Then I didn't have the right change for the bus, so I went to Valvona & Crolla for a bacon and Omlette Sandwich and a coffee - £8
Then, as the coffee was so nice, I bought a pack of it, and some chocolates for the Mrs for Valentine's day - £20
Then the bus cost be £1.30

That's nearly £40 to come by train!!! I need to buy more bike bits, it saves me a fortune!

rjsterry

File under "little lies I tell myself"

Pep

the "talented" that operates the transport company deserves their share.

seem more theives than "talented" to me.

jonginge

rjsterry wrote:

File under "little lies I tell myself"

Oh, look, I don't seem to have the right change. I'll just haaave to go and get a nice breakfast....

notsoblue

I always think of retailers near public transport as being like barnacles filtering money from a stream of soulless commuters. A bit like this.

asprilla

Mrs A is kept relatively content if I spend less on bikes than my train ticket would cost. That gives me a budget of £3,126 a year. I treat it like the council, if I don't spend it then it will get cut next year.

jonginge

Asprilla wrote:

Mrs A is kept relatively content if I spend less on bikes than my train ticket would cost. That gives me a budget of £3,126 a year. I treat it like the council, if I don't spend it then it will get cut next year.

Does your new commute increase or decrease (pulls scream-like face) your budget?

asprilla

JonGinge wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

Mrs A is kept relatively content if I spend less on bikes than my train ticket would cost. That gives me a budget of £3,126 a year. I treat it like the council, if I don't spend it then it will get cut next year.

Does your new commute increase or decrease (pulls scream-like face) your budget?

It's exactly the same. I may have accidentally selected 'via London Terminals + Zone 1-6 Travelcard' as my prefered route though. That adds about a grand to the budget which gives more scope for pointing at savings and then converting those into brownie points.

dhope

Asprilla wrote:

JonGinge wrote:

Asprilla wrote:

Mrs A is kept relatively content if I spend less on bikes than my train ticket would cost. That gives me a budget of £3,126 a year. I treat it like the council, if I don't spend it then it will get cut next year.

Does your new commute increase or decrease (pulls scream-like face) your budget?

It's exactly the same. I may have accidentally selected 'via London Terminals + Zone 1-6 Travelcard' as my prefered route though. That adds about a grand to the budget which gives more scope for pointing at savings and then converting those into brownie points.

Pity there isn't a 'via London Terminals + Zone 1-6 Travelcard with Emergency Helicopter backup' as an option

sketchley

I went by train to work, Wed, Thur and Fri last week plus Monday this week 8 journeys at £4.9 per journey, that's a total of £39.20 for four days. I was upset my "free" six month service ended up costing my £150 (chain, cassette, mudguards and fitting) but in comparison to the cost of PT it's nothing really. I'll make that back in 16 days....

sketchley

Although Boris' plans for standard fares across the networks would make a difference. Currently if I get the train from Worcester Park (Zone 4) to South Quay the fare is £4.90 each way. However from Wembley Park or Richmond (both Zone 4 and similar distance) it's only £3.60 as it's tub all the way.....

asprilla

Sketchley wrote:

Although Boris' plans for standard fares across the networks would make a difference. Currently if I get the train from Worcester Park (Zone 4) to South Quay the fare is £4.90 each way. However from Wembley Park or Richmond (both Zone 4 and similar distance) it's only £3.60 as it's tub all the way.....

Of course you know the difference it will make will be that it will be £4.90 from Zone 4.

DonDaddyD

Using my oyster card:

South Wimbledon to Liverpool Street £3.10 (Morning) £2.60 (Evening - after 5pm)

Liverpool Street to Goodmayes £3.50 (6.30am - 9.30am and 4.00pm - 7.00pm)

£6.60 to get to work. £6.10 to get home. Or £7.70 with the price cap.

If I cycle then get the train into and out of work (that's Liverpool Street to Goodmayes and Goodmayes to Liverpool Street) it costs me £7 a day. £35 week. £140 a month.

So I tend to get the monthly travel zone 1 - 4 travelcard for £160.60 (as I can use it for weekends if I have to).

It also costs me £20 a day to drive to work.

sketchley

That's odd, if you travel from South Wimbledon Zone one there is only a peak journey in the morning as per DDD above. If you travel from South Wimbledon to Zone 2 (say Canary Wharf) there is peak in morning and evening. If you travel from Worcester Park to Zone 1 there peak morning and evening. :shock:

DonDaddyD

Sketchley wrote:

That's odd, if you travel from South Wimbledon Zone one there is only a peak journey in the morning as per DDD above. If you travel from South Wimbledon to Zone 2 (say Canary Wharf) there is peak in morning and evening. If you travel from Worcester Park to Zone 1 there peak morning and evening. :shock:

Tube or British Rail.

Personally I find the tube tariffs far easier to understand. There is no reason why there should be peak charges at rush hour (morning and evenings) except to generate more money.

sketchley

DonDaddyD wrote:

Sketchley wrote:

That's odd, if you travel from South Wimbledon Zone one there is only a peak journey in the morning as per DDD above. If you travel from South Wimbledon to Zone 2 (say Canary Wharf) there is peak in morning and evening. If you travel from Worcester Park to Zone 1 there peak morning and evening. :shock:

Tube or British Rail.

Personally I find the tube tariffs far easier to understand. There is no reason why there should be peak charges at rush hour (morning and evenings) except to generate more money.

Not quite, south Wimbledon to canary wharf is tub all the way. It because you make a journey from Zone 1 out in the evening it becomes peak rate....

DrLex

UndercoverElephant wrote:

[...] so I went to Valvona & Crolla [...]

well done for keeping out of the wine section- could gave easily tripled your spend!

UndercoverElephant

DrLex wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

[...] so I went to Valvona & Crolla [...]

well done for keeping out of the wine section- could gave easily tripled your spend!

It is one of the most fantastic places on the planet. As for the wine section, it's strictly a case of "Eyes forward, no stopping."

CiB

Sketchley wrote:

That's odd, if you travel from South Wimbledon Zone one there is only a peak journey in the morning as per DDD above. If you travel from South Wimbledon to Zone 2 (say Canary Wharf) there is peak in morning and evening. If you travel from Worcester Park to Zone 1 there peak morning and evening. :shock:

errr.... Mornington Crescent. I win.

keyser__soze

Sketchley wrote:

Although Boris' plans for standard fares across the networks would make a difference. Currently if I get the train from Worcester Park (Zone 4) to South Quay the fare is £4.90 each way. However from Wembley Park or Richmond (both Zone 4 and similar distance) it's only £3.60 as it's tub all the way.....

You'd be mad to tube it from Richmond unless seriously counting the pennies. While more expensive, train plus tube is a good 20 minutes quicker for that journey, probably more like half an hour. I know because I've been late for meetings when the train's been down and had to tube it instead (in a time BBC - before bike commuting).

Dougal_bug

If I elect to use public transport to go to work, the cost is £20.80 for a return ticket, I spend about £50 every 5-7 days on petrol for the car which covers a 5 day commut and social (about 15% of the petrol) in that time. I know that there are other running costs with the car, but I tend to ignore those, as they come intermittently and the train ticket only covers to and from work, I cannot divert in anyway. So yes, public transport is damned expensive.

Gussio

PT sucks the big one. I used the tube for work only once last year. Once too many.

veronese68

I don't think I've ever commuted to work on public transport. I've been working for 25 years. I've used cars, motorbikes, bicycles, my feet and lifts off other people. I have used PT when going out drinking, so half of the time I've been on PT as an adult I've been drunk.

UndercoverElephant

Veronese68 wrote:

I don't think I've ever commuted to work on public transport. I've been working for 25 years. I've used cars, motorbikes, bicycles, my feet and lifts off other people. I have used PT when going out drinking, so half of the time I've been on PT as an adult I've been drunk.

Same here, it's because of going out straight from work that I'm on PT. Nice tits, by the way.

veronese68

Thank you, I might change them for a pair of Bristols at some point. The cars of course.

UndercoverElephant

Follow that up with a nice pair of (door) knockers.

mtb-idle

I need a travel card from zone 6 to get me into London Bridge and then out to Canary Wharf which is £15-80 a day if I use PT :evil:

That's not why I started cycling but it certainly helps me keep going.

Initialised

£529 for annual bus travel or £888 for Metro, Rail, Bus and Ferry up here. Not bad considering.

Hmmm... can I add that to the '£3k a year' I'm saving by not having my car...