A couple of weeks ago I had to go to Edinburgh for a couple of days. I decided to take the train so that I could put my feet up and get a stack of paperwork done.
£6 single to Kings Cross
£94 return.
1½ hour delay (on a 6 hour journey already)
Got back, another £6 single home (can't get returns for more than 24 hours apparently), then they'd shut half of the undrerground for maintenance so took ages to get home.
And on the train, I seemed to be the only person actually sober, so chances of getting much work done declined to near zero anyhow.
Next time I'll do the £60 budget-airline return or ,frankly, drive - using £60 worth of Diesel, and having to put up with nobody's company.
Surely, if they want to get us all on the trains, we need:
- nicer, more reliable trains
- Tickets as cheap as budget airlines (or better still, cheaper)
- Joined up ticketing.
- Integrated into the rest of the public transport system a bit better.
That said, at-least you can turn up at the station 5 minutes before the train departs, and it's £3.50 per day to park at my local railway station, versus £10+ at any of the London airports. We could do ourselves a few favours as an industry still.
Oh yes, do we really think that the whole world will simultaneously agree to put the same tax on their fuel? If we don't, then you'll get over-heavy aeroplanes, taking double-trip fuel from countries that don't care, adding further to pollution, plus depriving UK economy of the profit from fuel sales.
G