I wonder how many will switch to coaches? While trains are quick they are a substantial drain on a lot of peoples income. It almost makes driving to work viable for many again.

The problem with the entire rail network is that it is more expensive than travelling by car.

Only when it is cheaper to travel by rail than by car will it start taking off. (This is the same with busses).

For instance. If I wanted to travel by train tomorrow from Middlesbrough to Kings Cross it would cost me £120.

To travel the same journey by car would cost me about £40 in petrol. Ok there are more costs for car insurance, maintenance, etc...

But £80 worth?

Also, I already have the car. Taking the train doesn't mean that I get to not pay car insurance etc...

Even booking well ahead the fares are ridiculous.

That very much depends. I know the cheapest single fare from Peterborough to Glasgow (so 300+ miles) can be as low as £16 ish which is vastly cheaper than a tank of petrol or diesel for the same journey. The chances of getting that fare however are depressingly low and it rapidly gets silly for more than one person travelling.



I was under the impression that overall the number of people travelling by train was continuing to rise (coincidently one of the justifications for HS2).
The rail companies essentially have a captive market, particularly on commuter services into London. You could indeed drive for less money in a lot of cases but there are additional costs (like parking said car) to take into account. Unless your employer has free staff parking that's likely to be a major cost on top the fuel.

I have tried scanning with various apps and it is tough to plan a trip with sensible prices.


Add in congestion charge. Parking would be prohibitive for all but a very few especially in the city centre.

Not really


So My season ticket from Reading to London is £4K

Distance to the edge of London where I would be able to park and pay say £5 / day at an underground station is 43 miles so 86 / day


If I assume I use my car that does around the mid 40’s / gallon then


2 gallons / day *1.354 / gallon = £640 pa
Add in Insurance £500
Extra service for 20K miles £400
Replace car every 4 yrs £3000 pa depreciation
Parking @ £5 / day £1175

So total of £5715

And I would not be able to sleep / read / watch a film in the car

Also Door to Door for me is normally around 1 hr
Drive and Tube would be (according to Google and TfL) is over 1hr 30 mins

If you're counting depreciation over 4 years for the car, you have to factor in some rise in both petrol prices and fares over the same period.

Plus you have to factor in some value to the utility of having the car available for uses other than commuting.

I'd say it works out pretty much evenly looking at the numbers you've given. A few hundred quid either way over 4 years isn't really going to be decisive either way.

The vagaries of the train pricing system.
These are for travelling on the same train by the way to get from Chippenham to Paddington.

Day
Chippenham to Paddington 242.00
Chippenham to Didcot 109
Didcot to Paddington 103 212.00
Chippenham to Didcot 109
Didcot to Watford junction 90.4 199.40

Weekly
Chippenham to Paddington 475.00
Castle Carey to Paddington 461.70
Chippenham to Didcot 149.8
Didcot to Paddington 254 403.80

Monthly
Chippenham to Paddington 1700.00
Castle Carey to Paddington 1662.40
Chippenham to Didcot 575.3
Didcot to Paddington 932.8 1508.10

Maybe for commuters it is different. However, for me, if I want to catch the train it will be to visit someone in London for a last minute trip. Or to go somewhere for holiday.

I've never paid for a train ticket that was cheaper than the same journey by car.

Buses are just as bad. To get a family of 4 from Leeds to Harrogate for the day (about 12 miles) would cost about £25 on the bus. By car it's a couple of pounds including parking.

I was trying to keep it simple - so Fuel and rail fares both increase so broadly cancel each other out
We would need to have a second car otherwise SWHBO could not get to work so there is no real benifit in having the car other than getting to / from work

Actually its when there is more than 1 or 2 people when the train becomes a lot more expensive as a car cost the same irrespective of have just the driver in it and filling it with a family of 5

The issue is that people only look at the cost of the fuel and ignore the fixed costs (Ins, Maintenance, depreciation etc) esp if it means getting a 2nd car
The other month I had to go the Brum for the weekend and SWMBO needed the car so the options were hire a car and drive up. I was able to book the ticket a week or so in advance and got a round trip for £60. This was cheaper than hireling a car for a weekend and getting petrol (also ultimately less hassle as no need to worry about collecting / dropping it off) .
IF there had been 4 of us the equation would have changed

I only travel into London for fun, not business, so I don’t do regular journeys there. However, the cost of getting to the station by bus (return = £4), getting into London with a travel card (£14.60 return from Chelmsford to London, then travel card at @ £8.90 ) from where I live, amounts to a huge sum - getting to around £27.00 per person.

So we tend to drive to Epping, leave the car somewhere (either in a car park or in a road depending on the time we arrive or parking restrictions - sometime a friend who live there lets up park in her drive), and just pay the £8.90 for the travel card (and, yes, petrol - but that’s cheaper than the train & bus fares). So, with both of us travelling to LOndon, we can save the best part of £30 between us on travel by driving part of the way. And that saving may go on extra eats when we’re in town.

While in some specific circumstances trains can indeed work out to be incredibly cheap for an individual, as others have said, the situation becomes less clear when more than one is travelling (although you can get some very good group save type tickets depending on the train company).
I think everyone would like to see cheaper rail fares but under the system we've got at the moment that seems unlikely, especially with the current government hell bent on handing back the East Coast franchise to the private sector and removing the only comparator service in the network. Interesting clickety

And how much does it cost to park there? Last time I parked in London, it cost me 40 quid for a couple of hours...