Chippy_boy
Well-Known Member
Honestly they have long since been a complete joke, haven't they.
I used to do the Bristol to London Paddington run quite regularly, having moved to Bristol in 1982 and needing to go to London quite often. For 36 years now, I've seen the prices go up and up and up, and usually with price increased greater than RPI.
I wrote to my MP about it some 3 or 4 years ago and was told that we'd had "a decade plus of above RPI increases, to pay for new investment". So now perhaps 14 years of RPI+ increases. To the extent that a normal 2nd class return from Bristol Parkway to London Paddington - a journey of only about 100 miles - is now £211.40
How UTTERLY bonkers is that? It's gone beyond "expensive" and is now firmly in the realms of UTTERLY ridiculous. And after all these years of "investment", it's the same shitty rolling stock since I started doing the journey 36 years ago. All they have done is refurbished the seats.
I may be about to start a new job, which very generously will pay for 1st class rail travel. A first class return is £311 !!! So today I checked how much it would cost for a 1 year 1st class season ticket for this journey.
Are you sitting down?
£24,388. Yes, TWENTY FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS for a fucking train ticket.
I am the most right wing person I know and do not advocate nationalising anything since imo everything government touches, turns to shite. But nevertheless, SOMETHING has to be done, because this is just completely and utterly ridiculous.
I used to do the Bristol to London Paddington run quite regularly, having moved to Bristol in 1982 and needing to go to London quite often. For 36 years now, I've seen the prices go up and up and up, and usually with price increased greater than RPI.
I wrote to my MP about it some 3 or 4 years ago and was told that we'd had "a decade plus of above RPI increases, to pay for new investment". So now perhaps 14 years of RPI+ increases. To the extent that a normal 2nd class return from Bristol Parkway to London Paddington - a journey of only about 100 miles - is now £211.40
How UTTERLY bonkers is that? It's gone beyond "expensive" and is now firmly in the realms of UTTERLY ridiculous. And after all these years of "investment", it's the same shitty rolling stock since I started doing the journey 36 years ago. All they have done is refurbished the seats.
I may be about to start a new job, which very generously will pay for 1st class rail travel. A first class return is £311 !!! So today I checked how much it would cost for a 1 year 1st class season ticket for this journey.
Are you sitting down?
£24,388. Yes, TWENTY FOUR THOUSAND POUNDS for a fucking train ticket.
I am the most right wing person I know and do not advocate nationalising anything since imo everything government touches, turns to shite. But nevertheless, SOMETHING has to be done, because this is just completely and utterly ridiculous.