better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick (but only just)

It's been a while since I've taken the time to complain about anything train-related, so I'm going to rectify that with a short moan.  Rejoice, or bear with me as appropriate.

 

My commute takes me about half-way to London, and at the end of last year I paid a four-figure sum for the privilege of holding a Season Ticket for this.  You'd have thought, therefore, that when I actually want to travel all the way in to London I'd enjoy some reasonable savings, given that I only have to buy a ticket for half the journey.  If like me, however, you did think that, you thought wrong.  Especially when it comes to Saver Returns, as I found out this weekend.  I paid £15.70.  If you want to pay for the whole 1 1/4 hour journey in full, you pay £15.10.  The saving didn't even cover my Krispy Kreme doughnut* on arrival, and given that my Season Ticket works out at substantially more than 60p for that part of the journey I feel a bit short-changed.

 

Rant over.  Rejoice, or bear with me until next time, as appropriate.

 

>>

* Maple-Flavour glazed. Lush.

Comments

Anonymous said…
As I've said before, and will no doubt say again, the railways have been going downhill ever since certain idiots decided to listen to a certain Dick when he suggested closing half of them.

It's kind of ironic, actually - Britain was the first country to have a railway system as we know it, and yet we've got pretty much the worst managed system in the world. You'd have thought that with the amount of time the Powers That Be spend trying to imitate other countries in everything else, they'd have noticed that they manage to run railways properly...
Sun Jun 15, 09:45:00 PM GMT
Anonymous said…
JP, since you're a fan of private companies running the railways, I think there's a contradiction if you expect 'sensible' pricing - by which I mean a clear link between distance travelled and price.

Surely the market will determine the most efficient price, which may well (or rather, probably won't) have any link to the distance travelled. What, you want 1/2 price tickets for travelling 1/2 the distance! What kind of pinko socialist world do you want to live in?
Sat Jun 21, 10:10:00 PM GMT
Anonymous said…
Is it just me, or did you actually pay 60p MORE for your ticket than you would have done if you didn't have a Season Ticket? I wasn't aware that you were mathematically challenged, but I feel that I should advise you, next time, to pay for the whole 1 1/4 hour journey in full - ie "£15.10" - and just don't admit to holding a Season Ticket. I'm sure they won't mind!
x
Sun Jun 22, 07:15:00 PM GMT
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