I just wondered, as I seem to remember an off-peak half single from London
to Dover costing a lot of money back in 2001. On top of the large cost, I
had to change at Chatham, and the train split in two at Faversham. The
trains were all very old and slam-door.

Now it seems that for about a quarter of what I paid then, I can get a
single for 45-odd miles from Ayr to Glasgow, in under an hour, without
changing trains, and on a lovely, nice, new (but a bit dodgy) Alstom
Juniper for £5.30.

How to train fares there mount up? PS: A peak return from Ayr to Glasgow is
considerably more at £9.10
--
"We are now approaching Paisley Gilmour Street"

How to train fares there mount up? PS: A peak return from Ayr to Glasgow
is
considerably more at £9.10

Tell me bout it alex, i just moved down south from Ayr and the fares are
much more expensive, i'll come back home anyday lol

AyrAlex (AyrAlex) wrote in message ...
I just wondered, as I seem to remember an off-peak half single from London
to Dover costing a lot of money back in 2001. On top of the large cost, I
had to change at Chatham, and the train split in two at Faversham. The
trains were all very old and slam-door.

Now it seems that for about a quarter of what I paid then, I can get a
single for 45-odd miles from Ayr to Glasgow, in under an hour, without
changing trains, and on a lovely, nice, new (but a bit dodgy) Alstom
Juniper for £5.30.

How to train fares there mount up? PS: A peak return from Ayr to Glasgow is
considerably more at £9.10

In the South East of England market forces decide the train fares and
so they can charge as much as they think they can get away with
without the SRA whining at them. And also trains in South East tend to
be packed full or at least half full a majority of the time and so it
makes sense to charge high fares as the high level of demand shows
people either are willing to pay it or have no viable alternative.
However in Scotland there are busy routes on the trains but the
majority of train routes are pretty quiet. So if they charged fares
simliar to South East no-one would use the trains. Also Scotrail
recives a subsidy far higher than anywhere else. Infact in some parts
of Scotland in a pig headed determination to keep rail lines open that
are never used. It has been proven that the level of subsidy recived
per passenger using the train lines. It would infact be cheaper to
hire a stretch limo and drive them to their destination and give the
driver a small but reasonable tip.

On 28 May 2004 04:04:31 -0700, (CJG Now
Thankfully Living In The North) wrote:

. And also trains in South East tend to
be packed full or at least half full a majority of the time
Actually, I think that most of the time, most of the trains are empty
in depots (Outside of rush hours)

"AyrAlex" (AyrAlex) wrote in message
...
I just wondered, as I seem to remember an off-peak half single from London
to Dover costing a lot of money back in 2001. On top of the large cost, I
had to change at Chatham, and the train split in two at Faversham. The
trains were all very old and slam-door.

Now it seems that for about a quarter of what I paid then, I can get a
single for 45-odd miles from Ayr to Glasgow, in under an hour, without
changing trains, and on a lovely, nice, new (but a bit dodgy) Alstom
Juniper for £5.30.

How to train fares there mount up? PS: A peak return from Ayr to Glasgow
is
considerably more at £9.10


I live in Dover (not through choice I may like to add).

I stayed in London for two nights at the end of March/beginning of April. I
originally purchased a "Network Away Break" in Dover, thinking I was coming
back the next day, but I wasn't (didn't know that when I bought it). For
that ticket, I paid £23.40.

When I did decide to come back from London to Dover, I went to the ticket
office to get a single. I was absolutely disgusted to find out that it
would cost £20.70. (Had to pay it, otherwise I was a bit stuck).

Can anyone tell me why it costs £20.70 to get from London to Dover single,
but only £12.90 from Dover to London single? Both were off peak prices.

And, with regards to the trains splitting...trains from Dover tend to join
with others at Faversham now, and then go straight on to London, and they
are the new Electrostar 375's. You get the odd incident (such as the one
that happened to me last week - train hitting a tree between Selling and
Faversham), where they can't attach the damaged carriages to the train
already waiting, so they don't bother attaching any, and everyone has to fit
into 3/4 carriages. Even with the air conditioning, it was hot.

Laura-Ann

In article ,
AyrAlex (AyrAlex) wrote:
I just wondered, as I seem to remember an off-peak half single from London
to Dover costing a lot of money back in 2001. On top of the large cost, I
had to change at Chatham, and the train split in two at Faversham. The
trains were all very old and slam-door.

I was emptying out some old boxes the other day, and found an SR publicity
leaflet from nineteen eighty blur, entitled "We won't split on you any
more!". It was about the replacement of the traditional Ramsgate/Dover
service dividing at Faversham, by a more complex service with separate
trains to both towns, connecting across the platform at Faversham twice
an hour.

The success of it can probably be gauged by the fact that they once again
split at Faversham You can still get slam door trains if you try (I
get a text message about it quite often, thank you youknowwhoyouare ),
but they are disappearing fast and the scrap line (I'm told) is growing.

Nick
--
"And we will be restoring normality just as soon as we are sure what is
neurotypical anyway. Thank you". -- not quite DNA

I just wondered, as I seem to remember an off-peak half single from London
to Dover costing a lot of money back in 2001. On top of the large cost, I
had to change at Chatham, and the train split in two at Faversham. The
trains were all very old and slam-door.

Now it seems that for about a quarter of what I paid then, I can get a
single for 45-odd miles from Ayr to Glasgow, in under an hour, without
changing trains, and on a lovely, nice, new (but a bit dodgy) Alstom
Juniper for £5.30.

How to train fares there mount up? PS: A peak return from Ayr to Glasgow is
considerably more at £9.10

London Terminals (actually Victoria) to Dover Priory:

CDS £12.90 / £20.70 (Don't ask me why there are two fares - I think
the cheaper one is TO London and the dearer one FROM)
SDS £21.20
FDS £31.80

CDR £20.80
SDR £21.40
NAB £23.40
SVR £28.10
SOR £42.40
FOR £63.60

paul_mc28 wrote:

Tell me bout it alex, i just moved down south from Ayr and the fares are
much more expensive, i'll come back home anyday lol

You don't get the 'annoying annie' automatic announcement voice either. (see
the signature)

--
"We are now approaching Paisley Gilmour Street"

CDS £12.90 / £20.70 (Don't ask me why there are two fares - I think
the cheaper one is TO London and the dearer one FROM)
SDS £21.20
FDS £31.80
Exactly, for a single, that's about 5 or 6 times the price for the same
distance here.

But while we do hear about things like the train station staying open that
only one person uses, not everywhere is like that.

Given some of the gripes about TFL on here, I've got to commend SPT on
actually running a good service here in Strathclyde. Shiny, new, punctual
electric trains every half hour.
--
"We are now approaching Paisley Gilmour Street"

"AyrAlex" (AyrAlex) wrote in message
...
paul_mc28 wrote:

Tell me bout it alex, i just moved down south from Ayr and the fares are
much more expensive, i'll come back home anyday lol

You don't get the 'annoying annie' automatic announcement voice either.
(see
the signature)

--
"We are now approaching Paisley Gilmour Street"


I was in Glasgow a few months ago. What really irritated me was the female
voice making (recorded) announcements before every station on the
Balloch-Airdrie and Glasgow Central-Ayr line trains.

She had, unfortunately, 'wan o' they voaysays'......"This train is fur
Glasgow Queen Street via Sing-ur and Pertick" and "The next stay-shun is
Urrrvun. We wull shoartly be arriving at Prestwick Airport station fur
Glasgow Prestwick Airpoart".

Ahhhhhhh! After ten minutes it became very annoying, to hear this 'Senga'
every few minutes during a 45 minute journey was really unbearable.

Incidentally, my impression of Glasgow (as a visitor from the southeast of
England) was VERY impressive. This has to be the most stunning,
architecturally innovative and friendliest city in the UK. The people, city,
buildings, shopping, hotels etc are fantastic. An added bonus has to be that
the city has the largest suburban electric railway network outside London
and the only city in the UK (outside London) to have a proper underground
railway system. I loved Glasgow, the scale and metropolitan feel of the city
and can't wait to go back again. It surely has to be Britain's best kept
secret? Many people in the UK would avoid it (for some strange reason) but
it is beautiful, exciting and overwhelmingly friendly. I loved it and when I
got back to London I thought "What a dump (compared wth Glasgow)".

Andy