UK Train travel costs

[Feedback]

Re: UK Train travel costs

Not totally. Others have contributed. But privatisation and deregulation of UK 'public transport' made everything worse, more fragmented, and more profit-driven. Privatised profit and socialised subsidy - what a system!

The UK has needed an integrated and properly subsidised (passengers not shareholders!) system for over 50 years. In places where it was sort of working - like South Yorkshire - Thatcher killed it. The only major place where there is anything like an integrated system - and one that is subsidised because it makes economic sense - is London. The rest of us don't count.

what kind of sophistry is this? a mix of public/private ownership works well in places like Germany and France, so it can't be the private ownership element. I'd hazard a guess its much more nuanced than that.

[jon1959]

Re: UK Train travel costs

what kind of sophistry is this? a mix of public/private ownership works well in places like Germany and France, so it can't be the private ownership element. I'd hazard a guess its much more nuanced than that.

This is not Germany or France. I don't know how their public-private ownership model works, but in my opinion the way it has been done in the UK 'made everything worse'. I know more about bus deregulation (privatisation) than trains, but based on everything I have seen, read and personally experienced I stand by the comment. If you think what Thatcher initiated made things better - tell us how. Fares went up, transport integration fell apart (except for London), failure was bailed out by HMT (the taxpayers!) and shareholders - at least in the early years - got rich.

Did someone invest in rolling stock that wouldn't have happened otherwise? Is that the nuance? I have seen arguments both ways on that!

[Heathblue]

Re: UK Train travel costs

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[Dorcus]

Re: UK Train travel costs

what kind of sophistry is this? a mix of public/private ownership works well in places like Germany and France, so it can't be the private ownership element. I'd hazard a guess its much more nuanced than that.

That may possibly be true but, to quote an erstwhile, football statement, "Public Ownership Rules Ok?"

[North Cardiff Blue]

Re: UK Train travel costs

Just worth throwing it out there that 75k a year (=experienced train driver) is the equivalent of earning 45k in 2008 and 39k in 2000.

Still a lot of money then. A bus is ten times harder to drive, with a steering wheel, gears, roundabouts, loads of traffic, and earns far less comparatively.

Still, good luck to the train drivers. If you want an easy, well-paid life, be a train driver, not a bus driver or a nurse. Use your head; some jobs are overpaid, others are underpaid.

[Dorcus]

Re: UK Train travel costs

Still a lot of money then, a bus is ten times harder to drive, steering wheel, gears, roundabouts, loads of traffic and earn pennies comparatively?

Still, good luck to the train drivers. If you want an easy, well-paid life, be a train driver, not a bus driver or a nurse. Use your head; some jobs are overpaid, others are underpaid.

£75k isn't a lot of money these days. Your average footballer wouldn't get out of bed for that.

[Eric Cartman]

Re: UK Train travel costs

This is not Germany or France. I don't know how their public-private ownership model works, but in my opinion the way it has been done in the UK 'made everything worse'. I know more about bus deregulation (privatisation) than trains, but based on everything I have seen, read and personally experienced I stand by the comment. If you think what Thatcher initiated made things better - tell us how. Fares went up, transport integration fell apart (except for London), failure was bailed out by HMT (the taxpayers!) and shareholders - at least in the early years - got rich.

Did someone invest in rolling stock that wouldn't have happened otherwise? Is that the nuance? I have seen arguments both ways on that!

Even in places that are well served there is no transport network. I used to live about 20 miles north of london in hertfordshire and there was a basically non existent east to west transport system. It was quicker to go into london, travel across it and go back out on a different line than wait for a bus timed around when a few old biddys go to waitrose.

Buses should be there to provide connections to towns and stations. Even in terms of trains, if they are different companies they dont line up, one train i used to get was timed almost perfectly so you could see the connection leave as you arrived.