Pricey tickets

[swadbus]

This weekend I have a couple of friends coming down to visit london and I was thinking of taking them for a ride on HS1. Only to do St Pancras to Ebbsfleet for the experience.

Looking at ticket options there isn't any that are cheap at such short notice (must plan ahead next time!). It is £14.30p return on off peak return and splitting it costs more sadly. They haven't got railcards either.

I see that it is £14.30p from Stratford international to Ebbsfleet international with a journey time of only 10 minutes. So a return ticket is effectively 71.5 pence per minute for that journey. Rather cost prohibitive (I know it's a premium service and I should have planned ahead - not a gripe at all merely an observation).

Which got me wondering what would be the most expensive price per minute rail journey in standard class in the UK?

 

[pemma]

Which got me wondering what would be the most expensive price per minute rail journey in standard class in the UK?

This has been asked many times before. I think the winner finished up being Deansgate to Manchester Oxford Road being £1.20 for a 1/4 mile.

 

[swadbus]

This has been asked many times before. I think the winner finished up being Deansgate to Manchester Oxford Road being £1.20 for a 1/4 mile.

Distance wise it may be, but time wise?

It is a 2 minute journey, thus 60p a minute. So effectively cheaper than HS1. (and I'd hope so when you compare a 395 to a 142!)

 

[button_boxer]

Leicester Square to Covent Garden if you don't have an Oyster (though that's not NR so probably doesn't count).

 

[lemonic]

There aren't any Advance tickets from St Pancras to Ebbsfleet (or indeed anywhere in Kent on Southeastern services), so you would only have saved money if you had booked in advance from somewhere outside London e.g. Birmingham (on a Virgin+connections Advance ticket)

 

[AlterEgo]

This weekend I have a couple of friends coming down to visit london and I was thinking of taking them for a ride on HS1. Only to do St Pancras to Ebbsfleet for the experience.

Looking at ticket options there isn't any that are cheap at such short notice (must plan ahead next time!). It is £14.30p return on off peak return and splitting it costs more sadly. They haven't got railcards either.

I see that it is £14.30p from Stratford international to Ebbsfleet international with a journey time of only 10 minutes. So a return ticket is effectively 71.5 pence per minute for that journey. Rather cost prohibitive (I know it's a premium service and I should have planned ahead - not a gripe at all merely an observation).

Which got me wondering what would be the most expensive price per minute rail journey in standard class in the UK?

Sadly there's quite a premium on HS1. It's still not incredibly cheap (though much better) on a Priv either, although I've done it once, at £9.55 SDR between London and Dover Priory.

It is quite a good experience though - you're unlikely to exceed 125mph (AFAIK) but the scenery and smooth ride are quite impressive.

 

[tony_mac]

except they rattle more than pendolinos! (BTW, haven't had a badly rattling pendolino for a while, I guess they must actually fix them).

If they are travelling to London on off-peak tickets, then an over-distance excess may be a reasonable price, depending on where they are coming from.

 

[swadbus]

except they rattle more than pendolinos! (BTW, haven't had a badly rattling pendolino for a while, I guess they must actually fix them).

If they are travelling to London on off-peak tickets, then an over-distance excess may be a reasonable price, depending on where they are coming from.

They are travelling on an advance single from Manchester.

We travelled from St pancras to Whitstable and back changing at faversham today using priv. Cost £7.30p.

 

[Mojo]

Note that a ticket to Gravesend is the same price as Strood.

Interesting question about £ per minute (and one which has come up before) but surely one would expect a faster service to command a premium price?

 

[Chapeltom]

Also in the Manchester area, a metrolink journey between Mosley Street/Market Street and Piccadilly Gardens - both walks of 2 to 3 minutes, must only be 300 yards - cost £1.20 return! That's £6 a mile or £1.20 a minute.

 

[pemma]

Distance wise it may be, but time wise?

It is a 2 minute journey, thus 60p a minute. So effectively cheaper than HS1. (and I'd hope so when you compare a 395 to a 142!)

Time wise comparisons don't work. Shouldn't, if anything, an express service cost more than a slow stopper on the same line and not the other way around?

 

[sonic2009]

What gets me how there is a fare from Romford - Ebbsfleet International SE that is routed not HS1..

How do someone get to ebbsfleet with going via HS1 ?

 

[yorkie]

Looking at ticket options there isn't any that are cheap at such short notice (must plan ahead next time!).

There are no Advance tickets for London to Ebbsfleet, however you could book to Ebbsfleet as part of a longer journey, which may or may not be cheaper.

I see that it is £14.30p from Stratford international to Ebbsfleet international with a journey time of only 10 minutes. So a return ticket is effectively 71.5 pence per minute for that journey. Rather cost prohibitive (I know it's a premium service and I should have planned ahead - not a gripe at all merely an observation).

You only see price per minute as the benchmark for value because you are going for the experience, and not to actually get anywhere. Now, I admit that many of us will enjoy travelling by train and will want to travel for the experience but we have to be realistic here and understand that fares are based on market pricing and that higher speeds and lower journey times are what most people want and therefore command higher fares.

For a railtour, then yes you could look at journey time as an indicator of value, but for a service train? No, it doesn't make sense, in fact it is the opposite of making sense, the quicker the journey the higher the fare should be.

Which got me wondering what would be the most expensive price per minute rail journey in standard class in the UK?

It's not a question that makes much sense to me, but it does crop up every so often, most recently in February 2011.

 

[asylumxl]

Speaking of expensive tickets, Luton to Luton Airport Parkway is £2.50 for a mile. It's perfectly walkable, and is probably easier as you don't have to contest with the stairs at Luton..

 

[Lampshade]

Twickenham to St Margarets is £2.30 single - the stations are so close together they may as well be counted as one hock: