Rail Travel Costs

[Goodsoulette]

No matter which operator we use, the cost of the fair between the Taunton and Tiverton stretch costs more than the Tiverton to Penryn stretch? How is that at all possible? Its about 5 or 6 times longer to travel from Tiverton to Penryn. We now board at Tiverton.

[Booldawg]

I think popularity of a specific journey has more bearing on the price than the actual distance.

[gness]

Rail travel prices are beyond sense. I can get from Kettering to London for £6 then need a bank loan for the fare from London to Honiton.

[Fitzer]

@Gness, are you looking for a same-day ticket, booking ahead I find a single Waterloo to Honiton for £13, seems pretty good to me. Same goes for GS, Taunton to Penryn £19.

[gness]

Hi Fitzer.... I usually drive to Honiton for a stay of a week or two. Last year I had to use the train a couple of times and couldn't find anything that I considered reasonable. May have been my timing and could be that I am spoiled by my cheap fares to London. Looking at a trip to Liverpool next month and that is proving a little pricey too. x

[Fitzer]

Yeah, you really need to book a couple of months in advance to get anything like a good fare.

[Goodsoulette]

Ive done taunton to Penryn for 7 quid, once in a while but sometimes when we're not booking so far in advance it's hideously expensive. I live a few miles from Honiton, best icecream in the country is served at the icecream parlour there.

[gness]

I guess that's it...I like to surprise the daughter...if I tell her I'm coming she bolts and locks the door. ;-) x

[heathfield]

This isn't new. Back in the 1960s British Rail had the same idea of reducing fares to less popular stations, even when the distance travelled was further. I used to travel quite a lot to Grimsby, but I'd buy a ticket for Cleethorpes - a few miles further on than Grimsby but the ticket was a couple of quid cheaper.

[Goodsoulette]

I get that but how is Tiverton Parkway less popular than Truro or Penzance?

[mushroom25]

I think the clue's in the name - "parkway" - which loosely translates as "nowhere near the town it purports to serve".

[Goodsoulette]

I meant it the other way around, doh, the most expensive portion of the fair is getting to tiverton Parkway, and yup its nearer to my home in Somerset than it is to Tiverton.