General Discussion
Let the train take the strain
What value for money! A £10.00 per year Devon & Cornwall Railcard and I can take myself and two teenagers on a return Dawlish/Exeter Central rail journey for the grand sum of £4.00.!
How much would it cost in petol per return journey?
How much would it cost in car parking charges?
And on a day like today when the sky is clear and blue that journey along the Exe estuary is to die for.
Good isn't it.
I go to Plymouth and is only £4 return for a 80 mile round trip.
Ive booked well in advance to Essex/Suffolk border on a day trip £60 for a total of 540 miles. What would that cost by car? Think AA suggest 45p per mile taking all in.
Too many run the train down, maybe its the status of a car. I don't have one, I would hate to have to pay the Garage service charges etc. Before people say I need one, if you cant drive you cant have one..and so you change your job and live where trains and buses are.
Glad you had a nice trip and so nice to see a positve posting for a change.
I went to York at Christmas with my rail card it cost me £11 there £18 return would have cost about $70 by car journey took about hour more than by car but more money in my pocket and no syrain,
But for a family the car would be cheaper, the train companies need to have cheaper fares for families
I agree, i took the train to Exeter yesterday and for myself and my 2 daughters it cost £6 in total for returns. It was great, no hassle driving into Exeter, no hassle finding a parking space, and no parking fees. I will definately use the train more often.
I use the train for work here and in Europe we have the dearest rail fairs maybe its because we are the only country in Europe tohave privitised the railway 100%.
Why does it cost around £2 return Dawlish to Teignmouth on the train and £3.40on the bus, when Stagecoach have shares in Great Western
I think it's mmore like £4.00 something Dawlish/Teighmouth return on Stagecoach bus.
Buy a Devon and Cornwall railcard (£10.00 per 12 months) and you'll get a third off rail fares in Devon and Cornwall. Dawlish/Teignmouth return then becomes something like £1.50.
No brainer really.
Stagecoach most certainly has nothing to do with First Great Western, South West Trains is Stagecoach the 'red' reliable ones! .. I wish they would take over from First.
My mistake about Stagecoach but why is bus travel so expensive isit because pensioners get free travel. I have to get the bus to hospital twice a month it cost me £6 on the bus
It is nothing to do woth the free travel scheme. The cost of a brand new bus is at least £130,000 and drivers earn around £10 an hour or so. New buses have to have low floor to please the disability act. It is all expense and a real problem. I imagine you were sold a £6 explorer ticket so you could travel on buses all day long anywhere, rather tham you buy seperate tickets.
Trains cost thousands and the staff are paid well. If the buses were cheaper more paying people would use them it would be cost effective. The finance for free bus fares comes from council all pensioners get a free pass its not means tested is that really fair.If it was the same or cheaper for families to use public transport as it is in the rest of Europe then they would let the train/bus take the strain
If you use the buses you would know that a typical mid day bus is full from Newton Abbot - Teignmouth, some get off more get on for Dawlish and its still around 40 on board, but most are free passes. The £6 day ticket can go anywhere, north to Barnstaple, east to Lyme Regis, Torbay to Plymouth.
The Day Rover Stagecoach bus £6.00 ticket can be good value if you use it a lot on that particular day that you are travelling.
£4.60 something return fare Dawlish/Teignmouth is most definitely not good value. It is a rip off.
The free bus passes mean other travelers are paying over the odds. Maybe it would be fairer if the pensioners passes were means tested. Basic pension is a pittance and anyone one it needs all the help they can get but others are probably better off than the average family
Thats you still paying fares when you're 60 then.. coz you will be loaded after all that commuter work earning out of Dawlish.
British Rail was awful, I know you are too young to know but they made branch train times not connect with main line trains, then there was good reason to close lines as passenger numbers were low, but nobody questioned why. I agree with many that 'First' are not good but at least private owned companies do make a point on timetable connections.
All of this dialogue doesnt answer the fact that publc transport is more expensive than the rest of Europe and that majority of Europe transport is state owned.
I may be going off the rails here slightly.
I have never quite understood why pensioners today are so poor. I suppose it depends on what 'poor' is.
I have eight years to go, so am still 'helping' the current pensioners to survive along with helping to fund their £200 heating allowance through my taxes.
I am not from a wealthy background,have been made redundant 3 times in the past eighteen years and spent 5 years out of work in the nineties. I earn just below the national average wage.
Both my children have been through University (although they will be in debt now for many years).
I have almost finished my mortgage aswell.
Yet I will benefit from 3 pensions at 65, the state pension, and 2 personal pensions, one of which is contributory.
It IS possible to save for your retirement.
Lets hope I make it there!
The heating allowance for pensioners should be means tested.
Not all pensioners are well off. I have not been able to work for years for 2 reasons husband used to work away i was a stay at at home mum (and proud of it) used to do the odd part time work which fitted in with holidays ect, then I developed a chronic illness at 35 consequently I have no private pension receive £64 pension the rest made up with means tested credits. Having a bus pass is a bonus to me, maybe these should be means tested.
Oh and I put my kids through uni whilst on incapacity benifit
The daft thing is, the government dish the £200 out when you reach 60. Surely most people are still working at that age and probably earning the most money at any time in their career.Also free eye tests and bus passes are available at 60.
So you could have some poor chap about 35 with 3 kids, earning £15,000 per year funding the heating allowance,eye test & bus pass etc of someone 60+ earning say £30,000 per year?
How fair is that?
Focus did you see the programme on tv a few weeks ago titled "HEAT or EAT". It was basically about pensioners who could not afford to do both which to me seems far fetched. I must admit there are some poor pensioners but when you receive £200 towards heating and Council Tax benefits and you can buy 5 meals for a £1 in Tescos (no pun intended) it makes me wonder. Perhaps they are not claiming benefits that they could receive. What does annoy me is when you see pensioners picketing and refusing to pay their Council Tax, I don't like it but i still have to pay it. Just incase your wondering i'm in my 40's on a low income with a family. I make sure ALL my bills are paid and whats left which is not alot is mine and if i can't afford it i can't have it. Some pensioners are well off but still moan they should try being on a low income like many others young and old.
My mother live on basic pension and doesnt now pay council tax she would have to if she had a private pension or money in the bank. It would be HEAT or Eat if I didnt help her out, she is virtually housebound because of illness.so needs the heating on all the time older people cannot keep warm as younger ones do. As someone said somewhere else heating allowance bus passes etc should be means tested.
Why should a pensioner live on cheap £1 dinners they need their 5 portions of fruit and veg same as everyone.
She scrimps and saves for Christmas and birthday presents.
My mother worked all her life in low paid jobs (no working tax credit or child credit etc )without a pension scheme.
We dont owe older people anything but a bit of
respect goes a long way.
Pensioners daughter please don't get me wrong. All i'm trying to point out is that the press and tv make out that pensioners either heat their homes and don't eat or vice verser. All i'm trying to say is that you can heat your home and eat even if it is a cheap £1 meal. I respect what you are saying many pensioners worked hard and do need respect and more help from the government. What annoys me is the better off pensioners who moan but still get the hand-outs they should donate their share to people like your mother. It's like the old saying the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Totally agree with you. My son has 3 kids his and his wife work hard and they struggle and have to travel by car because public transport works out very expensive for families.