Cost of travel - how much is in the fare?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

Station parking price increase of up to 185% begins

Commuters and visitors to a railway station will have to pay up to 185% extra for parking as new charges have been brought in.

The rates for Corby's station followed a public consultation by North Northamptonshire Council. (NNC)

Both the Labour MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post (a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London), depending on context) for the area, Lee Barron, and Corby Town Council opposed the increases which will result in the daily charge for the car park rising from £3.50 to £10.00.

If I go from my home in ['burb of market town] to [nice seaside town] for the day - return trip by train - how much do I spend in excess of what I would spend on a day at home, and how is that split down?  Is the train fare a significant part of the cost of the day out, or has it shrunk to being a minor component of my costs?

[grahame]

I have added a poll - and NOT provided an "it depends" because I am asking about a typical or average day out.

Thinking of a typical day out of mine, I might classify an early £2 bus fare into Trowbridge at the start of my day (the 06:32 train being too early and the 09:10 too late) and then £3 for a cup of coffee from the van at Trowbridge station.  Fare of £15 headed for Weymouth, it's a "large" coffee and a cherry a yoghurt flapjack at Westbury as I change trains - let's say another £4.    Even without parking, my costs add up ... and I may include the cost of fish and chips and another coffee in Weymouth during the day, as opposed to a chesse and marmite sandwich and an apple at home.   Numbers *not* checked against current costs - it just seems to melt away and I get shocked when I go into my wallet and realise I have pulled out the last note, or when the credit card bill comes in for the month.

I do know that when I buy my internal pass, that will just be a small part of my spend once I add in accommodation, food, drink, and other ancillaries and it makes the current 25% discount on the pass look trivial in the total picture - but I have a window of opportunity between being retired and being unable to move around on such a trip and I am going to take it, even if it reduces any inheritance I pass on to the kids.

[ChrisB]

It does depend though.....on where I go, and thus just how much the fare is, and thus how much that compares to the day's expenses when I get wherever. I can't answer that poll  as it depends....

[grahame]

It does depend though.....on where I go, and thus just how much the fare is, and thus how much that compares to the day's expenses when I get wherever. I can't answer that poll  as it depends....

Indeed it depends ... which is why the question asked in the poll says "typical", and looks for the comparative spend on a typical or average day.

I can find you a day trip on which I took guests from overseas to London and then on a tour of the town on a TravelCard, without stopping in to any of the paid attractions but rather noting them to perhaps go back later.   Most of the spend on travel.    But then another - a day trip to Weymouth as part of a FOSS^▸ (Freedom of Severn & Solent rover ticket) 8 out of 15.  Add bus fare to Trowbridge (no suitable connection from Melksham), coffees at Trowbridge and on change of train at Westbury, and you can consider a stop in a restaurant / lounge before the 19:30 return train to Melksham as an extra expense. And most of the spend is not on travel.

[grahame]

The number of passenger journeys between April 1 2023 and 31 March 2024 increased by 16% on the previous year to 1.38 billion, according to Office of Rail and Road statistics.

If the average fare paid for each journey was £7.50 and the typical extra paid on each journey are similar (guessing all over the place here), that's a spend of £10 billion pounds on each of rail fares and ancillaries from travel by train.

From Statistica

From April 2022 to March 2023, Network Rail limited generated approximately 10 billion British pounds.

I'm not sure what (if any) conclusions I'm starting to draw here ...

[CyclingSid]

Definitely more than half, but in my case it is usually for a cycling trip with food and drink carried from home.

[ChrisB]

I can find you a day trip on which I took guests from overseas to London and then on a tour of the town on a TravelCard, without stopping in to any of the paid attractions but rather noting them to perhaps go back later.   Most of the spend on travel.    But then another - a day trip to Weymouth as part of a FOSS^▸ (Freedom of Severn & Solent rover ticket) 8 out of 15.  Add bus fare to Trowbridge (no suitable connection from Melksham), coffees at Trowbridge and on change of train at Westbury, and you can consider a stop in a restaurant / lounge before the 19:30 return train to Melksham as an extra expense. And most of the spend is not on travel.

Indeed - so which is typical if they are in equal amounts

[johnneyw]

The poll got me thinking about my non travel expenses on a day out so I had a quick review of all the day trips I've had in this calendar year and come up with a very rough figure of just over half the spending being on transport..... mostly rail.  The increase in the rail fare element of my transport costs in the coming year should be partially offset by the bus pass that I've now been the owner of since last week.