Companies using RPI to put up prices

Putting prices up isn't going to help it's going to make people travel on trains less. It's obvious.

We don't just have to use the train analogy here.

Look at the price of hard drives. They went rocketing up. I bet the sales of hard drives have slumped too.

What next?
 
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Energize said:
Well if the trains went at 300mph like Japan it would be a lot faster. But my point is it's faster to go by car, so given the price of the train what incentive is there to use it?
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Comfort and can do other things.

When I go to my sisters or brother I go by train. Despite it taking slightly longer. But it's worth it for not having to drive for several hours and get caught on the m25.
Can sit chill out and watch films on the tablet. On top of that doesn't matter how drunk I get Saturday night, I can still catch train back.

I've found the comparative price of trains has also got vastly cheaper over the last few years. Tax, insurance, petrol has all gone up more than train tickets.
 
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Energize said:
Well if the trains went at 300mph like Japan it would be a lot faster.
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With respect your destination is in the middle of absolutely nowhere and of little real significance to the wider economy. In Japan you wouldn't have a 300mph train serving it either so it's rather ridiculous to complain that you don't have 300mph trains linking a town of just 45,000 people with an even smaller town of just 15,000 people! What a completely ridiculous thing to say that serves only to highlight just how unreasonable most peoples expectations are.


But my point is it's faster to go by car, so given the price of the train what incentive is there to use it?
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You make the assumption that journey time is the only factor anyone considers when making a journey. Perhaps you don't have a car, perhaps you don't wish to drive, perhaps you enjoy watching films rather than driving. I sometimes visit the GF by train - it takes an hour longer than driving my car but I can just browse the web and watch movies so it's a different experience. If I'm in a hurry or need the car I drive, if not, I sit back and take the train even though it's only about a tenner cheaper than driving.

Your journey is unusual because of the isolated location of Aberyswyth. You can't cover the entire country in railway lines so you can get from one hamlet to another at 400mph instantly. It would be completely pointless. Rail is never going to be a service which will ALWAYS be the best option for any journey. It's merely part of our transport mix. Sometimes its best to use the train. Sometimes its best to drive. Sometimes its best to fly.
 
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I told you where it was! It's in the Stagecoach interim report!

As it would appear you don't know what an interim report is (Yet still feel you can continue to debate profitability? Odd) here is the relevent extract:

Operating Profit

UK Rail

2011 (6.9m)
% Margin (1.2%)
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Why didnt you answer the question I asked you? You quoted it but didnt answer it?
 
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For the group as a whole, yes. But we are talking about railways - so look at the UK Rail element.

They posted an overall profit as a result of USA and UK bus operations. The UK railway operations made a loss, and this is a thread discussing railways not buses?
 
[TW]Fox;20842428 said:
You make the assumption that journey time is the only factor anyone considers when making a journey. Perhaps you don't have a car, perhaps you don't wish to drive, perhaps you enjoy watching films rather than driving. I sometimes visit the GF by train - it takes an hour longer than driving my car but I can just browse the web and watch movies so it's a different experience. If I'm in a hurry or need the car I drive, if not, I sit back and take the train even though it's only about a tenner cheaper than driving
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Not at all, in comparison to the train the car is; faster, cheaper, has flexible journey times, more comfortable (ever had to use an Arriva train?) and much more convenient in that it's straight from one's front door to the final destination, no messing around changing trains or having to get to and from train stations. The only advantage of the train is not having to drive for a couple of hours. While you mention watching movies, if I did that I would not hear the announcements that are required to know when to change trains/cars on the frequently unreliable Arriva line.

I think it is fairly reasonable to expect a train service to be cheaper and as comfortable as travelling the same journey by car.
 
Given I appear to be arguing with somebody who thinks huge profits are soemthing every company makes and somebody elses whose genuine complaint about the railway is how unreasonable it is that he can't make the 170 mile trip to a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere at 300mph for 50p, I think I'm going to sit out until somebody has any fresh points..
 
[TW]Fox;20842991 said:
Given I appear to be arguing with somebody who thinks huge profits are soemthing every company makes and somebody elses whose genuine complaint about the railway is how unreasonable it is that he can't make the 170 mile trip to a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere at 300mph for 50p, I think I'm going to sit out until somebody has any fresh points..
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Ie. you can't come up with a sensible rebuttal so you make absurd exaggerations.
 
I've already previously addressed your point that because the railway isn't a utopia for your one particular journey into the closest thing our country has to the back of beyond doesn't mean it's entirely 100% useless. I'm not going to do it again.
 
[TW]Fox;20843659 said:
I've already previously addressed your point that because the railway isn't a utopia for your one particular journey into the closest thing our country has to the back of beyond doesn't mean it's entirely 100% useless. I'm not going to do it again.
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I never claimed it was useless, you just made that up. I said it was overpriced. Since you couldn't come up with a counterargument to my earlier post I can only assume you concede that the rail service doesn't meet expectations.
 
Yes, I concede that the rail service doesn't meet expecations because you can't do a 360 mile round trip into rural Wales for less than £64.
 
No, they just need to clean the trains once in a while, fix the tannoy systems and reduce the prices so we don't have the absurd situation of a single individual being able to provide a cheaper taxiing service than a huge business.
 
Energize said:
No, they just need to clean the trains once in a while, fix the tannoy systems and reduce the prices so we don't have the absurd situation of a single individual being able to provide a cheaper taxiing service than a huge business.
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Are you making the same mistake everyone else makes of only comparing the cost of fuel versus the cost of a train ticket?
 
Energize said:
Not at all, in comparison to the train the car is; faster, cheaper, has flexible journey times, more comfortable (ever had to use an Arriva train?) and much more convenient in that it's straight from one's front door to the final destination, no messing around changing trains or having to get to and from train stations. The only advantage of the train is not having to drive for a couple of hours.

...

I think it is fairly reasonable to expect a train service to be cheaper and as comfortable as travelling the same journey by car.
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Although I appreciate the points fox has made, I think this sums up my disgruntlement quite nicely. Thankfully I don't have to use them regularly... I just get a shock when I do :p
 
But thats the point in there being a transport mix - sometimes the car is the best, sometimes the train is the best. He is essentially saying the train isn't good becuase it isn't the best for that one particular journey he makes. He's also doing his usual track of exagerating things - not being able to watch movies because he might miss announcements about the train breaking down, come on, he knows as well as I do that he's being ridiculous there (I have travelled on Arriva Trains Wales you know).

Thats like me saying my car sucks because if I want to go to London it is quicker and cheaper to take the train. It's just illogical and doesnt take into account that NO form of transport will EVER be all things to all men and neither should it be.

If rail was as universally bad as he's trying to imply with his horribly rigid example they'd all be empty. Yet it seems overcrowding is the most common complaint..

Nowhere here have I argued that the rail network is perfect, is without fault or that every fare on the network is reasonable. On the contrary I've provided examples of some of the more bizarre end of the fare spectrum. But when you judge anything you must be fair and reasonable.
 
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