September 9, 2004
Public Transport
As it looks like C and myself might actually be able to get away for a weekend reasonably soon we had to decide on a place to go... Despite my protestations about the country being too Londoncentric its where we decided to have a weekend as it will allow us to see a few friends who are now down there and go to the Maple Leaf and see the CHC building again as well as partake in the usual London touristy things -- we may even take in a show by the Reduced Shakespeare Company (and if you have never seen these guys you're missing out -- they're superb).
So, having decided on a destination we have to decide how to get there... We discount using the car and driving down as it seems to have to have a death-wish to drive in London, plus we'd have to stump up dosh for the congestion charge while we're there if we go over the boundary.
I have a look at trains and train times using The Train Line and eventually have to discount using a train too. Because of all the work that is STILL ongoing to upgrade the west coast main line it seems that the trains take as long as a car to get to London. In fact, the return journey is worse as it appears that the train stops at Crewe and you have to get on a bus for the final part of the journey. This means it takes upwards of 4 hours to get home. It's not cheap either - even though I'm enquiring some 5 weeks before we're going to go the site states there are no saver tickets available and the cost for both of us to go would be £108.40!
I turn to a well-known coach network to save me but again, the journey is getting on for 5 hours on a coach not including the time to get into Manchester and back from where we are which would easily add another hour each way. Cost is significantly less than the train though at £39.00. This has to be discounted though as neither of us particularly want to spend upwards of 12 hours travelling for a short break (one night in London).
Panic sets in. We've had to discount going by car (way too expensive - would cost at least £75 just for petrol), train (too slow, too expensive for the experience) & coach (too slow, inconvenient pickup points / slots). That's everything surely?
Wait though! It's NOT everything! We haven't considered travelling by air...
A quick check using ebookers shows that the cost would be £40 each + taxes from Manchester Airport. Total cost of £150 approx. (yes, the taxes are a lot more than the actual cost of the flight)... Wonder if I can get that a bit cheaper thinks I. Lets have a look the the BMI website. Tap in the details. Quote comes back at £11 each + taxes. Total price £112.40. Bingo!
For just £4 more than travelling by train we can FLY there. We have to get travel cards for London anyway for running around over the weekend so thats not an issue. Admittedly we have to park the car somewhere but I found that BCP don't have a minimum stay requirement for parking at some of their car parks and they've quoted less than £10.00 for 2 days parking.
So, for a journey which we would have been happy to use public transport we effectively got either priced out or the timescales are just too long. Over the entire weekend the only public transport we'll use will be the tube.
This is crazy!
In a small country like Great Britain we should be able to get pretty much anywhere relatively cheaply and quickly. The Government wants us all to get out of our cars and use public transport, given my experience detailed here I can definitely say that public transport needs to be made significantly more reliable and cheaper before the vast majority of people will use it. I can also say with some confidence that the service has got a LOT worse in the last few years. I remember having to travel to London every week for one job and using the train every week with no problem at all. It was cheap if booked early and it was reasonably punctual. Obviously no longer.
What a shame.
As a regular user of the trains I can say, yes it did get a lot worse, in fact it was bloody dangerous (you can blame the previous government for that). But now after the long overdue upgrades and infrastructure repairs because the present government is willing to invest in transport, the service has got a lot better. Well at least you don't spill that cup of coffee all over the table now.
You will notice this once the work has been finished. I had to put up with traveling by rail replacement services for two years whilst these works were being done.
Oh and you have the misconception like most north of Watford Gap that you have to pay the congestion charge at weekends. You don't. And driving in London is no worse than driving in Manchester, Birmingham or Paris city centers.
I remember a journey from London to Manchester used to take six hours, not because of slow trains or congested roads, but that’s how long it took by car before the Motorways were completed.
Traveling is either time consuming or expensive, it always has been, live with it.