AyrAlex (AyrAlex) wrote in message ...
I just wondered, as I seem to remember an off-peak half single from London
to Dover costing a lot of money back in 2001. On top of the large cost, I
had to change at Chatham, and the train split in two at Faversham. The
trains were all very old and slam-door.

Now it seems that for about a quarter of what I paid then, I can get a
single for 45-odd miles from Ayr to Glasgow, in under an hour, without
changing trains, and on a lovely, nice, new (but a bit dodgy) Alstom
Juniper for £5.30.

How to train fares there mount up? PS: A peak return from Ayr to Glasgow is
considerably more at £9.10

In the South East of England market forces decide the train fares and
so they can charge as much as they think they can get away with
without the SRA whining at them. And also trains in South East tend to
be packed full or at least half full a majority of the time and so it
makes sense to charge high fares as the high level of demand shows
people either are willing to pay it or have no viable alternative.
However in Scotland there are busy routes on the trains but the
majority of train routes are pretty quiet. So if they charged fares
simliar to South East no-one would use the trains. Also Scotrail
recives a subsidy far higher than anywhere else. Infact in some parts
of Scotland in a pig headed determination to keep rail lines open that
are never used. It has been proven that the level of subsidy recived
per passenger using the train lines. It would infact be cheaper to
hire a stretch limo and drive them to their destination and give the
driver a small but reasonable tip.