In article , Dave Arquati
wrote:
Michael Bell wrote:
In article , Ian F.
wrote:

"Nimbo" wrote in message
o.uk...

I'm fed up paying 40% income tax and getting a sub standard public
transport system which is overpriced.


Overpriced? I know a lady who travels daily from Stevenage to London, she
pays £ 3000 / year, she thinks it is a lot, but counting the final leg of
the journey within London, it is a 60 miles return journey and for a
working year of 220 days, it works out at 22p/mile, in a train costing £
8 Million. I don't think you could get a ride for that without massive
subsidy.

But if you take the cost of her portion of the train, rather than the
whole thing, then that cost reduces significantly. Say the train seats
500; the cost reduces to £16,000 per seated passenger. During the day,
that train carries more than one passenger per seat (i.e. on different
trips) and so the cost reduces further. A bigger issue is the costs of
running the train (track access charges and electricity charges I'd
guess, along with maintenance). But it shows that the price of the train
itself isn't really that significant.


Point taken. (Though I must say I am staggered at the capital cost of railway
rolling stock, and then there's the cost of the permanent way...and all the
rest. I shouldn't have raised the capital cost side-issue) What seems to me
inescapable is that 22p/mile is far cheaper than you would get in any other
form of transport, and Stevenage - King's Cross is a very comfy ride, though
the onward journey to the South Bank is not. Commuter services into London
ARE heavily subsidised, for the wealthiest city in the country. Nothing is
perfect. I don't know what is the daily journey of the starter of this thread
, but I don't think it is GENERALLY true that services in and around London
are overpriced and substandard quality. For comparison, look at the service
between Newcastle and Middlesbrough. Both major towns. They are only 40 miles
apart, and the journey takes 65 - 85 minutes. Would that be deemed acceptable
in and out London? I don't think so.

Michael Bell

--