Best and Worst value pund per mile railway journeys

[18B]

While looking at ticket prices for the Scottish Highlands lines, I was pleasantly surprised that a Wick to inverness return was around £34, for a 320+ mile return journey that's pretty good value at roughly 10 mile to £1,

 

So just out shear curiosity I wondered what's the highest and lowest £ to mile journeys in the country?

 

Obvioulsy the London terminals I imagine will be high pounds to the mile costs... wonder what the best value ticket is, (excluding first class etc - just thinking of turn up and go tickets and advance singles etc)

[Wickham Green]

While looking at ticket prices for the Scottish Highlands lines, I was pleasantly surprised that a Wick to inverness return was around £34, for a 320+ mile return journey that's pretty good value at roughly 10 mile to £1,

 

So just out shear curiosity I wondered what's the highest and lowest £ to mile journeys in the country?

 

Obvioulsy the London terminals I imagine will be high pounds to the mile costs... wonder what the best value ticket is, (excluding first class etc - just thinking of turn up and go tickets and advance singles etc)

The tram into Edinburgh Airport .......... if you count 'light' rail !!?! ( with a heavy price tag )

[Hobby]

I suspect it'll be on one of the subsidised local council runs. Try Sheffield to Doncaster for starters.

[Dave47549]

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Edited October 1, 2021 by Dave47549
Removed pointless guff

[letterspider]

£19.90 for 28 miles on the Gatwick Express from Victoria =£0.71/mile

£17.00 for 36 miles on the Stansted Express from Liverpool Street =£0.48/mile

£25.00 for 12 miles on the Heathrow Express from Paddington =£2.08/mile

 

Hmmm

 

and just for completeness, Bank to London City Airport

£3.30   for 7 miles on the DLR = £0.47/mile

 

 

of course us savvy Londoners don't actually use those services (except the DLR to City-which I would recommend is a great little airport!)

 

BTW I once did some calculations on how much Uranium would be required to power the Stansted Express on a single journey and it came out as something like 0.03g . That works out about £30 but I can't be certain as every time I try to find out the price of enriched Uranium, I get a knock on the door by MI5!

Edited November 7, 2018 by letterspider

[Hobby]

Wonder where you can get station to station distances? Sheffield to Adwick (just NW of Donny) is £5.10 for a CDR, that works out (if it's 22.5 miles each way? Can someone check!) to 11.3p per mile.

Edited November 7, 2018 by Hobby

[47137]

£5.50 for 6 miles from Hatfield Peverel to Chelmsford is 92p / mile, tho' it drops to £4.90 if you travel in the afternoon. This trip has always seemed pricey to me, the station staff explained it is as high as possible "because of the cost of parking in Chelmsford".

 

- Richard.

[Steamport Southport]

Liverpool James St to Birkenhead is £3.20 single during peak time for a journey of a few hundred yards. Which is the same price as a return.

 

The Merseyside buses are the strangest, where it is at least £2.40 no matter how far you go. One stop or a ten mile journey can be the same price. Or it's £4.40 for the whole day. 

 

 

Most of the locals know there are bargain "zone" tickets. But it's those that just want a one off journey that get stung.

 

 

 

Jason

[Hobby]

Of the normal fares rather than advance some of the "evening" fares will take some beating - Wolverhampton to Coventry evening return £2.50, 61 miles, 4.1p per mile... And still they fare dodge!

[TomJ]

Not the UK obviously but I believe the cog railway to the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland is the most expensive journey in pounds per mile. Currently the return fare from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch is CHF220 or £167. That works out at nearly £8/mile!

 

I also believe the most commonly purchased single ticket on London Underground is Leicester Square to Covent Garden. £4.90 for a few minutes walk and you can see each entrance from the other!

[John_Miles]

Cardiff to Paddington on an early train is £117. I think it is around 150 miles.

Edited November 7, 2018 by John_Miles

[Reorte]

I didn't think my £9 return for ~20 miles was very good (Buxton line) but so worse examples on here.

[stewartingram]

Cheating a bit as it is not yet open - but the dearest must be Crossrail TCR to OXO? Buy a ticket for £4 I believe, go through the barriers and descend to the platform, walk the full length of the platform, ascend to street level and pass out of the barrier. Nice train journey (not)!

 

Stewart

[Steamport Southport]

Not the UK obviously but I believe the cog railway to the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland is the most expensive journey in pounds per mile. Currently the return fare from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch is CHF220 or £167. That works out at nearly £8/mile!

 

I also believe the most commonly purchased single ticket on London Underground is Leicester Square to Covent Garden. £4.90 for a few minutes walk and you can see each entrance from the other!

 

I wondered how much the Snowdon Mountain Railway is as that was always expensive.

 

£22 single for a "traditional" diesel service. £29 return.

 

£37 return for "heritage" steam.

 

 

https://snowdonrailway.co.uk/times-prices/

 

 

 

Jason

[TomJ]

The Snowdon Mountain Railway is approx 11 miles return. So even the heritage steam works out at just over £3/mile. A bargain compared to Jungfraujoch. And better views! Although the view from the top of Jungfraujoch is pretty special.

[robert17649]

worst  any UK trip

 

best many Australian local trips

 

Absolute best Paris to Chateauroux last year(I,m over 60)

 

12 quid!

 

sorry thats not this country actually Saltash to Newton  Abbott on an older persons railcard is about 7 quid return which is probably about 10p a mile!

Edited November 7, 2018 by robert17649

[Kris]

Lelant to St Ives single is £3, which gives a price of about £1 per mile. 

[MinZaPint]

Poole to Wareham in Dorset £3.50 return off peak group 3 travel about 12.5 miles, Bus from home to Poole station 3.5 miles £2.50 one way, bus pass doesn't kick in till 9.30!

[The Pilotman]

Less than a decade ago, I went from Aleppo to Latakia (Syria) and back in a day (about 100 miles each way) and paid about four quid. And that was first class.

Edited November 8, 2018 by Western Aviator

[Coryton]

Not the UK obviously but I believe the cog railway to the Jungfraujoch in Switzerland is the most expensive journey in pounds per mile. Currently the return fare from Interlaken to Jungfraujoch is CHF220 or £167. That works out at nearly £8/mile!

 

To defend the Swiss...

 

I get CHF 184.80 for this journey for some reason. In any case, that's the "full fare", which is a bit misleading because of the rather odd Swiss system of effectively requiring a railcard (available to all, visitors and residents) for the regular prices, and doubling them if you don't have a railcard.

 

So fare that most Swiss would pay is around £70.

 

And (putting aside the effect of the Swiss franc being so much stronger than the British pound) the price from Interlaken isn't a fair comparison with the Snowdon Railway - it would be better to compare the price just on the Jungfraujoch (from Kleine Scheidegg) which is 51 CHF return (half fare) or £39. (You'll get a higher cost per mile just doing the Jungfraujoch anyway)

 

And child fares are somewhat less, which rather helps if you're taking the family. 

[Arun Sharma]

To defend the Swiss...

 

I get CHF 184.80 for this journey for some reason. In any case, that's the "full fare", which is a bit misleading because of the rather odd Swiss system of effectively requiring a railcard (available to all, visitors and residents) for the regular prices, and doubling them if you don't have a railcard.

 

So fare that most Swiss would pay is around £70.

 

And (putting aside the effect of the Swiss franc being so much stronger than the British pound) the price from Interlaken isn't a fair comparison with the Snowdon Railway - it would be better to compare the price just on the Jungfraujoch (from Kleine Scheidegg) which is 51 CHF return (half fare) or £39. (You'll get a higher cost per mile just doing the Jungfraujoch anyway)

 

And child fares are somewhat less, which rather helps if you're taking the family. 

There again, only a month ago there were guest Swiss engines working on the Snowdon Mountain Railway giving free rides - albeit sadly, not the whole length of the SMR.

[Zomboid]

I remember needing a lie down after paying for the Arlanda Express in Stockholm. Though partly because the first time I worked out the cost I lost a factor of 10 somewhere.

 

Airport express services are not where you look if you want bargain fares.

[Neil]

With a bus pass local residents along the Cambrian coast line get free travel between Pwllheli and Machynlleth (and stations between) during the winter months. Not a price that can be beaten unless you're actually paid to travel on the train.

[Pandora]

I believe the highest cost / mile is travelling  in London when your journey starts and finishes either side of Travel Zone boundary £5 per mile, or has TFL fixed this anomaly?

The lowest must be the over-60's  TFL Oystercard , free travel Tubes ,  NR Trains,   Buses with very few restrictions, basically not valid for travel on NR network before 0930 hours Mon - Fri, all else virtually unrestricted.

 

Coverage is extensive eg as far as Surbiton Watford Epping Dartford Coulsdon

 

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/static/documents/content/60_map.pdf

[Bernard Lamb]

 

 

BTW I once did some calculations on how much Uranium would be required to power the Stansted Express on a single journey and it came out as something like 0.03g . That works out about £30 but I can't be certain as every time I try to find out the price of enriched Uranium, I get a knock on the door by MI5!

You can get a visit from them for less than that.

A friend of mine owns a farm.

He took delivery of over 100 tonnes of nitrogen based fertilizer.

He has a large storage tank full of diesel.

He has a shotgun licence and makes up cartridges.

He is also a starter for athletics and has the full range of starting pistols and uses black powder for some of these for which he has a permit.

His farm is a long way from a public road and he has a view of any car coming up the drive.

MI5 turned up one day. Nothing to worry about they said. Just that the computer has come up with your postcode as having some odd substances. We have to check and tick the boxes. We know who you are and what you do.

I find it reassuring that they are watching and checking.

Bernard