Fare in 2005 Bristol Parkway to Didcot Parkway?

[andylikestrain]

Hi all
I remember going from Bristol Parkway to Didcot Parkway on an off peak day return back in 2005, and I‘ve been wondering what the fare was. I’m interested to compare it with what it is now (£36.20); I remember it being a lot less! Would anyone know how I could find out?

Many thanks in advance

 

[realemil]

In 2009 it was £17.80 - found that out from a thread on this very site! https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/bristol-parkway-reading.22358/

Based on inflation figures, you're looking at around £14.80 in 2005.

 

[yorkie]

In NFM95 (02/01/2007) it was £16.



It's disgraceful how much walk-up fares have risen since then.

But if you think that's bad, York to Retford was £12.40 at that time, and now, thanks to LNER's aggressive policies, is £37.20

Maybe someone can tell you the 2005 fare, but there may only be a limited number of people who have access to the information back then, as it pre-dates BR fares and the Avantix Traveller CDs back then weren't publicly available.

If anyone reading this has any old Avantix Traveller CDs from prior to 2007, it would be great to hear from you...

 

[alistairlees]

If anyone reading this has any old Avantix Traveller CDs from prior to 2007, it would be great to hear from you...

Only back to May 2007 unfortunately.

 

[The Quincunx]

I believe it was £13.00 (from 26/9/2004 to 1/1/2006).

 

[CyrusWuff]

I believe it was £13.00 (from 26/9/2004 to 1/1/2006).

A friendly Pricing Manager of my acquaintance concurs, though that's caveated with the fact that the current fares management system was introduced in 2017 and the import of historical data may contain inaccuracies.

The time restriction is recorded as F4. At the time, that read "By any train except those timed to depart Mondays-Fridays before 1000" with no restriction on the return leg.

The current restriction is W2, which is valid from 0915 Mondays to Fridays (valid at any time at weekends and on public holidays.)

 

[andylikestrain]

Thanks very much all for your replies. I seem to remember it being more than a tenner, but not close to £20, so £13 would be about right.
So, in 20 years the fare has all but trebled. Incredible.

 

[Watershed]

Thanks very much all for your replies. I seem to remember it being more than a tenner, but not close to £20, so £13 would be about right.
So, in 20 years the fare has all but trebled. Incredible.

Which in real terms represents an increase of about 56%.

Over the same period, petrol has only gone up from 85-95p per litre to 135p per litre, a real terms cut of about 20%, whilst the average car is around 20-30% more fuel efficient. So the perceived cost* of each mile driven is about 40% cheaper in real terms.

The government could hardly be more clear about which method of transport they want people to take.

*People don't tend to think about fixed costs like insurance, maintenance or leasing, or small variable costs like tyres - the fact that each of these may have gone up doesn't change what people feel it costs to make a given journey.

 

[A S Leib]

Over the same period, petrol has only gone up from 85-95p per litre to 135p per litre, a real terms cut of about 20%, whilst the average car is around 20-30% more fuel efficient. So the perceived cost* of each mile driven is about 40% cheaper in real terms.

The government could hardly be more clear about which method of transport they want people to take.

Going from a 2005 Guardian article, BMI London to Edinburgh flights started from £25 each way and off-peak period returns cost the same (£44 adjusted for inflation). Given that a King's Cross to Kingsknowe super off-peak single is currently £95, either the article's wrong or the fare's risen much faster than inflation. (In that case it would seem fair for the fare to have risen somewhat above inflation, given petrol costs of ~£60 each way from London to Edinburgh.)

 

[Haywain]

Going from a 2005 Guardian article, BMI London to Edinburgh flights started from £25 each way and off-peak period returns cost the same (£44 adjusted for inflation).

What it actually says is this, recognising that it wasn't comparing like with like:

An offpeak period return to Edinburgh by train costs £25; according to bmi, their cheapest return is £50 including taxes, £25 for a single. A flexible business seat, on the other hand, is about £440.

 

[Gerald Fiennes]

But I seem to further remember that the new FGW franchise (1996 or so?) did fairly aggressively discount short distance Cheap Days in that part of the world (to generate day trips?). This opened up some fun split ticketing options using Didcot, Swindon, Bath and Bristol as far as I can recall. Of course, it was always a bit of challenge to get the ticket office staff to issue a chain of tickets back then.... So the 2005 or so CDR fare may well be a lineal descendant of that policy.

One of things we all need to watch is TOCs putting on blanket increases in fares of this kind (as that was the central edict) rather than tailoring them more closely to the actual market conditions on these flows, ie. if there is a lot of money on the flow, that maybe because the fare is good value rather than it being an indication that there's loads of volume that can be plucked for even higher revenue. There are still are few places in the country IMHO where the latter situation applies IMHO ....

 

[Watershed]

What it actually says is this, recognising that it wasn't comparing like with like:

I'm currently away from my laptop so I can't access NFM64 (the September 1996 fares) easily, but I can't believe for one moment that a period return between London and Edinburgh would have cost £25 in 2005. It's more plausible that it might be half the cost of such a return.

 

[Haywain]

I can't believe for one moment that a period return between London and Edinburgh would have cost £25 in 2005.

I struggle to believe that as well, and it doesn't chime with my memory of selling dozens of them every day at that time.

 

[CyrusWuff]

The SuperSaver Return from London to Edinburgh at NFM64 (September 1996) was £62.00 (£164.50), the Saver Return was £72.00 (£191.10), the Standard Open Return was £130.00 (£345.00) and the First Class Open Return was £196.00 (£520.20.)

In terms of Advance Purchase products, the SuperApex Return (book at least 14 days in advance) was £29.00 (£77.00), the Apex Return (book at least 7 days in advance) was £46.00 (£122.10), the SuperAdvance Return (book by 18:00 the day before - 14:00 for early morning depatures) was £58.00 (£153.90) and the Leisure First Return was £98.00 (£260.10.)

Prices in brackets are adjusted for RPI inflation from September 1996 to date.