Most Expensive Fares (per unit distance)

[mmh]

It's an important matter to be reported in local newspapers.

From what I've read in these forums, Northern & Merseyrail are relentless in their pursuit of non-fare payers. It's not hard to see the terrible consequences for an individual who didn't pay for this journey (perhaps through shock at the bizarre fare) as it was pursued through the courts/

I understand and agree with the sentiment, but is really hard to see that ever happening in this example. Rainford has no ticket office or machine so anyone making that journey would pay the guard, who'd realise something was very wrong. Likewise if you tried to buy it at another ticket office, it would be noticed.

The only way I can think of this ticket possibly being bought is at a machine if the buyer doesn't notice the price (will machines sell tickets that expensive? I've no idea) - which also means buying it from a machine which lets you choose a different origin station, which are rare.

I think it's safe to say no-one's ever bought it and was never likely to. Yeah of course mistakes should be fixed, but this is no massive scandal, surely.

 

[ainsworth74]

Lockerbie to Gretna Green at £42.20 for a SDS.

What on earth has happened there?!

Split at Carlisle (which you'd have to go via anyway) to save in excess of £30!!

 

[BlueFox]

Split at Carlisle (which you'd have to go via anyway) to save in excess of £30!!

Or get the 382 bus, which is £3 for a single ticket, and is usually quicker than the trains.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Lockerbie to Gretna Green at £42.20 for a SDS.

Expensive, but not amongst the highest fares per mile, as the shortest distance (via Carlisle) is 34.36 miles according to NRES/RJIS.

 

[Starmill]

What on earth has happened there?!

Split at Carlisle (which you'd have to go via anyway) to save in excess of £30!!

That ticket is valid via Glasgow!

If anyone from Transport Scotland is watching ( ) the answer would be to create new route Carlisle tickets, at around say £8 for an Off Peak Day Return. Still, I doubt many people would pay that and chose to travel by rail for that journey, unless they happened to want to break their journey in Carlisle.

 

[Crossover]

I understand and agree with the sentiment, but is really hard to see that ever happening in this example. Rainford has no ticket office or machine so anyone making that journey would pay the guard, who'd realise something was very wrong. Likewise if you tried to buy it at another ticket office, it would be noticed.

The only way I can think of this ticket possibly being bought is at a machine if the buyer doesn't notice the price (will machines sell tickets that expensive? I've no idea) - which also means buying it from a machine which lets you choose a different origin station, which are rare.

I think it's safe to say no-one's ever bought it and was never likely to. Yeah of course mistakes should be fixed, but this is no massive scandal, surely.

Someone buying the ticket could be sold it if they happened to be a ticket office where they didn’t know where the two places were, although you’d hope it would still be noticed just for it’s very high cost anyway. TVM wise, a Northern TVM wouldn’t ‘sell’ me a Promise To Pay for a ticket less than that due to being higher than the machine floor limit so I expect certainly some TVM’s would be unable to sell it

 

[mallard]

Ignoring silly fares and artificially inflated cash fares in London, Heathrow Rail - Hayes and Harlington is often quoted as an example of extortionate unit pricing.

As it happens, the £36.10 Anytime Day Single between Ashford (Surrey) and Heathrow Rail is another one that comes up high in my list of expensive fares; it's only 2.5 miles, but you'd have to travel via central London, explaining the high fare. Anyone wanting to make such a journey would be well advised to catch a bus from Staines or Feltham, saving something like £30 and well over an hour of travel time.