Wigan <> Crewe

[afyutr]

Hi,

After some help, or to put an idea to bed!

I have a commute from Wigan to Crewe, and have been looking at getting the train. However, I want it to be financially and time viable. Time passes, as the drive is 1-1.5 hours depending on traffic, but I think I’m failing on finance.

Petrol costs about £10 a day give or take. As far as I can see there are no better ways of doing it than an anytime return at £17.10 (I’m gonna have to travel at peak times). So plus parking or bus, I’m looking at double the cost, making it a non starter.

Are there really no advances between these two stations? Looks like there are cheaper fares from Preston to Crewe which is bonkers.

TIA.

 

[Starmill]

At the moment, Avanti West Coast have not chosen to offer Advance tickets for journeys between Crewe and Wigan North Western, that is correct.

Even if they did, I imagine it would be quite difficult to buy two per day that came to less than the total £17.10 daily price.

An Advance ticket from Preston to Crewe is not valid to start short at Wigan North Western.

I have to say I am surprised you considered the train for this sort of journey!

All I can think of suggesting is that you could write to your MP setting out where you live and where you work, and some generalised cost figures for how to get there. If you draw attention to the very expensive nature of the train service they might be persuaded to consider government policy on the matter. You could ask that they write to Avanti West Coast for an explanation of their decision, although don't expect them to be able to get them to change their mind. They could also write to the Secretary of State for Transport making the general point that railways in Northern England are too expensive for people to use, and that they are very uncompetitive on price against private cars, which is bad for the environment.

 

[endecotp]

Weekly season ticket is apparently £70.60

 

[afyutr]

At the moment, Avanti West Coast have not chosen to offer Advance tickets for journeys between Crewe and Wigan North Western, that is correct.

Even if they did, I imagine it would be quite difficult to buy two per day that came to less than the total £17.10 daily price.

An Advance ticket from Preston to Crewe is not valid to start short at Wigan North Western.

I have to say I am surprised you considered the train for this sort of journey!

All I can think of suggesting is that you could write to your MP setting out where you live and where you work, and some generalised cost figures for how to get there. If you draw attention to the very expensive nature of the train service they might be persuaded to consider government policy on the matter. You could ask that they write to Avanti West Coast for an explanation of their decision, although don't expect them to be able to get them to change their mind. They could also write to the Secretary of State for Transport making the general point that railways in Northern England are too expensive for people to use, and that they are very uncompetitive on price against private cars, which is bad for the environment.

Thanks for the response. In reality the commute would be OK but the M6 as I’m sure most people are aware is a nightmare between Junctions 17 and 29; often takes 2 hours to get home. I hoped given the train is only 28 mins I could maybe make that work!

Not to worry - wasn’t a deciding factor on the job but would have been nice to be able to get off the road for both sanity and environmental reasons now and then.

 

[afyutr]

Weekly season ticket is apparently £70.60

Thanks - brings the daily cost down I guess but then plus the bits at each end it’s still double+ per week. Looks like I’ll be staying in the car!

 

[Camden]

A week from Wigan to Chester is £74.10, which allows travel via Crewe, plus two other routes one of which goes through Liverpool - in case the extra value of that for use at the weekends swings it to worth having.

Effectively for >£4 more it's a season ticket to Crewe plus anywhere on the Wigan branch of the City Line to Liverpool, and the Chester branch of Merseyrail.

 

[Hadders]

Bear in mind that the cost of driving is more than just the petrol cost.

 

[Starmill]

Bear in mind that the cost of driving is more than just the petrol cost.

While the true cost is more than just the marginal cost, for someone who requires the car regardless, the marginal cost of driving to work is only very slightly more than the bill for fuel.

For example if we load a significant amount of the other marginal costs onto this daily journey it might go from £10 a day to £10.50 a day after looking at a higher rate of depreciation and more frequent maintenance expenses or higher servicing costs.

In other words you're absolutely right, but it's still very unlikely that the car will cost a similar amount of money to this particular expensive train fare.

 

[Hadders]

Appreciate that the OP will still probably maintain a car even if they commute by train. It's a round trip of around 100 miles a day so you're looking at around 20,000 additional miles per year. That's at least one extra service a year, probably two. Add in the additional tyres needed for an additional 20,000 miles a year and you're probably looking at around £500 additional cost per year so around £2.50 per day. This is still cheaper than rail travel but it's certainly not double the cost, especially is a season ticket is used.

I suspect the killer factor will be parking or bus. I'd be looking for somewhere to park for free 10-15 minutes walk from the station if such a place exists.

 

[Merseysider]

Are you aged 30 or under? If so, a railcard would reduce the daily cost of travel by 1/3, but with a minimum fare of £12 pre-10am.

 

[martinsh]

There is a way of doing Crewe - Wigan return foe £12.30. Not sure if I should post it on here ?

 

[Starmill]

There is a way of doing Crewe - Wigan return foe £12.30. Not sure if I should post it on here ?

Not if you intend for anyone to be able to continue using it.

 

[martinsh]

Apologies, the £12.30 ticket appears to be Offpeak - though it is valid on the 0909 ex Crewe