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Man Erg 
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Joined: August 26 2004
Location: Isle of Lucy
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 Posted: November 14 2007 at 06:37 |
In the early-mid eighties,when Ken Livingston was leader of the GLC,a 40p flat fare was applied to all bus journeys made by London Transport.The Tories managed to find some sort of legal loop hole and out-lawed the flat fare.
Ken Livingstone has,now as the Mayor for London,just re-introduced the flat fare rate on London buses (Transport for London).The fare is now £2.Not bad for London. 
Edited by Man Erg - November 14 2007 at 06:38
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Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb.
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Jared
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005
Location: Hereford, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 19766
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 07:25 |
^^ so, please excuse my ignorance here (I think I've been to London about 5 times in my life, always for day trips...) but why is it costing you an incredible £2000 a year, simply to get to work???? I just don't understand.... 
Edited by fandango - November 14 2007 at 07:26
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Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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mystic fred
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Joined: March 13 2006
Location: Londinium
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Points: 4252
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 07:34 |
back in 1998 it was costing me £900 a year to get into town, and that was off peak after 9.30 am! 
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Man Erg
Special Collaborator
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Joined: August 26 2004
Location: Isle of Lucy
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Points: 7456
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 08:28 |
 fandango wrote:
^^ so, please excuse my ignorance here (I think I've been to London about 5 times in my life, always for day trips...) but why is it costing you an incredible £2000 a year, simply to get to work???? I just don't understand.... |
I've absolutely no idea except that rail fares increase by roughly 8-10% per annum.The cost of rail fares has risen hugely since privatisation of the railways in the 1980's.
When British Rail ran the railways before privitisation,the fares must have been capped by the governments of the time.Private rail companies (South West Trains being the one that I use to commute to and from work) seem to increase fares by between 8% and 10% each and every January.The percentage is way over the increments most people receive if they are luck enough to receive an increment and/or pay rise each year. 
Edited by Man Erg - November 14 2007 at 08:41
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Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb.
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Dean
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 08:30 |
fandango wrote:
^^ so, please excuse my ignorance here (I think I've been to London about 5 times in my life, always for day trips...) but why is it costing you an incredible £2000 a year, simply to get to work???? I just don't understand.... |
it's just maths ...
They calculate 5 x 52 x full price return fare x some bulk-buy discount (~4%) ...
so £2000 equates to a daily return fare of about £8.00 ... not withstanding the obvious fact that people don't work 52 weeks of the year.
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What?
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Man Erg
Special Collaborator
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Joined: August 26 2004
Location: Isle of Lucy
Status: Offline
Points: 7456
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 08:46 |
darqdean wrote:
fandango wrote:
^^ so, please excuse my ignorance here (I think I've been to London about 5 times in my life, always for day trips...) but why is it costing you an incredible £2000 a year, simply to get to work???? I just don't understand.... |
it's just maths ...
They calculate 5 x 52 x full price return fare x some bulk-buy discount (~4%) ...
so £2000 equates to a daily return fare of about £8.00 ... not withstanding the obvious fact that people don't work 52 weeks of the year.
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Yes.That's about it,Dean.
My Annual Season Ticket also includes travel on buses,tubes etc.It also entitles me and two others to travel on the SW Trains network (from London,South-Westwards as far as Exeter) for a 1/3 discount off peak. (Whoopey-do!)
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Do 'The Stanley' otherwise I'll thrash you with some rhubarb.
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Jared
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005
Location: Hereford, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 19766
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 08:55 |
^^^ ok, well I guess that anyone who is able to afford £2,000 a year to commute into London, must be on a salary of at least £25,000pa to make it worth their while... would I be right??
But surely, not all jobs in London would pay this much? How do people on more modest incomes, say cleaners manage to get to work?
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Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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micky
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Joined: October 02 2005
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Points: 46838
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 09:05 |
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following this with interest..... Raff and I had considered having a
fresh start there if things fall apart for her coming here. She
said is wasn't prracitcal for several reasons.. one being how damned
expensive it is.
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Dean
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 09:20 |
fandango wrote:
^^^ ok, well I guess that anyone who is able to afford £2,000 a year to commute into London, must be on a salary of at least £25,000pa to make it worth their while... would I be right??
But surely, not all jobs in London would pay this much? How do people on more modest incomes, say cleaners manage to get to work? |
more maths 
It's old the inverse square law - the more you earn, the further away from your place of work you can afford to live. Lower paid office and shop workers generally live with tube-journey distance from the centre of town. Managers and other types live in the suburbs, whilst wheeler-deelers either live in the Isle of Dogs or own Surrey.
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What?
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micky
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Joined: October 02 2005
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 09:31 |
that has been the case here Dean for the last 40 years since the riots
of the 60's drove the middle and upper classes out of the cities and
into the suburbs... things here are beginning to shift back....
mainly because people tire of spending 2 hous one way stting in traffic
to get to work... and another 2 hours getitng home. Many cities
here are buliding for just those people in mind... to keep them
close to work so to speak 
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The Pedro and Micky Experience - When one no longer requires psychotropics to trip
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Jared
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005
Location: Hereford, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 19766
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 09:43 |
darqdean wrote:
Managers and other types live in the suburbs, whilst wheeler-deelers either live in the Isle of Dogs or own Surrey.
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....I guess there's so much about my own country I don't understand..... 
and I guess its these types who have given Kington it's recently achieved unenviable statistic.... it has the largest differential between average wage and average house price in the West Midlands region...
...caused by London Managers retiring, selling their 2 bed flats and purchasing a 5 bed detatched here, for half the money....where a 2 bed flat here (if you can find one), typically represents 8 times a local person's average salary....
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Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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A B Negative
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 02 2006
Location: Methil Republic
Status: Offline
Points: 1594
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 09:55 |
fandango wrote:
Lee...I've just gone and got my last monthly paypacket... £785.44 net.
I think this MUST highlight the growing divide between the cost of living in London, compared with the shires....
...the was an outcry here recently, when the bus fare into Hereford rose from £2.95 to £3.10 for a 21 mile journey (owing to a reduction in govt subsidisation....) |
It costs £3 for the 9 mile journey from my home to my work. Luckily I get a lift from my friend most days.
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"The disgusting stink of a too-loud electric guitar.... Now, that's my idea of a good time."
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 10:01 |
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I remember once getting a return fair from Swindon to London off-peak and it costing me £35. Thank my lucky Midge Ure cassette that I don't have to do that every day!
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Padraic
Special Collaborator
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Joined: February 16 2006
Location: Pennsylvania
Status: Offline
Points: 31169
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 10:15 |
darqdean wrote:
fandango wrote:
^^ so, please excuse my ignorance here (I think I've been to London about 5 times in my life, always for day trips...) but why is it costing you an incredible £2000 a year, simply to get to work???? I just don't understand.... |
it's just maths ...
They calculate 5 x 52 x full price return fare x some bulk-buy discount (~4%) ...
so £2000 equates to a daily return fare of about £8.00 ... not withstanding the obvious fact that people don't work 52 weeks of the year.
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$16.50 a day for a train ride seems exorbitant to me. Maybe it's not an apples to apples comparison, but you can get a 7-day pass for unlimited travel on Washington DC's Metrorail system for $32.50 - and that's not even the most cost effective way to use that system. Do individuals have to pay the +$4000 in addition to the rail companies being highly subsidized by the government? Cushy gig for that lot, isn't it?
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VanderGraafKommandöh
Prog Reviewer
Joined: July 04 2005
Location: Malaria
Status: Offline
Points: 89372
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 10:23 |
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You'd think it was cushy, but there's always faults with the railway system due to lack of funds (or so they say). The problem is, the track, signals, tunnels and such like, are not anything to do with the train companies (i.e. Southwestern Trains), but rather it is owned by Network Rail. Even after the passing of the awful Railtrack, they are still having problems. So delays can be caused due to someone elses shoddy work, plus a lack of communication.
Are the station staff (i.e. ticket office) national, or are they employed by the train companies?
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Jared
Forum Senior Member
Joined: May 06 2005
Location: Hereford, UK
Status: Offline
Points: 19766
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 10:34 |
NaturalScience wrote:
$16.50 a day for a train ride seems exorbitant to me. Maybe it's not an apples to apples comparison, but you can get a 7-day pass for unlimited travel on Washington DC's Metrorail system for $32.50 - and that's not even the most cost effective way to use that system. Do individuals have to pay the +$4000 in addition to the rail companies being highly subsidized by the government? Cushy gig for that lot, isn't it?
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Yes, Patrick... although I'm a country bumpkin, I find the costs mentioned by Chris and lee to be absolutely jaw-dropping too.... it would be quite interesting to get some comparisons with communting prices into other large cities around the world.... 
...before coming to the inevitable conclusion that we do indeed live in Rip-Off Britain.... 
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Music has always been a matter of energy to me. On some nights I believe that a car with the needle on empty can run 50 more miles if you have the right music very loud on the radio. Hunter S Thompson
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Jim Garten
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin & Razor Guru
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 12:27 |
darqdean wrote:
the more you earn, the further away from your place of work you can afford to live |
Sounds about right - I live about 5 minutes from my office
20th Century Fox?
Tight Fisted  s with all the management skills of a in a
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Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
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Jim Garten
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin & Razor Guru
Joined: February 02 2004
Location: South England
Status: Offline
Points: 14693
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 12:33 |
And another thing!
Why is it that on a website devoted to music which by its very nature must attract the vaguely intelligent, is there a poll with four pages of responses on "your favorite soup"??
Are peoples' lives that boring?
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Jon Lord 1941 - 2012
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Dean
Special Collaborator
Retired Admin and Amateur Layabout
Joined: May 13 2007
Location: Europe
Status: Offline
Points: 37575
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 12:36 |
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What?
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Raff
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
Joined: July 29 2005
Location: None
Status: Offline
Points: 24429
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Posted: November 14 2007 at 12:46 |
Is liking soup a prerogative of not-too-intelligent people? If so, I am seriously worried, because I love soup ... Seriously, though, most of those polls in the General Polls section are a bit odd to say the least. Occasionally there are sparks of genius too, as in the immortal "Petrucci vs God" thread, and in the other Chris opened about DT, whose title I don't remember now.
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