Bliiiimey it's hot in here...
... despite the thunderstorms. I have one of those tedious car-vs-train posts to make, so I'll try to keep it brief. I was off to Bath for dinner. Plausible timings by car (though I'm not sure of the effect of the recent speed limit decreases - there may even have been more since last I drove there): perhaps 35 minutes each way. Cost, maybe £3 in petrol and hopefully nothing for parking.
By train:
18:15 leave home, walk to station to catch 18:48 train.
Thunder storm ensues. Purple flashing sky, bucketing rain, etc. I particularly enjoyed the bit that went...
19:15 train arrives.
Time: 75 minutes.
22:00 finish dinner, walk to station to catch 22:52 train (!)
23:13 catch train.
23:25 arrive at home station.
23:35 arrive home (would've taken until 23:50 but Dad gave me a lift, so we should consider the cost and inconvenience involved in that too).
Time: 95 minutes.
Totals: By car 70 minutes, £3. By train 170 minutes, £2.30 plus cost of lift. But I do concede that the train is good value, doesn't require taking responsibility for the life of myself and others, and feels both grown-up and socially responsible.
In other news, Dad tells me he bought a tank of fuel for my brother's Land Rover, so has given me £40. Woo! No doubt Mum will be chasing me up for petrol/insurance/food money soon though.
By train:
18:15 leave home, walk to station to catch 18:48 train.
Thunder storm ensues. Purple flashing sky, bucketing rain, etc. I particularly enjoyed the bit that went...
The train now approaching platform two is the [whatever] to [wherever]. A buff[FLASH][WHITE NOISE][INFO SCREENS ALL REBOOT]
19:15 train arrives.
Time: 75 minutes.
22:00 finish dinner, walk to station to catch 22:52 train (!)
23:13 catch train.
23:25 arrive at home station.
23:35 arrive home (would've taken until 23:50 but Dad gave me a lift, so we should consider the cost and inconvenience involved in that too).
Time: 95 minutes.
Totals: By car 70 minutes, £3. By train 170 minutes, £2.30 plus cost of lift. But I do concede that the train is good value, doesn't require taking responsibility for the life of myself and others, and feels both grown-up and socially responsible.
In other news, Dad tells me he bought a tank of fuel for my brother's Land Rover, so has given me £40. Woo! No doubt Mum will be chasing me up for petrol/insurance/food money soon though.
posted by Z31 at 11:39 pm
4 Comments:
Is that £3 value just petrol. There are more costs to running a car than just that.
Plus the train allows you to get from A to B without actaully knowing where A and B are.
jonc
yes, but once you've paid all the other associated costs, you tend to forget about them and just work on pertol money.
What he said.
You can find pence per mile figures for running costs - they vary between about 30p and £2 per mile depending on the car. But that's for new cars, and - for example - depreciation probably isn't a major expense on our car any more.
As for A and B, firstly I do, in this case, know where A and B are, and secondly I'd say trains more generally get you from a couple of miles away from A to somewhere nearish B at a not-very-convenient time. But that's not to say I don't appreciate trains; indeed not having been to any interviews lately I've been rather missing them!
I do not miss trains. This morning I sat next to a guy (who I've noticed before... aah the joy of commuting) who wore a shiny pinstripe suit, a pink and green and brown striped shirt (bold) and sat fiddling with his (I guess new because he was still using the handbook) Blackberry. He was wearing brown shoes which matched his watch strap but unfortunately were not compatible with his black suit. Further, if the crassness was not bad enough, he stank and snored.
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