Heledd Jones – Veygo https://www.veygo.com/ Wed, 13 Nov 2024 09:15:25 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://www.veygo.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/cropped-Favicon_V1-a-32x32.png Heledd Jones – Veygo https://www.veygo.com/ 32 32 Commuter Confusion https://www.veygo.com/lifestyle/commuter-confusion/ https://www.veygo.com/lifestyle/commuter-confusion/#respond Mon, 25 Nov 2019 14:20:50 +0000 https://www.veygo.com/?p=4929 Commuting into the office if you work in a big city can be a nightmare, and that’s even before you take into account the cost.

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Commuting into the office if you work in a big city can be a nightmare, and that’s even before you take into account the cost.

The further away you live, the more time and money you have to spend just to get into work every day, whether that’s by car, or jumping on a train.

But which is the most cost-effective way to make your way into the city? We’ve compared the cost of monthly season passes for trains and light rail against the cost of fuel for major commuter routes in some of the country’s biggest cities to find out, although we didn’t look at parking costs as part our research.

Rail vs. Car: Which is Cheaper?

Commuter Cities

veygo commuter confusion

Commuter CityRail PassDriving CostPrice Difference (%)
Manchester£140.20£67.00-109.46%
Leeds£163.94£94.30-78.05%
Bristol£215.62£129.90-77.11%
Edinburgh£189.52£116.60-64.77%
Cambridge£206.42£141.10-53.69%
Liverpool£117.94£83.10-40.80%
Glasgow£150.28£109.70-35.24%
Newcastle£139.64£116.60-29.01%
Birmingham£67.88£65.90-21.96%
London£396.56£642.8038.72%

Despite concerns that driving is less environmentally-friendly than taking public transport, in all but one of the cities that we looked at, driving into the city worked out as a cheaper alternative than taking the train or light rail, with the exception of London, where longer driving distances, as well as the city centre congestion charge, mean that driving worked out almost 40% more expensive.

Manchester was the city where drivers could save the most, with the average car commute working out almost 110% cheaper than taking the train or tram into the city.

Commuter Routes with the Biggest Savings by Car

Biggest Savings Car

Commuter TownDestinationRail PassDriving CostPrice Difference (%)
UrmstonManchester£88.80£34.50-157.39%
MacclesfieldManchester£252.30£102.50-146.15%
BathBristol£162.10£68.00-138.38%
WilmslowManchester£144.80£68.00-112.94%
NewmarketCambridge£140.60£67.00-109.85%
BradfordLeeds£104.10£50.00-108.20%
CramlingtonNewcastle£96.40£48.00-100.83%
HarrogateLeeds£160.60£81.00-98.27%
FalkirkGlasgow£227.00£117.00-94.02%
DunfermlineEdinburgh£172.80£91.00-89.89%

Commuter Routes with the Biggest Savings by Rail

rail commutes with biggest savings

Commuter TownDestinationRail PassDriving CostPrice Difference (%)
SloughLondon£260.40£579.5055.06%
GuildfordLondon£342.60£618.5044.61%
HarlowLondon£358.30£615.0041.74%
ChelmsfordLondon£392.90£664.5040.87%
Hemel HempsteadLondon£367.90£594.5038.12%
St AlbansLondon£367.50£584.5037.13%
CoventryBirmingham£72.60£113.5036.04%
LutonLondon£413.60£629.5034.30%
ReadingLondon£442.00£666.5033.68%
OxfordLondon£504.60£741.5031.95%

Three of the UK’s five routes where you could make the biggest saving by taking the car over the train were to be found in Greater Manchester, with Urmston to Manchester being the biggest saving, with a 157% saving of almost £55 per month.

Seven of the routes we look at were at least twice as cheap as the rail alternative, while only 13 turned out to be cheaper by rail, with ten of these being found in London.

Most Expensive Commuter Routes

most expensive commuter routes rail

When looking at the overall most expensive commutes, it’s clear that London’s commuter hubs are by far the most expensive when it comes to both rail and car travel.

As well as the general higher cost of living in London and the South East, many of these towns are much further out of the city than those in smaller cities, so it stands to reason that they would be the priciest, especially if you factor in the congestion charge when driving.

Rail
Commuter TownDestinationRail Pass
Milton KeynesLondon£515.80
OxfordLondon£504.60
ReadingLondon£442.00
LutonLondon£413.60
ChelmsfordLondon£392.90
Hemel HempsteadLondon£367.90
St AlbansLondon£367.50
HarlowLondon£358.30
GuildfordLondon£342.60
MarchCambridge£274.20

most expensive commuter routes car

Car
Commuter TownDestinationDriving Cost
OxfordLondon£741.50
Milton KeynesLondon£734.00
ReadingLondon£666.50
ChelmsfordLondon£664.50
LutonLondon£629.50
GuildfordLondon£618.50
HarlowLondon£615.00
Hemel HempsteadLondon£594.50
St AlbansLondon£584.50
SloughLondon£579.50

Cheapest Rail Commuter Routes

cheapest commuter routes rail

Routes in the Northern and Midlands cities worked out to be amongst the cheapest that we looked at, with Walsall, Northfield and Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham cheapest by rail and Urmston to Manchester when driving.

Each of the five cheapest routes by rail were found in Birmingham, where you can get a monthly nTrain pass for all five zones for just £72.60, or even cheaper for fewer zones. Cities with light rail services also worked out amongst the cheapest, including Sunderland to Newcastle on the Tyne & Wear Metro for £76 per month and Ormskirk to Liverpool on Merseyrail for £90.20.

Commuter TownDestinationRail Pass
WalsallBirmingham£66.60
NorthfieldBirmingham£66.60
Sutton ColdfieldBirmingham£66.60
WolverhamptonBirmingham£67.00
CoventryBirmingham£72.60
St HelensLiverpool£72.60
SunderlandNewcastle£76.00
UrmstonManchester£88.80
OrmskirkLiverpool£90.20
CramlingtonNewcastle£96.40

cheapest commuter routes car

Car
Commuter TownDestinationDriving Cost
UrmstonManchester£34.50
Sutton ColdfieldBirmingham£39.00
NorthfieldBirmingham£39.50
CramlingtonNewcastle£48.00
BradfordLeeds£50.00
WalsallBirmingham£52.00
BoltonManchester£61.50
St HelensLiverpool£65.00
NewmarketCambridge£67.00
OrmskirkLiverpool£67.50

A great way to cut back on travel costs is to consider car sharing, which could save you hundreds of pounds on fuel costs and is more environmentally friendly than driving alone.

 

Sources/Methodology

Rail

Monthly season tickets are taken from Trainline, with the following exceptions:

Car

Monthly fuel costs calculated based on the petrol cost per mile of a Ford Fiesta, according to Next Green Car (two journeys per day, five days a week).

Congestion charge information is taken from Transport for London.

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The British train station car park index https://www.veygo.com/lifestyle/the-british-train-station-car-park-index/ https://www.veygo.com/lifestyle/the-british-train-station-car-park-index/#respond Thu, 24 Oct 2019 14:17:36 +0000 https://www.veygo.com/?p=4807 Many people choose to get the train when travelling long distances rather than driving, largely due to the fact that it’s often quicker and less stressful than dealing with congestion. However, a significant number of train travellers will use their car to...

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Many people choose to get the train when travelling long distances rather than driving, largely due to the fact that it’s often quicker and less stressful than dealing with congestion. However, a significant number of train travellers will use their car to get to the station, and the cost of parking for the day can sometimes be shockingly high.

We wanted to find out just how much it costs to park at train stations across the UK and just where comes out as the cheapest and most expensive.

Our research looks at the daily parking rate at the UK’s busiest train stations* and found that there is a huge variation in pricing. *Only stations with their own car park were included in the research.

Depending on where you are travelling from, the cost of parking for just one day could be as high as £40, however, we also found that some stations offer completely free parking for rail passengers!

Top 10 Most Expensive Station Car Parks in the UK  (outside of London)

The research found that the most expensive parking, outside London, is at Reading Station, with costs of £25 per day. It’s bad news for motorists in Glasgow too, as Glasgow Central charges just £1 less for the day.

most expensive station car parks in the UK

Top 10 Most Expensive Station Car Parks in London

 

Those parking in London will find themselves forking out a staggering amount for parking, in fact, it could cost up to £40 – the day rate at St.Pancras/King’s Cross. The cheapest station car parking in London is as steep as £7. The London travellers willing to hop on another train or tube could save extra pennies by parking further out of London’s centre.

top 10 most expensive car parks in London

The Price of Station Parking in the UK – Ranked (outside of London)

 Outside of London, some stations offer free parking for rail users, namely Selly Oak and Kirkby (Merseyside).  On the other hand, other stations such as Benfleet in Essex and Paisley Gilmour cost £2.40 and £3 respectively for the whole day. From Berkshire (Reading Station) to Essex (Benfleet Station), there are less than 100 miles, however, the daily parking costs rise by £22.60.

price of station parking in the UK ranked

The Price of Station Parking in London – Ranked

Not everywhere in London charges the earth for train station parking, with Norwood Junction costing a mere £4 per day, and Forest Hill and Hayes & Harlington charging a reasonable £5.

Croydon and Camden are less than 14 miles apart, however, there is a £36 difference between the two stations daily rates. London travellers could save money by parking the 14 miles further away and hopping on an extra train or tube.

price of station parking in London ranked

If you’re trying to decide on how to get from A to B, it might be worth taking a look at our car sharing insurance or car rental options.

Methodology

We used Office of Rail and Road statistics data on the busiest train stations in the UK as the source for our list of stations to use. We took the top 100 stations outside of London that had their own car parks, and the top 30 in London with their own car parks.

We then took the daily rate for parking from the National Rail page for each station where available. In some cases the prices were not available on the National Rail site, so prices were taken from the car parking operator website instead. Please see the full list of sources below.

Sources

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

https://www.apcoa.co.uk

https://stpancras.com

https://www.parkme.com/

https://www.sabaparking.co.uk

https://www.ncp.co.uk/

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/

https://www.scotrail.co.uk

https://www.southernrailway.com

https://www.gwr.com

https://www.q-park.co.uk/

https://www.northernrailway.co.uk

https://www.greateranglia.co.uk

http://www.stevenage.gov.uk

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