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As I’ve discovered in my recent trip planning, a one way ticket to Denmark costs approximately £27.00-£96.00 depending on times, airports, companies etc. Honestly, I found it more believable that I’d read the prices wrong and that the flights cost into the thousands. In reality, I could make a round trip to and back from Denmark for about £50.
On the other end of the spectrum, I also discovered that a return train ticket from Shrewsbury to Horsham costs about £260.00. My eyes nearly popped out of my skull. I’m used to the ridiculous prices of the great British railway system but that didn’t just take the biscuit, it took the whole packet then slapped me in the face.
I wouldn’t mind so much if these exorbitant prices actually gave us better service, but the service stays the same fetid, poorly organised mess of idiocy. Obviously there must be a good reason for this, something better than corporate fat cats pocketing all of the money for their monthly bonuses. I’m not very knowledgeable about politics, maybe it’s more complicated than all that. But at least when the railway system was nationalised, it was a mess controlled by one organisation, a single entity. Now, when I try to book a ticket I get redirected to a hundred different sites, have to blunder my way through giving them my details and hope that no one’s going to hack me. Instead of having to deal with one idiot, I have to deal with multiple idiots all of which have their own brand of idiocy that in no way translates to the others.
That one return ticket involved three changes, which somehow warranted its incredible price. But, when I noted down each change and split up the journey between those same stations, I managed to get the overall price down to £96.00, so eight tickets actually ended up being cheaper than two. I’m terrible at maths, is there something I’m missing? The same journey, with the same changes, same stations, same destination and same trains (I presume) costs significantly less when split up into sections? Maybe I’m magical, because I can’t explain how I managed it.
In my opinion, it’s because these private companies don’t run this service for the good of the public. They do it for profit. For all the flaws and mistakes of a government-run service, at the very least it exists for and serves the public. Which is how it should be, because the railway is a public service! The more of this country’s nationalised services are leeched into the private sector, the less I feel that this government is for me, or gives a damn about me at all.
So, I think I’d much rather go to Denmark than Horsham. There may be no job in it for me, no money or comfort of knowing that I can move on with my life, but it’s a much more interesting place, and I don’t have to sell my kidney to afford going there.
