they want us to use public transport but....

[Dave_S]

going to Scapa next year so i thought i'd look at transport optios - thought the train would be a good idea someone else does the work and it travells quicker than a car
however it's not the case...

it is cheaper and quicker with 2 or three of us sharing a vehicle to drive the 800miles from devon than it is to take the train at in excess of £200 for the ticket with 4 changes the chances of missing one of the connections due to a late train are high

the car is going to cost £200 in diesel plus a travel lodge at £50 is £125 each auto route says 16 hours driving so if we assume every train is on time and i don't miss a connection it will take the same amount of time and we get to sleep in a bed over night instead of in a seat on a train. never mind the hassle of carting my dive kit through 4 train changes and either have to race against the clock to cross london [is london actually between Devon & Scotland i didn't think so] or waiting hours in the middle of the night on a cold platform

people are never going to move away from cars until the public transport system improves to be even somewhere near equal

[Captain Deco]

Don't forget to also add that if you are travelling on the underground in London to make train connections lugging all your dive gear will be murder and at risk of being stolen.

The added bonus is you can't take things like compressed gas cylinders on the tube as well - particularly stages with o2.

I have looked at the public transport plan for getting to and from dive sites and I might as well be writing up a travel plan to dive the moon. No fugging transport seems to go anywhere.

[MarkP]

A long time ago, a bunch of us went to Scapa and back from London.

We met at Kings Cross, went to Edinburgh, changed train and went to Aberdeen, where one of us had a mate who'd bought a secondhand car for us. We borrowed his car and trailer, and got a couple of drivers insured for the borrowed and bought cars, for a week.

We kipped on his flor overnight and went to Scapa the next day.

When we got back to Aberdeen we did the reverse journey and sold the bought car for more than we paid for it!

I don't know if it would work out as economical these days.

[PeeBee]

I looked at flying to Scapa as I have loads of airmiles I could use and it seemed to make economic, environmental and financial sense, the trouble is cylinders, and general luggage. The risk of my kit not getting to scapa with me and following on a few days later is too high.

Back to the road then.

[aclivity]

to be fair, 3 of you sharing a car is probably better than getting the train. 3 of you driving there separately would be worse.

I try to use the train for work when I have to travel down south, and probably manage just less than a third of my journeys that way - other times it is too expensive, or no convenient trains.

I do car share for between 10% and 15% of my business car journeys, though, through careful planning using a piece of technology we call a "calendar". Amazing stuff!

It's all about balance, rather than finding reasons not to use train / car share / walking / cycling, if we were all encouraged to use the most appropriate in combinations, such as large free / cheap safe car parks at out of town train stations, it would be a lot easier.

As for taking cylinders on the train, I've done it once when my car was not working, luckily I was only going for a fill. I believe UK trains do not like compressed gas cylinders to be carried - I hid mine in a wheeled case!

[Jay_Benson]

You don't need to go via London - go to Crewe and catch the sleeper that is going to Inverness.

Are you really comparing like with like journeys?

You have included the total travel time for the train including the sleeper time but you haven't included the time for the sleep during the sleep at the travel lodge. I guess this makes the train somewhat quicker.

You have not included any wear and tear on your car (ignore tax and insurance because you were going to pay that anyway - unless the journey puts your annual mileage over into another insurance band).

As far as fares are concerned a mate caught the sleeper down from Glasgow to London for LIDS for the princely sum of about £15 plus a return ticket costing about £30 (first class obviously). You can get very good deals on public transport if you plan ahead - you are so you should be able to get cracking deal. £203.50 is the walk on fare - the price that you would have to pay if you hadn't booked in advance.

Something that you have not factored in is the lack of stress that you will experience in general when travelling by train - you will get there and back feeling somewhat better than car as you can walk around, sleep, charge your phone, use the loo, etc.

[stevechesh]

Originally Posted by Dave_S

the car is going to cost £200 in diesel plus a travel lodge at £50 is £125 each auto route says 16 hours driving ........

I'd be surprised if it took you that long Dave to be honest. I drove up from Yeovil last year, picked up a mate in Berwick upon Tweed, and then drove through Edinburgh. This wasn't the quickest route, but it "only" took 13 hours in total. A good couple of hours of that were rest stops as well. From the M5 (Devon), you can be in the borders within 6 hours........

[nigelH]

The only time I've been to the Orkneys I flew and rented a car.

I've never rented a car where they just left the keys with the airport desk for me before. Admittedly this was ten years ago.

If I was doing it again I'd have my dive gear boxed and send by a shipper I trust a couple of days before. When you price mileage thinking about a Range Rover and nice hotels it's remarkable what suddenly becomes cost effective.

[robertsT]

Originally Posted by scubajay

The added bonus is you can't take things like compressed gas cylinders on the tube as well - particularly stages with o2.

Not really the point of the post but I oftern take my tanks on the tube... no one has ever stopped me!

[Finless]

When we went flying turned out to be the best option with one person volunteering to take a car load of cylinders (for a 'small consideration' from each of us).