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The painful cost of local travel to Melksham

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-06-01 09:36:09 - Graham Ellis

Last night, I travelled from Manchester to Melksham; 192 miles and 3 hours and 32 minutes. Driving a petrol car, value up to £13,000, and doing about 10,000 miles a year, that's an overall cost of £88.74 - 44.62p per mile according to the AA's runnng cost tables.

But I prefer to travel by train - it's more relaxing, and my journey was on the end of a week which started in central London, where a car is impractical. So what did my Machester to Melksham journey cost me?

*) I had an off peak RETURN train ticket London to Manchester - I had considered buying a single, and then coming Cross Country on the way back, but I was tempted northbound by the tiny difference in price - just £1.00 more - for the return.

*) Having heavy baggage, I used the No. 205 bus from Euston to Paddington - £1.40 on my Oyster card

*) A superoff peak single, Paddington to Chippenham, cost £28.10

So... I had travelled all the way from Manchester to Chippenham for £30.50

*) Due to a train delay, I had missed the last bus. Never mind that the bus is run by a train company, that left me stranded at my expense - and the final 7 miles in a taxi cost me £25.45.

Now, I had done very well indeed with my fares from Manchester, but the last 7 miles costing almost as much as the first 185 miles brought a start reality to just how expensive local travel is, and what a drain it is for a town / area to have inadequate public transport. It's something that we keep coming across with business guests / visitors and it's something that really hold Melksham back.