Dominic Tristram

Bath, UK

Programmer

While Peter makes some good points, I believe that he is wrong when he says that driving from London to Bristol is cheaper than the train. Say what you want about reliability and capacity, but the train easily wins on cost.

From Bath (only 10 minutes from Bristol) and Apex Return to Paddington is 18 pounds. Driving would cost me more than that in petrol, and then of course the true cost of taking the car includes owning, taxing and insuring it in the first place. People forget about these fixed costs when they complain about the price of public transport.

The main reason why I always choose to take the train into London though is the speed. I can get into Paddington in 90 minutes (and I usually do - it's more reliable than the press make out). By car it can take three times as long with bad traffic.