Last prize to First

Published on 28/11/2012 00:00

AREN’T First ScotRail fares a scunner? I recently spent £123 on three items of travel last week, and this is how the fares stack up.

I travel Stonehaven-Edinburgh return on Thursday, 6 ­December for £39.10. This Sunday (2 December), four days ­earlier, the single journey on the 10.55 Edinburgh-Stonehaven route comes in at the same price. Where’s the logic?

By comparison, on Monday, 
10 December, I travel Stonehaven-Edinburgh return first class on a real train (East Coast) with all the proper appurtenances of a real train, plus a hot breakfast, and dinner with wine thrown in, for £45.

Why is the First ScotRail fares system so eye-wateringly expensive, and why is it so ­labyrinthine for regular travellers to manage? And why is travel on the First ScotRail suburban-styled trains always more expensive than travel on real trains? Oh, and First ScotRail is imposing a fares rise in January.

Gordon Casely

Crathes

Kincardineshire