Getting Around -- Transport Costs

Posted by Colin Harvey Oct 14, 2009

Yesterday I did some quick and dirty math to calculate a cost per mile for private transport; it came to about £0.40 per mile.

To travel into Bristol using the local (private) bus company, who effectively only cover Bristol and Keynsham, costs £2 for a return journey of 12 miles. That’s £0.17 per mile, and is one of the reasons why their buses are packed.

First Bus also cover that route at £3.90, or £0.33 per mile. First would argue that they have unprofitable routes to subsidize, so let’s accept that temporarily. They run every land route that I’ll llok at from now on. The cost to Bath from Keynsham is £5.70 return for 18 miles, about £0.32 per mile. But my journey to uni is 10.6 miles, there and back. Cost = £8, or £0.75 per mile.

Let’s assume that I had to go to London tomorrow, but I’d had no opportunity to pre-book. The cheapest fare is £54 for a 240 mile round trip. That’s £0.225 per mile, but doesn’t guarantee me a seat – and at busy times, journeys can be standing room only, for two hours. First class is £127 and upwards -- £0.53 per mile.

Finally, it costs £636 to fly the 6486 miles from London to Montreal and back. Not even £0.10 per mile. Yes, expensive in absolute terms, but when you consider that, is it any surprise that air travel numbers aren’t declining?

The point of all these numbers is to show that while transport providers make a profit, transport costs are almost always higher per mile than in a car.

Add to that the point that people need at least eighteen inches of personal space, which they can get in a car. But on public transport you’re lucky to get one inch of personal space….

I’ll wrap this up tomorrow, I promise.