Presented without comment: These are Britain’s cheapest cities for train travel
The cost of train travel varies hugely depending on where you live in Britain, according to research released today – and although Londoners love nothing more than to complain vociferously about how much their train fares set them back, it turns out the cheapest places for train commuters are big cities.
Glaswegians pay the least for their train travel, according to data from travel search engine Gopili. Travelling from Glasgow costs just £12 per 100 miles, which is just under half the national average of £21 per 100 miles.
Trains from Leicester are the most expensive in the country, costing nearly three times as much as trains from Glasgow at an average of £35 per 100 miles.
Meanwhile, the cost of living in the capital may be sky-high, but by comparison, train travel is surprisingly cheap. Londoners pay on average £14 per 100 miles – the second cheapest in the country, tied with Edinburgh. Who knew?
The figures show that train fares for specific journeys can range from £6 up to £69 per 100 miles. The line between London and Birmingham is the cheapest in the country, at just £6 on average, but going between Stoke and Leeds sets you back as much as £69 on average.
Rodolphe Morfoise-Gauthier, country manager of Gopili, said: "It is surprising to see that train travel costs can vary a lot depending on the city you're travelling from.
"This can be explained by several factors including the distance of the journey, the demand, the competition and the number of stops between the two cities."
Long-distance train commuters to London face punishing high fares, spending over a third of average earnings on their commute to work, according to research commissioned last year by the TSSA rail union. The most expensive annual season ticket is from Swindon to London, which is £8,200.