Pricing
Pricing
I started write this post earlier, but error messages kept popping up.
After a long week at work and a brain turning to mush, I decided to think about the Purple Streetlites and do a little maths to unwind.
My dislike of the fares on the 20 have been well documented both before the latest price increase and since.
However, I thought it was worth doing a little breakdown of the fares, rather than just comment or talk about percentage increases following a few trips on the 20 this week.
Just to put a little background on it, the majority of my trips on the 20 are when I am travelling to and from a railway station (Sunderland or Durham).
As the majority of my trips on rail are longer than a day, it means I buy expensive single tickets.
As an irregular user of public transport (I don't use a bus every day of the week), weekly and monthly tickets aren't usually an attractive offer.
My most regular trip is on the Houghton - Durham section.
A single is £4.20 and a day return £6.00.
According to Bing Maps, the trip on the 20A is 7.9 miles. If we round it up to 8, it gives us a total cost of 0.525p per mile. For a return, 0.375p per mile.
The fares increased (£4.10 single to the current £4.20) since the introduction of the more fuel efficient Streetlites, which receive an enhanced BSOG of 6p per km.
If we convert miles to kilometres, the trip is 12.875km in each direction. That equates to an enhancement of 0.7725p in each direction of my trip.
In pure cash terms, the operator is just under 90p better off per trip than when the previous vehicle allocation was in place.
Obviously this doesn't take in to account any increase or decrease in running costs over the same period.
If BSOG and the enhancement didn't exist, I would hate to think how much the fares would be...
Just to provide some balance to the calculations, I thought it was worth doing some sums for a much longer section of route.
It isn't one I have done since the 20 was extended to Shields, but I understand the need for balance and all that...
The single fare from Houghton to Shields is £4.20. A Day Return is £4.80.
The distance is 12.7 miles (20.439km).
This is 0.33p per mile for a single and 0.18p return.
The BSOG enhancement £1.22 in each direction.
Obviously we don't know the exact reasons the pricing structure is set up the way it is (we could guess), but I thought it was worth sharing.
