(14 Apr 2020, 8:22 am)LeeCalder wrote Having travelled on the 21 to Chester-le-Street for a shopping visit to Tesco last week, I asked my Mother how much she reckoned it cost me to get from Barley Mow to Chester-le-Street.
She said £1.20. It's actually £2.30.
Her reaction: WHAT, to get to Chester!?
This is exactly why she uses her car, and I suspect many others. £2.30 for a 5 minute journey!
As I understand it, it's not necessarily about the distance of the journey, but about how many fare stages it goes through (Is that the correct terminology?)
While I don't know exactly how it works, I believe the price is determined by how many main stops you pass, that's why if you look at your ticket the 'valid to' it may not necessarily be the stop you asked for. I don't know if it still works the same as I haven't bought a ticket in years, but the 'boarding stage' might be miles away from where you boarded as that would be the start of that 'stage'.
After a quick play around with the fare calculator, it seems you were just on the wrong edge of the fare stage as it's the same price from the far end of Birtley as it is from Barley Mow
Barley Mow to CLS ~1.5 miles £2.30
Birtley Coach and Horses to CLS ~3.3 miles also £2.30
It'd be quite interesting to see what is the furthest you can go for each ticket price, I'd imagine it would vary greatly by area!
To go from Bishop Auckland to West Auckland, for instance, which is a distance of ~4 miles is only £1.60