h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I've been using the public transportation system in Stockholm regularly for the last 15 years or so, and ticket prices have risen like everything else. During the last two years, though, prices have been raised on three separate occasions, and officials have kept advocating this by claiming that ticket prices are still among the lowest in the world in general and Sweden in particular. I'm interested in finding out if there's any truth in this, or if it's just the same old same old official BS to shut up the protests.

So I ask you: What is the approximate cost of a monthly pass in your town? How much for a single trip?

For reference, a monthly pass in Stockholm is currently SEK 500 / EUR 50, and a single trip anywhere from SEK 10-50 /EUR 1-5.

Right, an LT card; which allows travel within the zones that you require on the buses, the Tube, the Docklands Light Railway and a few National Rail lines; in my case, Zones 1-3, for an adult is about £70. Now as I am a paltry student, then I fork out £60 a month. However, my student card has not arrived yet, so I'm paying the full adult price, but weekly, so it is £22 a week.

It hurts my wallet so.

and for 12 months it's £896. it's gone up £200 in the last 5 yrs - won't be long before it's over £1000.

the pain, the pain.

*does some arithmetic*

Ouch...well, so far it seems I've got it easy...

... and I bet that the public transport system there is also much cleaner, more efficient and generally great...

Cheap is non existent in NE Englnad. From Louth to Grimsby (about 20 miles) it costs £3.60! For my brother to get a return from Gimsby to Aberdeen by train takes him 9 hours each way and costs >£50

That's what you get for living in Grimsby! The buses to the outlying villages are still cheap, but nothing happens after dark

Germany, Munich: (Its a 1,3 million city) For the entire city for a month it costs DM 274,-/EUR 135,- (Week: DM 72,-/EUR 35,-) for people that have to get up early..
There is also a 'green' card for those that can live with starting out at 9:00 am - Month: DM 87,-/EUR 43,-
For a single trip (maximum two stations train, 4 Bus or Tram) the price is DM 2,-/EUR 1,-

Fortunately one can also buy monthly tickets for parts of the city, which is divided into rings, these start at DM 67,-/EUR 33,- and go up to the aforementioned 274,-

(The Euro prices are approximate!)

C.

OK, so it seems Stockholm is pretty cheap after all. I'll consider myself lucky from now on.

As for the PT here being better - it used to be very good, but has been deteriorating at about the same rate as the prices have gone up.
Depends on what you value, though. It used to be the train ran on time but not extremely often, while now they run more often but rarely on time. Not sure which I like better.

A return ticket into the city (6 miles away) costs me £4.40 (about EUR 7) before 0930 on Manchester's Metrolink system. Or I can pay £20 (EUR 32) for a weekly pass. And I saw a billboard for the local paper today which said 'Metrolink fares rise'.

Trams are frequent and reasonably reliable, but horribly crowded. The system is not staffed at all (apart from drivers and the occasional roving team of inspectors), so a lot of people evade their fare. As the penalty fare is £20, on the rare occasions they do get caught it is probably worth it. Which means that honest types like me have to pay more.

In Israel, a bus ticket inside the city is 5.40 NIS, which in EUR would be... hmm, let's see... I think it's about 1.08 EUR (as far as I know 1 EUR is about 5 NIS).
I consider it expensive, because the price has risen so much in the last years. I can still remember when it was under 3 NIS.

I use the trains in Cardiff every day - it's only a very short trip - about 10 minutes. But it's very easy and cheap - just £5/week! (It would cost me £3 each day just to park in the city centre - easy decision!)

Russia, for one metro ride in Moscow is 7 rubles. For one bus ride it's 7 - 10 rubles, but in both cases there are no zones. A monthly travel pass for 70 metro rides and unlimited travel on buses, trams and trolleybuses costs, deary me, I forget, 300 - 400 rubles? I forget. The exchange rate is about 1 uk pound to 50 rubles, or 1 us dollar to 30 rubles. A standard loaf of bread costs about 7 rubles. It's affordable, and ultra reliable. Russians never say: I'm late cos there was a problem on the underground cos nobody believes them (if it's true it makes headline news immediately). They say: I was stuck in a lift.

In the beautiful city of Montreal, QC a monthly pass is 54 can$ (approximately 38 Euro) or 27 can$ (19 Euro) for students and the elderly. One ride is 2.25 can$ (1.60 Euro). They are talking about a major rise, though. Up to 70 can$ (49 Euro) or more!
But then the Metro (subway) is pretty small (4 lines) and sometimes you have to wait for more than 10 minutes for a metro to arrive (especially late and on the blue line). Metro runs 'til about 1 am or 1.30 am on the weekends. After that, night buses are run through the city, though I haven't yet figured out how often as I wait quite a bit each time I wanna use them. There are quite a lot of bus routes and they run pretty often (passes are good for metro and busses).
But Montreal is built on an Island and the bike usually is faster than busses, but Montreal car drivers just don't know how to drive, which is dangerous for them but even more so for the bike riders. Bike paths are nonexistant except for recreational routes (Parks, along rivers, in nice parts of the city...) and it's getting cold now and bike paths are not cleaned of snow...

I live in Awsworth, Nottinghamshire and to travel to Eastwood which is 3 miles away it costs me £22 a week. I would cycle it but it's too dangerous on the roads and there are no SAFE (or well lit) cycle paths to Awsworth.
I am 17 and still at college and the council offer no support for over 16 year olds who are still in full time education, so £22 is alot of money when you only end up earning £35 a week in a part time job.