have just checked out first great western and virgin websites for two adult returns from bristol to london .need to have a degree in mathematics to to arrive at some sort of a price but am astounded by overall cost of tickets - shall get the coach and clog the motorways in future - maybe we should stop paying such large bonuses and pensions to the top management particularly those who have failed our services miserably and have been paid off with large settlemnts.

paul woods, Bristol, United Kingdom

This is ridiculous. The government is continually going on and on and on about being green and reducing carbon emissions, using public instead of private transport.

However, rail fares continue to rise above inflation, and the train services themselves are terrible; over-crowded, running late and slow. Somehow, on the continent in countries like France, Germany and Italy, they manage to run a rail system that works, with relatively cheap ticket prices. Maybe the government should import an adviser of some sort from one of these countries to sort out the disgrace that is the national rail service. What are they actually doing with the 40%-50% tax rate that people are paying? From income tax alone ...

Lisa, London,

Travelling by train is a complete waste of time and money. In the West Midlands commuter belt towns like Telford, it is actually cheaper (even with the endless petrol increases) for two people to drive to and park in Birmingham than use public transport. Until the government see this then commuters will have no choice but to use their own transport.
The only way around this is to increase capacity/reliability and drop prices. Unfortunately, the government only sees further taxation as a valid solution.

Stephen Green, Wellington, Shropshire