For people planning on travelling to the capital from Bristol, flying would be the very last transport option most would think of using. Particularly in the current climate emergency, travelling by air has become something many of us avoid if there are other more sustainable options, such as travelling by train.
However for many who want to live more sustainably, cost can sometimes be a barrier, especially as rail fares continue to soar. In fact it turns out that a plane ticket between Bristol and London is actually four times cheaper than train fare between the capital and the South West.
The new discovery means that, based on prices for next week (March 1), it would cost £23 to fly to Bristol. In comparison, a train ticket to Bristol, also based on prices from March 1, would set you back an average of £114, reports My London.
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However, if you wanted to fly to Bristol you would have to fly to Dublin and then catch a connecting flight back to England. For an alternative that is four times cheaper than the locomotive option some travellers are tempted, but others are annoyed plane travel is being encouraged as it is more environmentally damaging.
The flight and stopover would take approximately an hour and a half longer than the train but for a quarter of the price some travellers thought the deal was a “steal”.
And of course you would then have to get into Bristol city centre from the airport - which is actually in North Somerset and about half an hour from the centre of the city. A one-way ticket on the Bristol Flyer bus will cost £8.
This realisation from travellers caused a stir on social media and many people complained that travel prices were making it harder to be eco-friendly.
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One man was disgusted by the difference in price and said to his Twitter followers: “This is the exact reason climate change is so bad. The trains need to be cheaper, it's killing our planet.” Another commenter said: “Wow. This was a surprise but why are trains so much cheaper? Surely we should be encouraging people not to fly in this day and age.”
“There's no VAT on plane tickets, and there's no tax on aviation fuel, despite road fuels like petrol and diesel being taxed at 57.95p per litre, plus 20% in VAT.”
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