2013 World Fare Comparison - Part 2

London Underground - better value for money than QR?

Last updated 01/01/2013 8pm

Part 1 of BrizCommuter's 2013 World Fare Comparison looked at the cost of the cheapest available single peak fare for a 5km train journey. Brisbane fared terribly, being the world's third most expensive city for such a journey.  Only Oslo and London (Underground /Overground) were more expensive. In part 2 of BrizCommuter's 2013 World Fare Comparison, we take a look at other ticketing options and factors in the 5 most expensive cities for a 5km rail journey. These include - weekly maximum train fares, daily maximum train fares, peak train frequency, refund policy, and bus fares.

Weekly maximum train fares (5km journeys)

London - $47.26 (7 day ticket)
Stockholm - $44.02 (7 day ticket)
Oslo - $37.92 (7 day ticket)
Brisbane - $34.65 (9 journey week cap)
Liverpool - $22.08 (7 day train only ticket) / $25.04 (7 day bus/train/ferry ticket)

For weekly maximum train fares, the go card's "9 journey then free" cap helps a little bit, by moving Brisbane into 4th place out of these five cities. Brisbane is also the only city in this comparison without a 7 day zone based ticketing option.

Daily maximum train fares (5km journeys)

Brisbane - $34.65 (9 journey week cap)
Stockholm - $16.88 (24 hour ticket)
London - $13.06 (daily peak cap)
Oslo - $12.93 (24 hour ticket)
Liverpool - $5.60 (day ticket)

Brisbane is the only city in this comparison without a daily ticketing option. This moves Brisbane into 1st place for the world's most expensive transport system. In fact, the maximum fare possible in Brisbane is more than double the nearest competitor!

Peak train frequency (at 5km from CBD)

London - 2 to 5 minutes
Oslo - 7.5 to 15 minutes
Liverpool - 5 to 15 minutes
Stockholm - 7.5 to 15 minutes
Brisbane - 3 to 23 minutes*

Peak train frequencies in Brisbane are pot luck on which station you use, and at what time. Of the five cities featured, Brisbane is the only city with peak service gaps of more than 15 minutes at stations approx. 5km from the CBD. This potentially makes Brisbane's peak train fares the worst value for money in the world. In fact, as Brisbane's peak fare period starts from 2am, there are plenty of service gaps between trains of 30 minutes within the peak fare period at stations approx. 5km from the CBD.

Refund Policy

London - Full fare refund if delayed more than 15 minutes (Underground)/ 30 minutes (Overground)
Oslo - Free taxi if delayed more than 20 minutes
Stockholm - Free taxi if delayed more than 20 minutes
Liverpool - Full fare refund if delayed more than 30 minutes
Brisbane - None

Brisbane is the only city amongst these five cities to not have a refund policy due to delays. Brisbane thus has the world's most expensive public transport system without a refund policy!

Bus fares (peak single 5km journey)

Oslo - $4.65
Brisbane - $3.85
Stockholm - $3.67
Liverpool - $3.11
London - $2.18

Many cities around the world have cheaper bus fares than train fares. This list includes London, thus Brisbane is the world's second most expensive city in the world on which to travel 5km by bus in the peak period. Ouch!

In part 3 of the World Fare Comparison - 2013, BrizCommuter will take a look at off-peak fares.

2013 World Fare Comparison - Part 1:
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/2013-world-fare-comparison-part-1.html

2013 World Fare Comparison - Part 3:
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2012/12/2013-world-fare-comparison-part-3.html
2013 World Fare Comparison - Conclusion and Recommendations
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/2013-world-fare-comparison-conclusion.html
2013 Australian Fare Comparison:
http://brizcommuter.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/2013-australian-fare-comparison.html