The journey i take daily to get to work varies on price on a daily basis. There is this thing some conductors call a "cheap" day, where train fares (well, a return from where i live to work on 2 trains) are £8 a return on a Tuesday and Thursday. Other days, at the same time the price is £10.10 for the same journey.
I did some research into this, and found the £10.10 price is for peaktimes between 7am and 8am. Not for the times i travel, i'm in the process of getting a refund (i kept all my tickets because i thought the prices were wrong). Now i get the cheaper rate because everytime one of these conductors tries to charge more and claims the price was a "cheap" day price, i show a Monday ticket and get the cheaper rate. Stupid conductors try to get more money out of you by changing the clock on the machines, keep an eye on that guys and gals.
I used to have a travel pass, but i lost it. Arriva want to charge £15 for a replacement, which they can kack off. For a weeks travel, it costs £35 with a pass.
These price rises are stupid, they rose the price in January with the promise of more reliable trains and more frequent trains. I've yet to see either happening. The train i get from Cardiff to Ty Glas (where i work) breaks down often. Recently, there has been a collapse by central which is stopping all trains from going from Central to Queen Street (both in Cardiff). Do they offer free transport for disabled persons, no. They expect you to walk to Queen Street to get on a train to another station to transfer to a different station to get the train you need to get to work. Which is now running once every 2 hours.
Reliable, no. Cost effective = No.