An “anytime” rail ticket on the 118-mile journey between London Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads has risen to £1 per mile, Simon Calder reveals.

In a comment for The Independent, the travel correspondent points out: “The ‘Didcot Dodge’ cuts the price by better than 40 per cent.

“Passengers buy one ticket to Didcot Parkway and a second from there for the rest of the journey. As long as the train pauses at the Oxfordshire junction (and almost all do), this perfectly legal hack cuts the fare to something more manageable: £70.50.

“This example sums up the shambles in rail fares that this government, like its predecessors, has yet to address.

“Ticket prices are full of anomalies. While those of us with time on our hands can circumvent eye-watering fares with ease, infrequent passengers will take one look at that £1-per-mile rate from Bristol to London and decide to drive or stay at home instead.

“The only possible way to preserve the network at its present level, let alone fund increased services, is to entice people out of their cars. They will expect fair and rational ticket prices for tickets, and reliable services.

“Unless ministers and union bosses accept the new reality, the railways are set for a long, painful decline.”

Read my full analysis of rail fares below:

The Institute of Economic Affairs, a right-wing think tank, has accused the RMT union of “parallel universe levels of delusion” in striking at a time when Transport for London (TfL) is in such financial straits.

The institute’s energy and infrastructure analyst, Andy Mayer, said: “TfL’s fare income has fallen from £4.8bn to £1.6bn because of the pandemic.

“Working patterns have changed and a full return to prior levels of commuting is unlikely.

“The RMT’s decision to strike for job, wage and benefits protection is parallel universe levels of delusion that will simply harm TfL further by encouraging commuters to stay at home.

“Those most impacted are the key workers, generally on lower incomes, who must travel to provide vital services. This is a privileged attack, by a highly protected public sector elite on working people.

“Shame on the RMT.”

The union, meanwhile, tweeted: “10,000 tube workers are taking strike action today because these cuts threaten the safety and the very future of the Tube in London at a time when we need to encourage mass use of safe, clean and sustainable public transport.”

One line is still carrying passengers through central London: the Thameslink north-south railway. The central core starts at London St Pancras International, hub for Eurostar, East Midlands Railway and Southeastern high-speed services to Kent.

It runs through Farringdon, usually connected to the Metropolitan and Circle lines of the Tube, and City Thameslink to Blackfriars.

This unique station straddles the River Thames, with entrances on both north and south banks.

Thameslink serves many stations in north and south London, including West Hampstead, Finsbury Park, Elephant & Castle and Wimbledon. It also links Luton and Gatwick airports via central London.

Trains are operating about every five minutes in each direction on the central core.

Londoners hoping to travel east-west through the centre of the capital should, by now, be able to do so on the Elizabeth Line – the name given to the £19bn Crossrail scheme.

But the botched project is currently over three years behind schedule. One reason for the funding crisis at Transport for London is the lack of expected revenue from the new line.

It is hoped that the link from London Paddington to Liverpool Street may be open by the end of June, 42 months late.

One London commuter has captured video showing how the Tube strike closures are also affecting bus and overground services.

“Total chaos at Willesden Junction as trains aren’t stopping at Wembley, Kenton etc but this isn’t advertised elsewhere on the overground,” wrote Sarah Batten.

“Everyone trying to pile on buses, no staff monitoring, this crowding could get dangerous.”

Ms Batten later tweeted an update saying her commute had taken more than two-and-a-half hours.

Meanwhile, a Reddit user posted this image of crowds outside a bus at London Liverpool Street.

“I left nice and early because I was skeptical the bus into Chancery Lane would take the proposed one hour journey,” wrote user ALondonKiwi in the caption.

“Glad I can just sit in one spot but its definitely going to take much longer to get to work. Not sure I left enough buffer for a Pret!”

Passengers arriving at Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, face much higher fares to reach central London – with destinations beyond Paddington station difficult to reach.

The airport is telling passengers: “Industrial action is taking place on the London Underground network on Tuesday 1 and Thursday 3 March 2022 therefore services to and from Heathrow will be severely disrupted.

“Morning services on following days (2 and 4 March) may also be affected.

“We recommend passengers use Heathrow Express or TfL Rail services to and from London Paddington as an alternative.”

The maximum Tube fare from Heathrow to anywhere within Greater London is £5.50.

On TfL Rail’s stopping services from the airport to London Paddington, the fare increased today to £11.60, more than twice the Tube fare.

On the faster Heathrow Express, the fare is £25 – nearly five times as much as the Underground.

Once at Paddington station, travellers’ problems are only beginning.

Hundreds of people are in the queue for taxis to other parts of the capital.

The Tube strike means that would-be Underground passengers have not yet experienced the 4.8 per cent average fares rise that takes effect today on Transport for London services.

It is the highest increase in a decade, since then-mayor Boris Johnson hiked fares by an average of six per cent.

Most adult “pay-as-you-go” fares, payable by Oyster stored value cards or contactless credit and debit cards, have risen by between 10p and 30p.

The adult pay as you go fare for a journey in the central Zone 1 is £2.50 – up 10p, or 4.2 per cent.

Outside Zone 1, a trip within a single zone costs £1.60.

On the buses and trams, the standard fare has risen by 6.5 per cent to £1.65 – though connections can be made within an hour at no extra charge.

The daily cap for bus and tram rides is set at £4.95, meaning the fourth and subsequent journeys incur no extra charge.

The highest fare rises are for the Emirates Air Line cable car in east London. The journey across the River Thames rises from £5 to £6.

The chief executive of UK Hospitality, has condemned today’s Tube strike by members of the RMT union.

Kate Nicholls tweeted: “A slow frustrating start to the day trying to get into London for various meetings in Westminster and to speak at three industry events.

“The city’s recovery is reliant upon people being confident to travel and a Tube strike is the last thing hospitality businesses need.|

Ms Nicholls is also co-chair of the London Tourism Recovery Board, which is seeking to rescue the capital’s once-thriving tourist industry.

Some Tube trains are running on two lines – the District and Central – but none through the heart of London.

The Independent has seen the official document issued to staff by the London Underground Control Centre.

It shows there are trains running on the eastern and western ends of the Central Line: from White City to Ealing Broadway and West Ruislip; between Loughton and Liverpool Street; and from Newbury Park to Leytonstone via Woodford.

On the District Line, the eastern extreme between Upminster and West Ham has some trains, while a “reduced frequency” is operating between High Street Kensington and Wimbledon, calling at Earl’s Court.

According to a Freedom of Information request last year, the average base pay of a London Tube driver is £56,496 (this was based on the financial year to March 31, 2020).

For comparison, average base pay for train drivers working for companies such as GWR, South Western and Southeastern ranges from around £56,000 to £67,000.

Night Tube drivers earn around half of the daytime salary, as their positions are part-time. During training, Tube drivers are paid less (around £32,375 per annum) for a period of around 12-16 weeks. Overtime rates are around £36 an hour.

In terms of perks, drivers also get 43 days of holiday a year, a free annual Tube pass for themselves and a partner, and can retire on a reduced pension at the age of 50 or a full pension at 60.

Negatives of the job include the possibility of having to work more than 15 weekends in a row due to shift patterns, some shifts starting at 4.45am and having to leave an alcohol-free period of eight hours before each shift.

However, it was reported last year that nine Tube drivers are paid more than £100,000 a year.

A London tour guide, Sophie Campbell, has tweeted the RMT union to say: “You know, @RMTunion, you get money/pensions/free transport that I will never see in my s***ing lifetime, not even if I work until I'm 109, which looks increasingly likely.

“P.S. Yes, very grateful for you working during Covid.”

A Freedom of Information request to Transport for London (TfL) in 2018 showed that nine drivers were paid more than £100,000; another 30 made more than £80,000, and 100 were paid £70,000 to £80,000.