Between April 2015 and April 2016, the German price comparison website GoEuro studied thousands of prices for journeys booked by customers via its website in 40 European countries. This compares the average price per 100 km for a domestic flight, a train journey and a bus journey. GoEuro consolidates fares in euros collected from 450 online booking providers. The GoEuro Transport Index is therefore an excellent indicator of the average price paid when using one mode of transport or another.
Unsurprisingly, it is in Northern Europe that we find the countries with the most expensive services per kilometre. Switzerland leads the way with an average price of 31.17 euros per 100 km, followed by Denmark, Iceland, Great Britain, Finland and Austria. In these five countries, the average price paid per 100 km was well over 20 euros.
France is at the top end of this index, in 11th place, with an average price of 12.37 euros. A relatively favourable result, moderated by the very reasonable cost of a coach journey, averaging 4.36 euros per 100 km. On the other hand, France does much worse than the average when it comes to looking more closely at train fares, a sentiment generally shared by users who regularly complain that prices are far too high.
The average price for a 100 km train journey is €17.59, putting SNCF in fifth place among the most expensive rail providers. Surprisingly, train fares in Denmark, Finland and Germany remain well below the French average, ranging from 10% to 25% on average.
While the average cost of a 100 km journey remains - unsurprisingly - below €10 in Central and Eastern Europe, Sweden has an astonishing result, with an average fare of €7.82 per 100 km and, above all, a fare of €5 for a train journey...
