New job in London - cheap rail commute?

milkybars

About to start a new job in London - cheapest rail commute?

I'll be coming in on the Reading line towards Waterloo and appear to have two choices:

Get off at Richmond then catch the District line to my new job

OR

I could stay on till Waterloo then Bakerloo/Northern then District/Circle to work

Time-wise the first option is a bit quicker but I'm willing to take the extra time if the tickets work out cheaper. I'm hugely confused by various season ticket, travel cards and Oyster options...

My 16-25 railcard is valid till 27th August and I already own an Oyster card.

What's the cheapest option?

AdrianHi

I'm trying to work this out myself and have just posted a similar question.
I think I'm saving about £7 a month using Oyster + monthly train only ticket assuming 22 days travel in the month, better saving when the bank holidays come up.
Interested in what others are finding.
I'm doing Alton to Waterloo then Bakerloo to Oxford Circus.
I recon Bakerloo to get north of the Thames better than Northerline (more crowded), though I find I can walk/run Waterloo to Embankment as quick, sometimes quicker than getting onto the tube to Embankment.

I understand your eagerness to save money, but the benefits to travel time and reliability of journey that usually comes with minimising the number of connections you make and tube lines you use is so great by the time you've been doing it a couple of months you'll probably pay more if you had to.

Bongedone

What tube station is the job next to?

silvercar

Minimise the changes; less opportunity for things to go wrong.

You need to compare costs of:


a) season ticket for the rail journey to Waterloo including zone 1 travel.

b) season ticket for the rail journey to Richmond plus travelcard for zones 1-4.

c) paying for the single journey each morning and then get an all zones travelcard plus an extension ticket to your final rail station each afternoon.

If you take your railcard and oyster to a tube station you can get your railcard registered onto your oyster, reducing the max fare each day.

Mids_Costcutter

Keep a bike at Waterloo and cycle to your end destination in London? Should be cheaper and quicker.

omelette451

silvercar wrote: »

If you take your railcard and oyster to a tube station you can get your railcard registered onto your oyster, reducing the max fare each day.

This applies only to the off-peak capped fare.

I like the cycle idea, at least for spring-autumn.

gner_ex

Is Reading your origin station? If so, your options range from (all example fares are weekly) Reading to all zones £103.80, Reading to Waterloo £87.30, Waterloo to Richmond £71.10 + Richmond to zones 1-4 £36.80 (total 107.90 - note this is more expensive).

If you are only making a single tube journey from Waterloo to another zone 1 station the weekly cost of this (ten single journeys at £1.60) is £16.00 - making this option cost £103.30 but loosing a lot of flexibility.

I would recommend the first option - note that this gives unlimited train travel from Reading to the edge of zone 6 (either on the route via Feltham or the non-stop route to Paddington via Slough) and unlimited train/tube/bus travel within zones 1-6. Monthly and Annual versions are available which offer a saving.

p00hsticks

gner_ex wrote: »

Is Reading your origin station?

I'd be very surprised if it is, as any one travelling into London from Reading is likely to use the much faster line into Paddington rather than the slow one to Waterloo

elvch01

p00hsticks wrote: »

I'd be very surprised if it is, as any one travelling into London from Reading is likely to use the much faster line into Paddington rather than the slow one to Waterloo

Oh so true, and even if the OP lives as far as Wokingham or Bracknell, it can still be quicker to take the train to Reading & change. After tha, the extra cost of going via Reading would be a bigger factor

omelette451

p00hsticks wrote: »

I'd be very surprised if it is, as any one travelling into London from Reading is likely to use the much faster line into Paddington rather than the slow one to Waterloo

If it's so much slower, why aren't there cheaper fares available by restricting yourself to the Waterloo line? SWT has missed a trick here...

elvch01

omelette451 wrote: »

If it's so much slower, why aren't there cheaper fares available by restricting yourself to the Waterloo line? SWT has missed a trick here...

They don't need to - the trains are FULL during peak times