Cheapest way to get from Reading to London

zoelb_2

Hi everyone

I hope this doesn't seem too silly a question seeing how short a trip it is. My Mum and I are going to visit my brother in November, he lives in Reading. My Mum and I want to go to London for one of our days, as it's only 30mins on the train. But I was surprised to find that for me, even with a Railcard, the train would be about £20. So it would be even more for my Mum.

Is there a cheaper way to get there? It's not far and seems silly to pay £50 between us for a day trip. It's costing us less to get the train from Devon - Reading in the first place!

Thanks in advance!

wealdroam

zoelb wrote: »

Hi everyone

I hope this doesn't seem too silly a question seeing how short a trip it is. My Mum and I are going to visit my brother in November, he lives in Reading. My Mum and I want to go to London for one of our days, as it's only 30mins on the train. But I was surprised to find that for me, even with a Railcard, the train would be about £20. So it would be even more for my Mum.

Is there a cheaper way to get there? It's not far and seems silly to pay £50 between us for a day trip. It's costing us less to get the train from Devon - Reading in the first place!

Thanks in advance!

Not sure where you get those fares from.

An Off Peak Day Return Reading to London is £15.00.
An Off Peak Day Return Reading to London including one day off peak travelcard is £19.50.
With a 16-25 railcard, an Off Peak Day Return Reading to London is £9.90.
With a 16-25 railcard, an Off Peak Day Return Reading to London including one day off peak travelcard is £12.85.

So two people, one with a railcard, can do it for £24.90. Not £50.

Info from East Coast Trains.

If those fares are still too high, consider Coaches, e.g. National Express.

zoelb_2

Thank you, that's much much better. I was looking on thetrainline.com, thinking that was the cheapest site! Obviously not.

That's much more manageable.

Thanks again.

wealdroam

zoelb wrote: »

Thank you, that's much much better. I was looking on thetrainline.com, thinking that was the cheapest site! Obviously not.

That's much more manageable.

Thanks again.

Those fares should be identical with the trainline. If they are not, then that is a serious issue.

Probably always best to avoid the trainline (and raileasy) and thus avoid their fees.

dzug1

zoelb wrote: »

Thank you, that's much much better. I was looking on thetrainline.com, thinking that was the cheapest site! Obviously not.

That's much more manageable.

Thanks again.

I wonder if you were looking at peak hour fares? (if you were looking to return in the evening rush hour they apply on fast trains)

Buy on the day anyway - there's no point in booking in advance on this route.

baby_fuzz

Also, make sure that you don't get on one of the stoppers by accident (most of the trains going in that direction will be going to London Paddington, so it can be confusing), but it makes a massive difference in journey-time.

mfgx9bah

Sometimes it actually works out cheaper to buy singles from oxford to paddington (sometimes you can find them for£4 for particular train times, even cheaper with the railcard) and then use an oyster card for tube travel.

Depending on where your brother is in Reading, you can also get decent coach fares from Reading with megabus to Victoria. The journey time is about one hour but the coaches leave from Sainsburys in Calcot (near j12 of the M4)

linz

http://uk.megabus.com/default.aspx

Megabus go from Reading to London and if you time it right you can get there for £1 each way as they have deals on quite regularly.

mfgx9bah

@ Linz, our posts crossed, I wasn't nicking your Megabus idea honest!

linz

lol no, my fault, for not reading yours properly :P

p00hsticks

mfgx9bah wrote: »

Sometimes it actually works out cheaper to buy singles from oxford to paddington (sometimes you can find them for£4 for particular train times, even cheaper with the railcard)

However, bear in mind that , as highlighted in a couple of high publicity cases recently, these tickets may not allow you to start or terminate your journey at an intermediate station (e.g Reading)