Greetings and request for fare advice

surbifan

Hi all,

Firstly, greetings! This has been a very helpful site over the years, but I couldn't find any information on this specific subject.

I'm moving to Lovelace Road in Surbiton from Fulham on the 12th of May with my girlfriend - looking forward to exploring the area

I have a few questions on train fares from Surbiton that hopefully someone will be able to answer (apologies if this has already been asked elsewhere but I couldn't find anything). So... I work near Piccadilly Circus every day from Monday to Friday, and I want to travel as cheaply as possible each day as funds are going to be a little tight from now on. Hopefully someone could have a quick read through this and make sure I've interpreted the TfL website correctly, please!

Some background info... firstly, I'm unable to afford an annual travelcard - so I'll have to rule that out. Secondly, I might be able to travel entirely at off-peak times (but as I'm not sure yet I'd like to do the sums for both peak and off-peak travel). Thirdly, I won't be travelling much (if at all) other than to/from work 5 days a week. Lastly, I'm 24 - so I could get a 16-25 railcard.

The TfL website says that peak singles from zones 1-6 are £6.90 and off-peak singles are £4.60 (so £13.80 peak return, or £8.50 off-peak return because of the daily price capping) - so I'd be looking at £69 (peak) or £42.50 (off-peak) each week. I assume I should be looking at tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14414.aspx#adultthrough, and not tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14416.aspx?

Comparing this to a monthly travelcard, peak singles work out at £299.82 per month, and off-peak singles work out at £184.67 per month. I think that this makes the monthly travelcard at £205.10 the cheapest way of doing it at peak times (saving £94.72 each month), but more expensive at off-peak times (by £20.43 per month).

If I were to get a 16-25 railcard, peak singles remain the same price - but off-peak singles drop to £3.05 (capped at £5.60 for an off-peak return), so £28 per week, or £121.67 a month.

So I really have two questions:

1) Peak travel: is the monthly travelcard at £205.10 really the cheapest way of travelling to Piccadilly Circus at peak times? Or is there a cheaper way other than an annual travelcard?

2) Off-peak travel: assuming I would be able to travel at off-peak times, is buying pay-as-you-go off-peak singles with a 16-25 railcard at approx. £121.67 a month the cheapest way of doing it?

This seems a massive difference. If anyone else can think of any other tricks to make either option even cheaper then I'd appreciate their thoughts.

I'd be interested to hear how anyone else who works in Central London does it!

Thanks in advance for any help with this.

dzug1

Have a look at the National Rail season ticket from Surbiton to London terminals - £41 a week or £157.40 a month. This will get you to Waterloo/Waterloo East/Charing Cross. Can you get from Charing Cross to Piccy (walk, bus, Boris bike?) for less than the extra it costs for the zones 1-6 ticket?

surbifan

Thanks for your post.

I don't think that's possible unfortunately - £157.50 for that ticket means a saving of £47.60 over the normal 1-6 travelcard.

The bus (cheapest option to work from Waterloo) would cost £2.70 per day, and this works out at £58.66 a month - so slightly more expensive than buying the ticket that includes zones 1-6 (and the tube is obviously a lot quicker than the bus to Piccadilly Circus from Waterloo so that seems like the better option).

Boris bikes aren't an option either sadly. I'd need to get a bus from Waterloo, if not the tube... I could walk from Charing Cross but I don't believe the National Rail season ticket would allow me to get there from Surbiton? Not sure how that would work as the train goes directly to Waterloo and I don't think it would cover underground travel to Charing Cross.

Any ideas?

dzug1

It would cover National Rail to Charing Cross - walk from Waterloo to Waterloo East, get a South East train across the river to Charing Cross.

daveb975

Don't buy a travelcard as you won't need to use the tube to get from Waterloo to Piccadilly Circus.

It is under a mile to walk it from Waterloo, or as mentioned above you can get a train from Waterloo East to Charing Cross which is only a few minutes wlak away.

Any ticket that you buy from Surbiton to London will be to 'London Terminals' which means that you can finish your journey at any of the main London stations as long as you don't use the tube.

Either way, I definitely would not get a bus from Waterloo to Piccadilly Circus at peak time as it would be likely to take you just as long as walking.