Cheapest way to commute London to Gatwick?

iAMaLONDONER

What would be the cheapest way of commuting via public transport from London (any station as I'll buy a travel card) to Gatwick 7 days a week?

I hear Gatwick express is expensive so maybe I could use Southern from Clapham Junction or East Croydon?

Nick_C

What is your London postcode? There a huge range of options. Three different operators each with their own prices. Usually, commuting to/from London, it is cheaper to get a season ticket that combines a travelcard with the journey to Gatwick, but only if you really need the travelcard element. If you are within walking distance of a main line station, you don't need a travelcard.

Are you going to be working at the airport? If so, check out Southern's Staff Discount card for LGW staff.

http://www.southernrailwaytickets.com/main.php?page_id=356

And will you be travelling peak, off peak, or a mix due to shifts?

iAMaLONDONER

Nick_C wrote: »

What is your London postcode? There a huge range of options. Three different operators each with their own prices. Usually, commuting to/from London, it is cheaper to get a season ticket that combines a travelcard with the journey to Gatwick, but only if you really need the travelcard element. If you are within walking distance of a main line station, you don't need a travelcard.

Are you going to be working at the airport? If so, check out Southern's Staff Discount card for LGW staff.

http://www.southernrailwaytickets.com/main.php?page_id=356

And will you be travelling peak, off peak, or a mix due to shifts?

I will be moving soon to Edgware so I will definitely need the travelcard element for my London travel!

I will be working at the airport when I get the job. I'll look at that link

macman

First Capital Connect? From L. Bridge it's cheaper and only a few minutes longer than the GW Exp.
http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/airports/gatwick-airport/
If coming from Edgware, go Northern Line to KX/St P and pick it up from there via Thameslink. Much nicer crossing central London on a train than a deep level tube.

iAMaLONDONER

macman wrote: »

First Capital Connect? From L. Bridge it's cheaper and only a few minutes longer than the GW Exp.
http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/airports/gatwick-airport/
If coming from Edgware, go Northern Line to KX/St P and pick it up from there via Thameslink. Much nicer crossing central London on a train than a deep level tube.

So I would be best of buying a Gatwick & London Z1-6 rather than buying say a East Croydon-Gatwick and a Z1-5 travelcard on my oyster? (I'm not too much a fan of a paper ticket as I travel a lot- are paper tracelcard easy to replace if they get worn out?)

wealdroam

When you move to Edgware, you might consider a bus, or cycle, to Mill Hill Broadway Station.

Direct trains from there to Gatwick with no slow tube rides, and save yourself £100 on a yearly ticket by getting a "Valid only on First Capital Connect services" ticket. That restriction is only applicable outside the zones.

But keep you eyes open iAMaLONDONER, there is a poster who gets on here often with "if you need any London travel help, just ask me" (or something like that) in their signature.

Nick_C

Cheapest option would seem to be Zones 1-6 to Gatwick, valid on FCC only. Weekly prices:-

FCC only - £79
Southern only - £90.40
Any permitted route (includes Gatwick Express) - £103.20

If you buy a monthly, you will save more. £303.40 on FCC, equivalent to £70 pw.

You can buy a season for any specified period of time longer than 31 days. Check http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/seasonticket/tickets for prices. If you know your working pattern more than a month in advance, you may get a further saving by buying a ticket for, for example, 40 days, taking your days off, then starting afresh.

Also, see if your employer offers an interest free season ticket loan. An annual would be cheaper still.

I would also recommend getting a Santander 123 credit card. There is a £24 annual fee, but they give 3% cash back on train tickets to a maximum of £9 per month. There is an annual fee of £24, but you would still save £7 a month compared with a card that doesn't give cash back. There is no fee in the first year if you have a 123 current account. You can get £13 cashback by applying for the card via the Top Cashback website.

Suggest you enquire with a Southern Booking Office about the price of their season with the staff discount card, as it says it doesn't give a discount on the London Travelcard element.

Edgeware to Gatwick is quite a trek. Good luck with that, and with the job.

macman

iAMaLONDONER wrote: »

So I would be best of buying a Gatwick & London Z1-6 rather than buying say a East Croydon-Gatwick and a Z1-5 travelcard on my oyster? (I'm not too much a fan of a paper ticket as I travel a lot- are paper tracelcard easy to replace if they get worn out?)

You can load a 7 day Travelcard onto a PAYG Oystercard.

Nick_C

macman wrote: »

You can load a 7 day Travelcard onto a PAYG Oystercard.

But could you do this for a weekly ticket to Gatwick? If not, then I don't see how that helps?

yorkie2

iAMaLONDONER wrote: »

What would be the cheapest way of commuting via public transport from London (any station as I'll buy a travel card) to Gatwick 7 days a week?

The cheapest Travelcard from Gatwick is a Gatwick Airport to London Zones 1-6 routed "FCC Only", priced at £79 per week (also available for any period between 1 month & 1 year; an annual is £3,160)

This is valid on all operators within the Zones, but only on FCC services between the boundary of Zone 6 and Gatwick Airport.

This product cannot be loaded onto an Oyster card.

iAMaLONDONER wrote: »

So I would be best of buying a Gatwick & London Z1-6 rather than buying say a East Croydon-Gatwick and a Z1-5 travelcard on my oyster? (I'm not too much a fan of a paper ticket as I travel a lot- are paper tracelcard easy to replace if they get worn out?)

A Zones 1-5 Travelcard is £53.40 per week (also available for any period between 1 month & 1 year; an annual is £2,136), this is available on Oyster.

So this will only be cheaper if you can get a discount from your employer on the cost of an East Croydon-Gatwick Season, to bring the cost of that down to less than the difference between the above fares.

Nick_C wrote: »

But could you do this for a weekly ticket to Gatwick? If not, then I don't see how that helps?

No; if you want to use Oyster, you'd have to use a combination of 'inboundary' Travelcard (available on Oyster) and another ticket that covers the rest of your journey.

Nick_C wrote: »

FCC only - £79
Southern only - £90.40
Any permitted route (includes Gatwick Express) - £103.20.

This is controversial, but I personally believe that "Southern Only" means that travel is restricted to any train operated by Southern (NRCoC Condition 10 allows tickets to be restricted to particular Train Companies; Southern is a Train Company, but Gatwick Express is merely a route operated by Southern)

Southern does operate the Gatwick Express route, and this is clearly shown as a Southern route on their route map

Furthermore, the Gatwick Express website states " Gatwick Express is operated by Southern"

Gatwick Express was the name of a separate Train Company from 1997 to 2008 and is now dissolved. The route transferred to Southern in 2008, in fact Southern commissioned a video about the handover (in which they claim everything will be the same, yet nothing is the same, except possibly the coffee..).

Southern are required to retain the route branding, because the DfT did a deal with the Airport a long time ago, for a non-stop service with specific branding. But that doesn't affect ticket validity.

Some timetables incorrectly show the operator as "GX" but that is wrong, there is no such operator! The correct timetable is on the Network Rail website, table 186, which correctly shows the non-stop services as operated by "SN".

Still not convinced? Someone sent an FOI request to the DfT, which got a positive response confirming that "..Gatwick Express is operated by Southern. The Department has discussed the status of Gatwick Express with Southern who agree that there is no seperate Gatwick Expres franchise or Train Operating Company..."

Nevertheless, the holder of a 'Southern Only' ticket could occasionally expect to be inspected on board the train, and some ticket inspectors may attempt to claim that Gatwick Express is a separate Train Company and therefore, under NRCoC Condition 10 falsely claim the ticket is "not valid". Arming yourself with a copy of the Southern route map (print it in colour for clarity and explain you're simply on the red Gatwick Express route) usually ceases any demand for payment, but if not, a copy of the other documentation (in particular the FOI request) should suffice. Failing all that, pay for the supplement and request a refund from Customer Relations.

Three people that I know of travelled without any documentation and were sold a "supplement", all were subsequently refunded by Customer Relations (a Google search for Southern admit they were wrong to sell GX "supplement", will find a post by dvboy who confirms that " I have just got off the phone with Southern Customer Services who, after giving them the reference number and explaining briefly my complaint, told me they would refund me not only the supplement but the original return ticket also, totalling £18.70.")

iAMaLONDONER

wealdroam wrote: »

When you move to Edgware, you might consider a bus, or cycle, to Mill Hill Broadway Station.

Direct trains from there to Gatwick with no slow tube rides, and save yourself £100 on a yearly ticket by getting a "Valid only on First Capital Connect services" ticket. That restriction is only applicable outside the zones.

But keep you eyes open iAMaLONDONER, there is a poster who gets on here often with "if you need any London travel help, just ask me" (or something like that) in their signature.

Gatwick isn't in London?

Still as I wouldn't use Mill Hill Broadway unless there was a tube closures/strike as the frequency of trains at MHB to Gatwick is lower than that at London Bridge so possibly longer when combined with the journey to Mill Hill . I don't cycle