Driving or taking the train to (near) London and tubing it in

adidas

Hello

I know not strictly public transport only but wondered if I could pick your brains.

I live in Cardiff and recently been going on a few day courses to further my learning in London. Due to the nature of my shifts I can't always look around the 12 week mark so can miss out on the cheapest train fares.

To try and minimise costs I've tried to go there and back in the same day.

I've been 3 times over the last 2 months. Once by train and the two times by coach.

Unfortunately the coach has got me there over an hour and half late, meaning I've missed the first half hour of the starting bit of the course. Both times getting to London by coach in the morning it's taken 5 or 6-7hours which is too long IMHO and leaves me tired during the day.

I'm now considering abandoning the coach idea and thinking of ways I could either stay nearby and pay for parking and train/tube it in as I think this would save me a lot of time.

I wish going by train was cheaper but I'm being priced out.

Has anyone any experience or suggest any advice?

ctbfc

I wouldn't advise driving in to central London in rush hour. The M4/A4 are awful.

You could drive to a station closer to London off the M4 - Reading or Maidenhead maybe - and take the train in from there, or drive to a tube station and go from there. Osterley station is on the A4 and has parking.

POPPYOSCAR

This might be worth a try


https://carshare.liftshare.com/




https://liftshare.com/uk/search/cardiff-uk/london-eye-london-se1-united-kingdom?utm_source=carshare&utm_medium=carshare&utm_term=search&utm_campaign=carshare

*~Zephyr~*

In my last but one job I regularly had to commute from Cardiff to London for one day at a time. I used to park in Chiswick and get the tube there, picking up the Hammersmith or District lines, depending on whereabouts in London I was heading.

agrinnall

Whereabouts in London is your course? If we know that it'll make it easier to suggest places that you can park up and get public transport that is as direct as possible.

I would certainly consider your alternative of staying the previous night somewhere that has an easy journey to your course the next day, I'd look at the likes of Premier Inn to the west of London, for example the ones around Heathrow, as you should be able to leave your car there, take a train or tube into London, and pick it up after you've finished studying for the day.

Kiran

I use the Swansea->London Paddington service and use tickety split to get the costs down as low as possible. Its not perfect but is the most reliable (and I never thought I'd day that about trains) way to get there

giraffe69

*~Zephyr~* wrote: »

In my last but one job I regularly had to commute from Cardiff to London for one day at a time. I used to park in Chiswick and get the tube there, picking up the Hammersmith or District lines, depending on whereabouts in London I was heading.

Its a lot tougher these days to find all day parking in the Chiswick area. I second the idea of Osterley station. Its about £6 per day to park. There are always spaces.

The_Groat_Counter

Kiran wrote: »

I use the Swansea->London Paddington service and use tickety split to get the costs down as low as possible. Its not perfect but is the most reliable (and I never thought I'd day that about trains) way to get there

Another site that offers a more seamless search and purchase path for split tickets is trainsplit.com (I've no connection with them). I'd certainly suggest to the OP having a good look to see if split ticketing might make the train a more affordable option, sometimes the savings can be significant (though sometimes not).

One possible parking location coming from the west is the Westfield London shopping centre in Shepherd's Bush, where parking is £8 a day, or £6 a day if you register for "Express parking" where they then send you a tag to stick on your windscreen (this is no extra cost).

However Westfield is further into town than Osterley so more congested roads to navigate first, and like another poster said the M4 is pretty busy to say the least coming into London at peak times (the M4 & A4 being jammed up was probably part of the reason the OP's two coach journeys were running so late.)

Tuesday_Tenor

I don't know the route. Do ALL the Advance tickets really sell out within, say, a week of becoming available? I guess they must; commuter route.

For the day trip:
I think you can knock about £60 off the otherwise eye-watering £220 anytime return, by splitting at Bristol Parkway.
In round terms:
Cardiff-BP off-peak return £14
BP - Paddington Anytime single £99 (no way round that at the time you need to travel)
Paddington-BP off-peak single £43 ; can't travel till 18.45. Later trains are cheaper, but extend an already very long day!

Tuesday_Tenor

Sticking with the trains:

Possibly your shifts prevent this, but

If you can travel up the night before you can get an off-peak return for £74. You should be able to get basic budget accommodation that would still bring the total to less than the original £220.

For some reason the first train you can return from Paddington on with the off-peak return is the 19.15, whereas for the off-peak single it was 18.45. (???)

Tuesday_Tenor

If this is training for work, isn't your employer paying? If they want the cheapest possible, then they need to give you the flexibility re shifts around the day(s) your travelling.

If you're self-employed, can't you dictate when you need time off for certain things ( including booking tickets)?