East Croydon - Battle - Hastings - East Croydon

[themeone]

I will need to travel from East Croydon to Battle, then return to East Croydon from Hastings, all on Sat 10 August.

Could anyone advise the cheapest method of doing this please?

Many thanks.

 

[High Dyke]

Do you know the particular time of travel from East Croydon please?

 

[maniacmartin]

I think you'd be hard pushed to beat a Southern Daysave, at £14 for an adult. however these must be booked 7 days in advance so it's too late for that.

Do you have any season tickets (including on Oyster)

 

[Urban Gateline]

Do you know the particular time of travel from East Croydon please?

Shouldn't make a difference as its a Saturday, but it would be useful to know which route the OP wishes to travel by?

Via London (ECR to LBG then LBG to BAT)
Not via London (ECR to TON then TON to BAT)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I think you'd be hard pushed to beat a Southern Daysave, at £14 for an adult. however these must be booked 7 days in advance so it's too late for that.

Do you have any season tickets (including on Oyster)

I was thinking that too, but Battle is out in Southeastern territory so it depends if the OP is happy to use Southern to Hastings or St Leonards in order to get to Battle (£4.10 for an SDS from St Leonards to Battle) This would make it £18.10

You don't have to book DaySave 7 days in Advances anymore, try it on the Southern site I think their information is just a bit old!

If time is an issue then route via Tonbridge may be best using a CDR from ECR to BAT for £22.30. If the OP has any Railcards then this will be discounted further.

 

[maniacmartin]

Well in that case the Daysave is my number 1 recommendation (plus a Hastings to Battle single)

However there are some other options (which are not as good):

You can get a flexible off-peak day return for 20.90gbp if you split at Redhill (slightly cheaper if you split at Merstham, but less trains call there).
Make sure the Redhill - Hastings or Redhill - Battle ticket is routed via Edenbridge/Polegate rather than the more expensive Any Permitted

The route would be:
Croydon - Redhill - Edenbridge - Tonbridge - Battle - Hastings. (2 hours)
or Croydon - Redhill - Polegate - Hastings - Battle (1h 39)

Note that depending on which route you take, you will need a ticket to either Hastings or to Battle, as you will be breaking your journey in one direction. Or you can go out on one route and back on another.

Forget travelling on Southeastern services, it'll cost a lot and not save much time from Croydon anyway

 

[MKD]

Yep I found out recently on here that Southern's DaySave nowadays does NOT require the 7 days but it's easy to get confused as Southern still have the old dedicated, separate DaySave/Networker site running alongside their regular site/booking engine that now offers the DaySave £14 fare through their regular booking engine system.

The period of time in advance to buy a DaySave now appears to be ONLY about havint time to GET the actual tickets that you've ordered online in your hand to travel with, as you must either (a) collect from a SOUTHERN ticket machine [ie at some stations served by Southern services, and NOT others TOD machines at all!] or (b) get the DaySave ticket posted to you = unknown period of time, often next postal day but sometimes later and their site says upto 5.

Starting at EAST CROYDON will allow you to prebuy a DaySave to pick up at a Southern ticket machine there per their site
http://www.southernrailway.com/tickets-and-fares/ticket-types/daysave/
and follow the big button link at BOTTOM of that page, ie to
http://tickets.southernrailway.com/sn/en/landing/promotion.aspx?id=DaySave_Tickets&isAllowed=False

and it even allows SAME DAY it seems!
[Still a bug that their system wont let me put Milton Keynes Central as starting station, even though has a part-time Southern service!]

Otherwise for those who aren't near a Southern ticket machine and who can't wait for a DaySave ticket to reach you by post then as long as you leave one clear working day you can print your own more expensive All Network Downlander for £2.50 more - ie £16.50 - however THAT lacks the benefit of group travel that DaySave has (ie 2-4 people travel for cost of 2 on DaySave).

 

[Urban Gateline]

or Croydon - Redhill - Polegate - Hastings - Battle (1h 39)

I'd also recommend using a Southern DaySave, it will allow the above quite fast Journey with just the extra ticket from Hastings or St Leonards to Battle.

Forget travelling on Southeastern services, it'll cost a lot and not save much time from Croydon anyway

That's difficult though as Southeastern are the only TOC to operate services to and from Battle, so even just a tiny part of the Journey would have to be done using them

 

[JamesRowden]

Well in that case the Daysave is my number 1 recommendation.

However there are some other options (which are not as good):

You can get a flexible off-peak day return for 20.90gbp if you split at Redhill (slightly cheaper if you split at Merstham, but less trains call there).
Make sure the Redhill - Hastings or Redhill - Battle ticket is routed via Edenbridge/Polegate rather than the more expensive Any Permitted

The route would be:
Croydon - Redhill - Edenbridge - Tonbridge - Battle - Hastings. (2 hours)
or Croydon - Redhill - Polegate - Hastings - Battle (1h 39)

Note that depending on which route you take, you will need a ticket to either Hastings or to Battle, as you will be breaking your journey in one direction. Or you can go out on one route and back on another.

Forget travelling on Southeastern services, it'll cost a lot and not save much time from Croydon anyway

Splitting at Redhill will not allow use of the route via Polegate on a direct train because they do not stop at Redhill.

For the same price you can get:

• East Croydon - Gatwick (£5.90)
• Redhill - Hastings (via Edenbridge/Polegate) (£15)

These combine to allow travel on the Victoria-Eastbourne/Ore services and via Edenbridge and Tonbridge.

If you want an even cheaper option there are some advance tickets between East Croydon and St Leonards Warrior Square or Hastings for £7.50 each way and a Hastings - Battle off-peak return in £4.20 making it £19.20 in total.

 

[maniacmartin]

I meant forget taking a Southeastern service from London Bridge or a suburban London station
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Splitting at Redhill will not allow use of the route via Polegate on a direct train because they do not stop at Redhill.

For the same price you can get:

• East Croydon - Gatwick (£5.90)
• Redhill - Hastings (via Edenbridge/Polegate) (£15)

Very good idea, wholly recommended

If you want an even cheaper option you can get advance tickets between East Croydon and St Leonards Warrior Square or Hastings for £7.50 each way and a Hastings - Battle off-peak return in £4.20 making it £19.20 in total.

Only the OP knows if that's worth it. Personally, I'd spend an extra fiver to not be tied to a specific booked train

 

[themeone]

I hadn't realised the Southern DaySave no longer had the one week in advance restriction so assumed I'd missed it! I think I'll go for that plus the single Hastings - Battle.

Thanks very much for the all suggestions.

 

[MKD]

Well today had an email from Southern about their cut price offers and it says
"DaySave... Book online at least seven days ahead."
with a button that goes to the now integrated Southern booking system...

and it offers a DaySave @ £14 for later today even, let alone tomorrow, or 7 days hence...

Confusing messages or what!

 

[causton]

You guys are failing to notice the 'delivery details' option.

If I try to order one for tomorrow morning, fair enough you select the fare, click book, then click to the Delivery Details page...

...and you get this:



"There are no delivery options available for the combination of tickets and travel dates
*Please note that DaySave tickets can only be booked three days in advance."

So the three or seven days may be a lie, but it will not let me book one day in advance!

 

[MKD]

Yep DELIVERY OPTIONS problems galore.

Offers DaySave from later today onwards but:
a) Only lets the despatch by printing at Southern Ticket Machine option appear if 3+ days hence eg on 9th for buying 12th tickets
b) NEVER seems to offer despatch by first class mail - says 5 postal days, but even putting in dates upto 10 days hence it still refuses to offer me postal option

And the text says about 9:55am+ trains rather than 10:00am+. All VERY confusing. (I haven't tried buying through the OLD site to see if that still permits getting tickets by post.)