Group travel advice to London

[U-Bahnfreund]

Hi,
in September, I am on a class trip to England. We will be staying in Canterbury, but we want to visit London on one day. We are 45 people (all 16 or over) and we would like to travel in London with the Tube too (zones 1 and 2). I am currently trying to figure out the cheapest fares there are.

I found:
£23.75 per person (via 9 person Group Save) Off-Peak Return Canterbury West to London Travelcard Zones 1-6, and
£27.80 per person (via 9 person Group Save) Off-Peak Return Canterbury West to London Travelcard Zones 1-6 incl. HS1 services

Are there any cheaper options (we have a tight budget)? Is it possible to buy an off-peak return just to London Travelcard Zones 1-2? Or are there any bigger group saves? Also, if we would get these Group Save tickets, I know the nine people have to stay together all the time, but does that also apply for the Travelcard part? And it will surely be still nine individual tickets coming out the TVM, right?

Thanks for any advice

 

[alistairlees]

Hi,
in September, I am on a class trip to England. We will be staying in Canterbury, but we want to visit London on one day. We are 45 people (all 16 or over) and we would like to travel in London with the Tube too (zones 1 and 2). I am currently trying to figure out the cheapest fares there are.

I found:
£23.75 per person (via 9 person Group Save) Off-Peak Return Canterbury West to London Travelcard Zones 1-6, and
£27.80 per person (via 9 person Group Save) Off-Peak Return Canterbury West to London Travelcard Zones 1-6 incl. HS1 services

Are there any cheaper options (we have a tight budget)? Is it possible to buy an off-peak return just to London Travelcard Zones 1-2? Or are there any bigger group saves? Also, if we would get these Group Save tickets, I know the nine people have to stay together all the time, but does that also apply for the Travelcard part? And it will surely be still nine individual tickets coming out the TVM, right?

Thanks for any advice

Hi

You are best of booking group travel through Southeastern Railway directly. See https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/tickets/ways-to-save/group-travel. They should be able to help you out, get you a bigger saving, and (possibly) reserve the majority of a carriage for you as you are such a large group and if you can be specific about your travel time (and date).

A

 

[U-Bahnfreund]

You are best of booking group travel through Southeastern Railway directly. See https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/tickets/ways-to-save/group-travel. They should be able to help you out, get you a bigger saving, and (possibly) reserve the majority of a carriage for you as you are such a large group and if you can be specific about your travel time (and date).

Okay, thank you. I will take that into consideration. Can anyone answer my other questions though too?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Hi

You are best of booking group travel through Southeastern Railway directly. See https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/tickets/ways-to-save/group-travel. They should be able to help you out, get you a bigger saving, and (possibly) reserve the majority of a carriage for you as you are such a large group and if you can be specific about your travel time (and date).

In my experience GroupSave (which is essentially a Railcard discount without the Railcard) is usually better than the large group discounts.

A minimum of 3 must stay together. Technically the booked group, but I don't think they mark the number booked on the tickets any more. To be sure, book them in 3s; the discount is the same as 9.

 

[DelW]

I think out-boundary travelcards (those that include journeys to and from London) cover zones 1- 6 as a minimum. You could get tickets to London Terminals and separate Travelcards but that would almost certainly cost more as the cheapest one day paper version covers zones 1-4 at £12.70. Oyster or contactless cards would be cheaper if they were suitable.

With Groupsave, I think the number of physical tickets issued depends on the TOC and whose ticket machines they use. In the past I'm fairly sure we used to get one ticket between us, but recently (on ATW) we've been issued individual tickets although we still have to travel together. I'm not sure how that would work on the Underground, but on-train ticket checks are rare, so it would be hard to enforce a rule to travel together.

 

[Hadders]

In my experience outboundary travelcards issued as groupsave have always been issued as separate tickets.