London - Reading

[lyesbkz]

Hi all,

I'm travelling to Sheffield from London for a weekend, in 3 weeks' time, and it cost me a total of £18 on two First Advance tickets. I'm leaving on the Saturday and returning on the Monday.

Now the problem is I need to go to Reading on Saturday night and return early to London on Monday morning. I have a YPR, however there are no advance tickets between Paddington - Reading at all, and there doesn't seem to be an Open Return (not a same Day Return) option either!

Is there a way I can complete this journey, at all, without having to buy an Off Peak Single and an Anytime Single totalling around £23 (which is more than I paid to get to London in the first place!) ?

If it costs railcard holders this much to travel it makes me wonder how they get away with charging standard fares so highly for a 25 minute journey!

Thanks

 

[island]

There are no anytime returns between London and Reading, if memory serves. There are off-peak returns, but that might not be valid on the Monday morning trip.

 

[ainsworth74]

There is an off-peak return costing £15.20, but it's only valid from Reading after 09:30.

 

[Paul Kelly]

To be fair, that combination is actually slightly cheaper than an Anytime Day Return - so if an Anytime Return were to be available it wouldn't save you any money. It's the early morning journey into London that's obviously the killer here (and perhaps also the fact that the journey *is* only 25 minutes is also reflected in the price)...

 

[lyesbkz]

Is there any sort of bus or alternative (cheaper) mode of transport between Reading and London?

 

[W-on-Sea]

National Express do run coaches from "Reading (Railair)" - which I presume - but I am not certain - refers to a stop by the station to Victoria Coach Station in London. However, the journey takes over two-and-a-half hours, and the tickets are not necessarily much cheaper than the train ones.

If you really wanted to cut costs a bit (and not worry too much about taking longer), you could get the train from Reading to Slough, and then transfer to a TfL bus (route 81) to Hounslow West, and then get the Underground from there. I don't know what fares are available between Reading & Slough, but that SHOULD work out substantially cheaper. Hardly a desirable way to get to London, though....

 

[paulravuslante]

National Express do run coaches from "Reading (Railair)" - which I presume - but I am not certain - refers to a stop by the station to Victoria Coach Station in London. However, the journey takes over two-and-a-half hours, and the tickets are not necessarily much cheaper than the train ones.

If you really wanted to cut costs a bit (and not worry too much about taking longer), you could get the train from Reading to Slough, and then transfer to a TfL bus (route 81) to Hounslow West, and then get the Underground from there. I don't know what fares are available between Reading & Slough, but that SHOULD work out substantially cheaper. Hardly a desirable way to get to London, though....

Anything involving Reading Railair means you'll be going via Heathrow Airport. National Express coaches don't stop in Reading town centre at all, instead they all serve a coachway stop outside Calcot Sainsbury's (to the west of Reading, near M4 junction 12). If you can easily get there then the quickest journey is around an hour from Victoria Coach Station, but the longest is up to 3 hours (Monday morning peak time travel).

 

[Arriva158]

Ello mate, there may not be advances on paddington - reading but if you book paddington - oxford on thetrainline.com there seem to be many advances from £4 onwards for the next day!
HTH
Chris on the hunt for more 158 miles!

 

[Paul Kelly]

But you can't stop short on an advance ticket so this is no use for getting to Reading.

 

[island]

And even if it were allowed, you would get it on FGW's site (or that of any other TOC) and not trainline, which charges a booking fee and a credit card fee.

 

[MCR247]

And even if it were allowed, you would get it on FGW's site (or that of any other TOC) and not trainline, which charges a booking fee and a credit card fee.

Actually you can only get those tickets on the training

 

[jkdd77]

If travelling on the direct line from Paddington, I think your cheapest option would be a Thames Branches Day Ranger at £10.20 for the Saturday, and an Anytime Day Single at £12.85 for the return journey on Monday.

You *might*, in practice, get away with 'finishing short' on an advance ticket to Oxford, but I couldn't possibly recommend, advise or condone it, because you'd be deliberately breaking the conditions of the ticket, and opening yourself up to a charge of intentional fare evasion if stopped at the Reading barriers.

 

[island]

Actually you can only get those tickets on the training

Err what? TTL and FGW sell the same tickets (FGW even uses the TTL engine).

 

[dzug2]

Err what? TTL and FGW sell the same tickets (FGW even uses the TTL engine).

I think it was some sort of obscure joke???

 

[MCR247]

Sorry, my iPhone corrected it, I meant trainline

 

[island]

I assumed you did. I'm not aware of any ticket available on the Trainline that's not available on a TOC website. Can you enlighten me?

 

[MCR247]

There is, but not relevant to this thread. For example Mobitix for VT

 

[Flamingo]

That's the fares, but £23 for two journeys compare favourably with the cost and time involved in driving+parking+congestion charge for the same journey, IMHO.

Don't forget, on the Saturday, Weekend First upgrade to First Class is available for £5 on-board.

On the Monday, if you want to get a seat, head right down to the country end of the platform, seats will usually be available in coaches A and B

 

[Barn]

Is there any sort of bus or alternative (cheaper) mode of transport between Reading and London?

How much cheaper (if at all) is the line from Waterloo via Wokingham?

 

[island]

Reading to London route STAINES is cheaper for singles and more expensive for returns than route ANY PERMITTED. Route STAINES is £14.30 for an anytime day single. Route ANY PERMITTED is £19.50 for an anytime day single and £15.90 for an offpeak day single (arrive at or after 1000).

 

[route:oxford]

It's all too much of a faff really to do anything other than bite the bullet and pay the fare.

The only real alternative is to book an advance fare on the Tube (or train) to Oxford, probably £5(ish) each way, then get a Thames Travel Period return from Oxford to Reading at £6(ish). You're talking of a journey time of up to 4 hours though and TT through services don't go on very late at night.

 

[martinsh]

The only real alternative is to book an advance fare on the Tube (or train) to Oxford, probably £5(ish) each way,

You'd better explain to the OP (from Sheffield) that the Oxford Tube is a bus, otherwise ... !!!:roll:

 

[Paul Kelly]

TT through services don't go on very late at night.

They do at the weekend: Friday and Saturday nights the last through bus from Oxford to Reading isn't until 1:20am (unless it's changed recently).