Cambridge-Reading annual season ticket

[adc82140]

My sister in law's office has recently moved from central London to Reading. Therefore her commute now needs to be Cambridge-Reading. Her preferred route is a change at Farringdon onto the Elizabeth Line, but we can't find a fare or this on a season ticket basis. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[bspahh]

My sister in law's office has recently moved from central London to Reading. Therefore her commute now needs to be Cambridge-Reading. Her preferred route is a change at Farringdon onto the Elizabeth Line, but we can't find a fare or this on a season ticket basis. Any ideas? Thanks.

https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/brighton-to-cambridge.268922/ is a thread on Cambridge-Brighton season tickets which might give you some pointers.

Would she be travelling every day?

 

[JonathanH]

Therefore her commute now needs to be Cambridge-Reading. Her preferred route is a change at Farringdon onto the Elizabeth Line, but we can't find a fare or this on a season ticket basis. Any ideas?

The anytime day return is £84.40.

Changing at Farringdon is an option but would be considerably slower than taking a fast train from Cambridge to Kings Cross, the underground to Paddington, and a fast train from Paddington to Reading.

There is no financial advantage of using Thameslink / Elizabeth Line connections.

Any through season ticket would need to be priced and issued by a ticket office as indicated in the thread linked above.

 

[Starmill]

You should be able to check the price yourself by typing into brfares.com and selecting the desired length of the season ticket Cambridge - London Zones 1-6 and Reading - London Zones 1-6. Add these two together. Then type London Terminals - London Zones 1-6 and subtract this number from the total.

It's an unintuative process I'm afraid. If you're not sure, the best solution is to visit a ticket office and make the enquiry in person. They can write the prices down for you on paper for each length of the season ticket that you might want. Be prepared for a rather high price.

A further option is Cambridge - London Thameslink season ticket plus Contactless tapping from Farringdon or Kings Cross to Reading. I would imagine this will cost more. Cambridge - London Thameslink (which allows travel to Farringdon) costs £163.30 per week.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Dec 2024 ==

Changing at Farringdon is an option but would be considerably slower than taking a fast train from Cambridge to Kings Cross, the underground to Paddington, and a fast train from Paddington to Reading.

Indeed - worth being aware it's roughly 65 minutes for Farringdon - Reading on the direct services and mostly they're every 30 minutes.

 

[JonathanH]

A further option is Cambridge - London Thameslink season ticket plus Contactless tapping from Farringdon or Kings Cross to Reading. I would imagine this will cost more. Cambridge - London Thameslink (which allows travel to Farringdon) costs £163.30 per week.

I think that would still work out very expensive, given a peak single from Farringdon or Kings Cross to Reading is £32.10, although on the return journey Reading to Farringdon is £15.70 as a peak fare isn't charged into London after 0930. Still, that is £46.80 return.

 

[adc82140]

Thanks for the responses. She intends to travel an average of 3 days per week. Will check out the Brighton thread.

 

[Haywain]

She intends to travel an average of 3 days per week.

In that case it is unlikely that a season ticket will be worth buying.

 

[Starmill]

Thanks for the responses. She intends to travel an average of 3 days per week. Will check out the Brighton thread.

In that case a week's worth of return tickets may be cheaper. These could be bought all together on the first day of travel to save time on queueing. I appreciate that this is a bit annoying though to have to do every week.

 

[crablab]

Changing at Farringdon is an option but would be considerably slower than taking a fast train from Cambridge to Kings Cross, the underground to Paddington, and a fast train from Paddington to Reading.

I tend to do St Pancras to Farringdon, Farringdon to Paddington and then change onto GWR there.

If you know how to optimise the change (which carriage to be in, which lifts to use etc) at each point, I think it's a bit quicker than the subsurface Tube which dumps you at the opposite corner of Paddington than the one you want.

That said, it's reliant on a good Thameslink connection.

 

[miklcct]

I think it's a bit quicker than the subsurface Tube which dumps you at the opposite corner of Paddington than the one you want.

There is a direct footbridge from the subsurface tube station to the mainline platforms.

 

[greatkingrat]

To be honest, she needs to be seriously considering looking for either a new job or a new house! I think the commute will quickly become very wearing, even if only 3 times a week.

 

[redreni]

There is a direct footbridge from the subsurface tube station to the mainline platforms.

Not anywhere near as direct as it used to be.