Reading to London best single fare

[WesternLancer]

Hi all - apols as this should be simple enough for me to work out myself but I'm confused. I don't travel this route usually if at all.

I need to travel Reading to London Kings Cross today one way only c 18.00 hours
I have a Network Card

I can't use SWR as the journey time is too long, so expect to use GWR service to Paddington for speed

It suggests on BR fares there is a contactless or oyster fare that might be cheaper than the single fare with Network Card discount to Paddington (but I need to go onwards to Kings Cross)

What would people recommend as the cheapest option?

Thanks

 

[jfollows]

So “best” doesn’t mean cheapest because you’re excluding the SWR fare.

£16.80 is the contactless fare I think.

Purchase flexible walk-up fares for any British train journey

Purchase flexible single/return tickets & Travelcards – in 3 clicks, at face value with no fees. Every British rail fare shown, railcard discounts included.

www.brfares.com

I don’t see a cheaper alternative with Network Card, though. Someone else will probably have a better idea.

SWR is £14.05 with Network Card

All these fares to zone U1, ie King’s Cross.

 

[signed]

Contactless is cheaper, £16.80 vs £22.55 for a Off-Peak day single to LU-Z1

 

[Haywain]

Contactless is cheaper, £16.80 vs £22.55 for a Off-Peak day single to LU-Z1

£20.55, not £22.55.

 

[JonathanH]

A single from Reading to Eynsford offers the best fare for Reading to Kings Cross travelling this afternoon with a railcard, because of the single fare pricing basis. £10.70.

 

[jfollows]

A single from Reading to Eynsford offers the best fare for Reading to Kings Cross travelling this afternoon with a railcard, because of the single fare pricing basis. £10.70.

I was thinking “where on earth is Eynsford” but, of course, it’s a +ANY PERMITTED ticket so leaving the underground at King’s Cross is fine.

 

[WesternLancer]

£20.55, not £22.55.

No network railcard discount on that?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jul 2025 ==

A single from Reading to Eynsford offers the best fare for Reading to Kings Cross travelling this afternoon with a railcard, because of the single fare pricing basis. £10.70.

Aha. This sounds like great info. Thanks. Out of interest I’ll look up where Eynsford is.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jul 2025 ==

Eynsfird is miles away!

 

[signed]

No network railcard discount on that?

With Network Railcard

 

[WesternLancer]

A single from Reading to Eynsford offers the best fare for Reading to Kings Cross travelling this afternoon with a railcard, because of the single fare pricing basis. £10.70.

Just bought this. Many thanks for the info.

 

[Jimini]

Does that, ahem, workaround also work for journeys from Reading to London Bridge and / or Farringdon? TIA.

 

[jfollows]

See https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/travelling-in-london/

If your journey involves travelling via or across London to connect with another National Rail service, your ticket should include the cost of transfer on London Underground, DLR, Thameslink or Elizabeth line services between the relevant stations.

Your ticket will be marked with a cross ( + ) sign.

Tickets displaying this sign are valid for travel between any 2 stations shown in the list below, appropriate to the route of the through journey being made.

You are allowed to break your transfer journey once and leave the Underground, Elizabeth line or DLR at any intermediate station. For example, if you are travelling on the Underground between Victoria and Euston, you can exit at Oxford Circus. However, if you subsequently wish to continue your journey by Underground you will have to purchase another ticket or use pay as you go to travel to Euston.

 

[WesternLancer]

See https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/travelling-in-london/

Helpful to see.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jul 2025 ==

The itinerary the booking office gave me was tube paddington to elephant and castle then onwards on Sevenoaks train.

I would therefore think going to London Bridge would seem logical to any curious barrier line staff or inspectors anyway.

 

[redreni]

Helpful to see.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jul 2025 ==

The itinerary the booking office gave me was tube paddington to elephant and castle then onwards on Sevenoaks train.

I would therefore think going to London Bridge would seem logical to any curious barrier line staff or inspectors anyway.

London Bridge is a natural interchange station if going from Reading to Eynsford, as is Farringdon (for Thameslink).

Reasonable routes shouldn't enter into it, though, because you should be allowed to exit at any zone 1 station (though they may warn you that you can't resume your cross-London transfer using the same ticket).

See FOI-0231-2223 (book 8, page 24):

Although tickets are not available at intermediate stations, customers
holding an NR ticket with Cross London availability are permitted to
break their journey at;

•any LU station in Zone 1
•any LU station on a reasonable route between interchange points
•any station on a NR route where a break of journey would be
permitted under NR rules
Providing the ticket has not already been used to exit at another LU
station.
The customer must be advised that if they subsequently wish to
continue the journey on LU, they will need to pay an additional fare.

So Kings Cross is also fine as it's in zone 1. Whether staff know this is another question...

 

[JonathanH]

So Kings Cross is also fine as it's in zone 1. Whether staff know this is another question...

It will just work, because of the Maltese Cross encoding.

 

[WesternLancer]

London Bridge is a natural interchange station if going from Reading to Eynsford, as is Farringdon (for Thameslink).

Reasonable routes shouldn't enter into it, though, because you should be allowed to exit at any zone 1 station (though they may warn you that you can't resume your cross-London transfer using the same ticket).

See FOI-0231-2223 (book 8, page 24):

So Kings Cross is also fine as it's in zone 1. Whether staff know this is another question...

Points all well
Made!

 

[redreni]

Points all well
Made!

It occurred to me after posting that Kings Cross St Pancras underground station is also a perfectly reasonable place to end this cross-London transfer, on the same basis as Farringdon, i.e. you could continue towards Eynsford on Thameslink from St Pancras. So the OP shouldn't have problems there either, even if staff don't know the rules on ending a cross-London transfer short in zone 1.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jul 2025 ==

It will just work, because of the Maltese Cross encoding.

Good point!

 

[WesternLancer]

It occurred to me after posting that Kings Cross St Pancras underground station is also a perfectly reasonable place to end this cross-London transfer, on the same basis as Farringdon, i.e. you could continue towards Eynsford on Thameslink from St Pancras. So the OP shouldn't have problems there either, even if staff don't know the rules on ending a cross-London transfer short in zone 1.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 19 Jul 2025 ==


Good point!

Yes. All smooth and of course the Eynsford ticket just worked the tube barriers at King’s Cross as predicted.

Many thanks for this helpful advice all.

 

[Jimini]

Is this one of those threads that should be, ahem, brushed under the forum carpet?

 

[JonathanH]

Is this one of those threads that should be, ahem, brushed under the forum carpet?

No, not really. It is just the reality of introducing single leg pricing under Project Oval.

I note that the off-peak day single between Reading and Laindon, which is also a Project Oval flow, is currently withdrawn, with the only single fare being the anytime day single.

For a while, the Reading to Eynsford flow, having initially been set at the half-rate, was restored to the traditional pricing, the same as the off-peak day return. I'd imagine its use (and that of fares from Reading to stations between Denham and Beaconsfield which are the same) is being monitored regardless of what is being posted here.

 

[WesternLancer]

No, not really. It is just the reality of introducing single leg pricing under Project Oval.

I note that the off-peak day single between Reading and Laindon, which is also a Project Oval flow, is currently withdrawn, with the only single fare being the anytime day single.

For a while, the Reading to Eynsford flow, having initially been set at the half-rate, was restored to the traditional pricing, the same as the off-peak day return. I'd imagine its use (and that of fares from Reading to stations between Denham and Beaconsfield which are the same) is being monitored regardless of what is being posted here.

This is interesting to read.

 

[fandroid]

Is there an equivalent saving for Reading to London journeys when travelling in the morning peak?

 

[CyrusWuff]

No, not really. It is just the reality of introducing single leg pricing under Project Oval.

I note that the off-peak day single between Reading and Laindon, which is also a Project Oval flow, is currently withdrawn, with the only single fare being the anytime day single..

c2c's pricing is all over the place. There absolutely should be an Off-Peak Day Single for that flow, priced at £24.20 in line with the CPAY price. Specifically it should be ticket type DOS with restriction code PY, given an AM and PM peak applies.

 

[lnerazuma]

Interestingly the Eynsford flow doesn't applied to other Reading group station, are there any stations that work for Reading West and Reading Green Park?

 

[Watershed]

Interestingly the Eynsford flow doesn't applied to other Reading group station, are there any stations that work for Reading West and Reading Green Park?

Not that I'm aware of. It's entirely deliberate that the single leg pricing structure only applies to journeys for which contactless PAYG is available.

 

[furlong]

It will just work, because of the Maltese Cross encoding.

Your experience may vary. Firstly I've been finding that fares in this category can't be purchased from many places. (Probably having to be enabled first on each system which is taking time?) I also found they don't always open the barriers that they should (both Kings Cross and Paddington have failed to open sometimes), and my current theory is it depends on which machine it was collected from. (Presumably some don't know how to encode the cross-London element correctly yet?)

Is there an equivalent saving for Reading to London journeys when travelling in the morning peak?

Just travel early. Use contactless, tapping in at Reading by 6.29am to travel Off-Peak.

 

[redreni]

No, not really. It is just the reality of introducing single leg pricing under Project Oval.

I note that the off-peak day single between Reading and Laindon, which is also a Project Oval flow, is currently withdrawn, with the only single fare being the anytime day single.

For a while, the Reading to Eynsford flow, having initially been set at the half-rate, was restored to the traditional pricing, the same as the off-peak day return. I'd imagine its use (and that of fares from Reading to stations between Denham and Beaconsfield which are the same) is being monitored regardless of what is being posted here.

Interestingly I just tried to pick up a Reading to Eynsford ticket for tomorrow from Oxford ticket office. The GWR TVMs hide the off-peak single fare. It only shows the Anytime, and if you push the "select cheapest ticket" button at the bottom of the screen, it selects the Anytime.

When I asked the chap on the customer service desk he looked the journey up on his iPad and told me the off-peak single doesn't exist. When I queried the journey on National Rail and showed him the off-peak fare he said it would be "against the law" for GWR to sell it. When I asked him if it could possibly be that GWR just don't like that fare so pretend it doesn't exist, he became quite agitated, told me how many years he'd worked for GWR, said I was being accusatory and repeated that it would be "against the law" to sell that ticket.

 

[Dirty_Mac]

Against what law exactly. How would it be illegal to sell a ticket

 

[redreni]

Against what law exactly. How would it be illegal to sell a ticket

The chap didn't say.

 

[JonathanH]

Having just quickly played with the TVM at Slough, it seems that the off-peak single fares have been removed, but they still seem to be on sale online. The TVM would happily sell one in the Reading direction.

The off-peak day single fare from Reading to Hemel Hempstead was also unavailable.

 

[redreni]

Having just quickly played with the TVM at Slough, it seems that the off-peak single fares have been removed, but they still seem to be on sale online. The TVM would happily sell one in the Reading direction.

The off-peak day single fare from Reading to Hemel Hempstead was also unavailable.

Ah, okay, I hadn't realised it was a wider issue.

I must say I think TVMs hiding fares is a whole topic in itself but I won't derail this thread any further.