Commuting from Three Bridges to Tottenham Court Road

[Bruce]

Hi all,

As per the title, I'm starting a new job soon and need to commute from Three Bridges to Tottenham Court Road.

Am I right in thinking the cheapest monthly option is going to be a Monthly Travelcard from Three Bridges at a cost of £304/month?

I tried to use nationalrail.co.uk to price up a season ticket to "London [All Stations]" which came to £247 for "Any route" but I'm not sure if this would cover the underground.

Thanks.

 

[Oracle]

Are you going to be there a year plus? Think about whether you can get a loan say to get your Annual, thus saving more money and also getting a Gold Card into the bargain. Getting a Travelcard will enable you to go around and within GL outside work. It's also handy if, as I was, you are required to go around and about for your job.

 

[Bruce]

I've searched around on the nationalrail site and can't seem to find any way of finding out how much that will cost. Am I missing something or does the calculator on their site not allow pricing of travelcards, only season tickets?

 

[yorkie]

There is a formula, I'm sure someone will be along soon to say what it is! But, IIRC it's something like 12 months for the price of 10? But a Gold Card gives significant benefits including cheap First Class upgrades at weekends, discounted travel in the former NSE area etc.

Some people even buy Ryde Pier to Ryde Esplanade seasons (and never use that line) just to get a Gold Card!

 

[commuter]

Check out https://www.southernrailway.trainsfares.co.uk/ to create your own season ticket including travelcard - below is the monthly cost from three bridges to london from the site

Journey Details
THREE BRIDGES to LONDON
class: standard start: 15 September 2008 finish: 14 October 2008

Ticket Route T&C's Cost Select
STANDARD MONTHLY
Three Bridges-
London Terminals This ticket is only valid for travel on First Capital Connect services. view £232.80
STANDARD MONTHLY
Three Bridges-
London St Pancrs This ticket is only valid for routes not involving tube travel. view £232.80
STANDARD MONTHLY
Three Bridges-
Zone R1256 Zones This ticket is only valid for travel on First Capital Connect services. view £245.80
STANDARD MONTHLY
Three Bridges-
London Terminals This ticket allows travel on any permitted route. view £247.70
STANDARD MONTHLY
Three Bridges-
Zone R1256 Zones This ticket allows travel on any permitted route. view £301.50

 

[Oracle]

Buying an Annual also hedges against fare increases. It's worth it if you know you are going to be there a while, and employers often give interest-free loans (taxable) for their purchase. I personally would get the R1256 add-on. It can be very handy!

I am bound to ask if it is possible to buy an Annual to the GL boundary then an Annual Travelcard and if this saves ££?

 

[John @ home]

There is a formula, I'm sure someone will be along soon to say what it is!

The weekly season ticket price is the base for these calculations.
A monthly season ticket costs 3.84 times a weekly ticket.
An annual season ticket costs 40 times a weekly ticket.

Between 1 month 1 day and 10 months 12 days the factors appear in a table on page D3 of the National Fares Manual (NFM). I don't have this for the current NFM 99, and in any case this expries on 6 September, but the table from NFM 98 is on ATOC's web site here:
http://www.atoc.org/retail/_downloads/NFM98/NFM98_Common_D.pdf

For example, a season ticket for 1 month 1 day costs 3.97 times a weekly ticket and a season ticket for 10 months 12 days costs 39.94 times a weekly ticket.

Season tickets are not issued for periods between 10 months 13 days and 11 months 30 days - an annual ticket is sold instead.

If anyone knows how to access this information in helpful tabular form in The Manual (NFM 01) which starts on 7 September, please tell us. It doesn't appear to be included in the Avantix Traveller Fares Information disk.

John

 

[Bruce]

I personally would get the R1256 add-on. It can be very handy!

Excuse my ignorance in these matters, but am I correct in thinking the difference between the £245 and the £301 is that one just goes to overground london terminals whilst the R1256 one allows me to travel via underground?

I need to get to Tottenham Crt Road so underground travel is necessary for me.

I am bound to ask if it is possible to buy an Annual to the GL boundary then an Annual Travelcard and if this saves ££?

What does GL stand for?

 

[paul1609]

Excuse my ignorance in these matters, but am I correct in thinking the difference between the £245 and the £301 is that one just goes to overground london terminals whilst the R1256 one allows me to travel via underground?

I need to get to Tottenham Crt Road so underground travel is necessary for me.



What does GL stand for?

Greater London in the case of the Brighton Line the boundary station of both GL and Z6 is Coulsdon South but it is not cheaper to split tickets there.
It really depends on your working patterns but what might be cheaper is to get the train to City Thameslink using a season to London Terminals or St Pancras Int and catch the 25 or282 bus from there to Tottenham Court Rd using Oyster at £0.90 a single trip you can also walk it in about 20 mins.
I'd think carefully before buying a FCC only season ticket some of the peak hour Thameslink services are routed via crystal palace and herne hill and take forever

 

[Oracle]

GL = Greater London, as formerly it was the GLC, or Greater London Council, created 1st April 1965 when my beloved Middlesex was abolished. And Tottenham Court Road is often abbreviated TCR.

The one advantage of a R1256 Travelcard is that should the Underground be on strike, up the spout, or whatever, you can use a bus to get to work from a terminus. This served me well when I used to commute to Holborn via Waterloo, and if the tube was on strike then I could catch a bus. Failing that it was Shanks's Pony! The disadvantage is that unless tou can thrash your Travelcard to death on inner-GL travel, you're paying arguably over the odds for a quick tube trip. I query as I don't know anything about Oysters whether you can save by a Monthly Oyster tube to TCR (i.e. a Zone 1) as against a R1256 Travelcard, on top of a Terminals Season?