Gatwick to Paddington

[Goatboy]

Chaps,

I need to travel from Gatwick Airport to Paddington on a Sunday but the bewildering amount of fares and restricted operator availability are a minefield through which to navigate.

Does anyone have the low-down on the available tickets? Am I best off buying a single to London Terminals and then using Oyster PAYG to Paddington?

Thanks!

 

[Romilly]

Depends on what you mean by "best". For cheapness, though, it may be hard to beat a £7.40 super-offpeak day single from Gatwick to St Pancras valid on First Capital Connect only combined with a £2.20 Oyster PAYG single on the Underground.

 

[talldave]

Pay 40p more and for £10 you can get an FCC-only Super Off Peak Travelcard, so you wander all over London for the day as well, or use buses in the event of tube problems.

 

[maniacmartin]

Depends on what you mean by "best". For cheapness, though, it may be hard to beat a £7.40 super-offpeak day single from Gatwick to St Pancras valid on First Capital Connect only combined with a £2.20 Oyster PAYG single on the Underground.

The 7.40 ticket priced by FCC is actually routed NOT UNDERGROUND, so you could for example also use a Southern train to East Croydon and then Oyster from thereon.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It's slightly cheaper to split your journey at East Croydon. Super Off Peak single, FCC Only, from Gatwick to East Croydon is £4.40 (or an any permitted anytime day single is £5.10) then it's £4.50 off-peak single on Oyster from ECR to Paddington.

You will need to leave East Croydon via the ticket barrier line and then re-enter the station with your Oyster, though.

 

[JonathanH]

It's slightly cheaper to split your journey at East Croydon. Super Off Peak single, FCC Only, from Gatwick to East Croydon is £4.40 (or an any permitted anytime day single is £5.10) then it's £4.50 off-peak single on Oyster from ECR to Paddington.

You will need to leave East Croydon via the ticket barrier line and then re-enter the station with your Oyster, though.

Cheaper still (although slower) if you walk from East Croydon to West Croydon then use an Oyster card to travel to Canada Water for Baker Street for Paddington as then the Oyster bit is £3 off-peak.

 

[talldave]

That £3 fare is valid from East Croydon to Paddington according to brfares. As long as you avoid the 06:30-09:30 and 16:00-19:00 non-permitted departure times.

 

[MikeWh]

That £3 fare is valid from East Croydon to Paddington according to brfares. As long as you avoid the 06:30-09:30 and 16:00-19:00 non-permitted departure times.

Sorry, brfares is wrong. The £3 off-peak fare from East Croydon gets you to London Terminals on NR services only.

 

[JonathanH]

Sorry, brfares is wrong. The £3 off-peak fare from East Croydon gets you to London Terminals on NR services only.

Although you could get to Royal Oak (within sight of Paddington) from East Croydon for £2.30 avoiding zone 1 by via Clapham Junction, West Brompton, Earl's Court and Hammersmith (or via Clapham Junction, Shepherd's Bush and White City/Wood Lane). Use of the pink validator at West Brompton is required.

 

[Tetchytyke]

That £3 fare is valid from East Croydon to Paddington according to brfares..

BRFares says it is £4.50: http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=ECR&dest=ZPA

 

[Goatboy]

Some great options there guys, thanks.

What if I wanted to include travel by:

a) Southern

or...

b) Gatwick Express?

 

[MikeWh]

BRFares says it is £4.50: http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=ECR&dest=ZPA

Indeed, but talldave looked up ECR to PAD which is treated as London Terminals even though PAD isn't appropirate for ECR.

 

[JonathanH]

Indeed, but talldave looked up ECR to PAD which is treated as London Terminals even though PAD isn't appropirate for ECR.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-pay...erground&ToId=940GZZLUPAH&PassengerType=Adult

is more definitive on Oyster fares.

Touching out at Paddington (NR station) having not touched elsewhere (presumably by going to Ealing Broadway) is undefined.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-pay...l+Station&ToId=910GPADTON&PassengerType=Adult

 

[Tetchytyke]

Indeed, but talldave looked up ECR to PAD which is treated as London Terminals even though PAD isn't appropirate for ECR.

Ah, that makes more sense.

GOatboy, if you want to use Gatwick Express, and you don't want to get into yet another argument about whether Gatwick Express is a TOC, then it's the "any permitted" single to London Victoria at £19.90 plus £2.20 on the tube.

 

[talldave]

Ah, that makes more sense.

GOatboy, if you want to use Gatwick Express, and you don't want to get into yet another argument about whether Gatwick Express is a TOC, then it's the "any permitted" single to London Victoria at £19.90 plus £2.20 on the tube.

Or using my "buying a ticket to somewhere else" approach, a Gatwick to Acton Main Line single is £21.40 and its Any Permitted status allows you to use the Gatport Airwick Express. Simply bin the ticket when you get to Paddington.

Personally, I would avoid the Gatwick Express. There are plenty of Southern trains that take only 2 or 3 minutes longer which are served by rolling stock that looks like it comes from the current century and is less likely to catch fire or break down than the clapped out rubbish Southern use on the Express. But that's my biased opinion based on the reality of spending over 2 hours stuck in a tunnel on one.

For Southern-only options, I do a Travelcard journey Off Peak for £14.80 by splitting at East Croydon (no need to get off the train).

 

[bb21]

Or using my "buying a ticket to somewhere else" approach, a Gatwick to Acton Main Line single is £21.40 and its Any Permitted status allows you to use the Gatport Airwick Express. Simply bin the ticket when you get to Paddington.

Why would you do that?

An Off-Peak Day Travelcard (£8.90) plus a single ticket from Gatwick to Boundary Zone 6 (£5.10) would more than suffice (total £14.00).

 

[talldave]

I guess because I doubted whether the Travelcard would be accepted by Southern's Gatwick Express staff/barriers?

 

[Goatboy]

The problem with travelcard based options is that I'll have a Two Together railcard which I'm not sure I can use for a travelcard?

 

[John @ home]

The problem with travelcard based options is that I'll have a Two Together railcard which I'm not sure I can use for a travelcard?

You can use a Two Together Railcard with:

• Off-Peak Day Travelcards when bought as part of tickets to London from outside London Zones 1-9 (subject to minimum fares of £5.90), or
• Anytime Day Travelcards when bought as part of tickets to London from outside London Zones 1-9 (subject to minimum fares of £17.00).

http://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk/using-your-railcard/travel-times-tickets/

 

[dzug2]

The problem with travelcard based options is that I'll have a Two Together railcard which I'm not sure I can use for a travelcard?

Is 'I' actually 'we'? You can't use the two together card to buy one railcard

 

[bb21]

The solution for getting around the Two Together restrictions is easy. Buy a Southern Only Travelcard from Epsom instead of an inboundary one. You pay a bit more, but still considerably cheaper overall than paying the rip-off GatEx prices.

 

[island]

The solution for getting around the Two Together restrictions is easy. Buy a Southern Only Travelcard from Epsom instead of an inboundary one. You pay a bit more, but still considerably cheaper overall than paying the rip-off GatEx prices.

Having a "Southern Only" ticket could lead to (unfounded and unreasonable) awkwardness with any onboard staff on the Southern service branded as Gatwick Express and at the Victoria gateline.

 

[Goatboy]

Is 'I' actually 'we'? You can't use the two together card to buy one railcard

Yes, I is we

 

[yorkie]

If you use a Southern Only ticket to travel on the service operated by Southern but branded Gatwick Express, some staff may try to charge an excess fare.

A couple of forum members were charged such a fare, called a "Southern supplement". I helped them write letters to Southern customer services, who more than refunded the passengers.

I'd gladly help out anyone else who ends up in that situation - in the incredibly unlikely event that tickets actually get inspected on it.

In any case, I'm aware of about 12 forum members who used Southern Only tickets and were inspected, but producing a Southern Railways map avoided any excess fare being charged.

 

[island]

Is 'I' actually 'we'? You can't use the two together card to buy one railcard

You also can't use a Two Together Railcard to buy two railcards.