Harlow - A much better post

[JamesM]

Chaps,

Can I apologise for posting a ridiculously vague question last week, I have a friend who wanted some advice about getting a cheaper ticket and I've managed to get a much more detailed scenario for you.

She wants to try and reduce the cost of her journeys from Watford to Harlow.

She travels two or three days per week, in rush hour.

She currently takes a train from Watford junction to Euston.

Then she takes a tube from Euston to Tottenham Hale tube station.

Then she takes another train from Tottenham Hale to Harlow.

She pays well over £30 each day she does this.

She needs to be in Harlow at 9:20am and she leaves at 6pm.

Is there a cheaper way of doing this journey, someone suggested the bus last week, but other than that?

Best Wishes,

James

 

[34D]

Chaps,

Can I apologise for posting a ridiculously vague question last week, I have a friend who wanted some advice about getting a cheaper ticket and I've managed to get a much more detailed scenario for you.

She wants to try and reduce the cost of her journeys from Watford to Harlow.

She travels two or three days per week, in rush hour.

She currently takes a train from Watford junction to Euston.

Then she takes a tube from Euston to Tottenham Hale tube station.

Then she takes another train from Tottenham Hale to Harlow.

She pays well over £30 each day she does this.

She needs to be in Harlow at 9:20am and she leaves at 6pm.

Is there a cheaper way of doing this journey, someone suggested the bus last week, but other than that?

Best Wishes,

James

If its the post I think it is, I think you were given a good enough response last time. That green line bus is the cheapest option (and very possibly the quickest - especially if she lives/works nearer to a bus stop).

Apart from that, see if there is a watford-harlow not london ticket, which would involve changing at Willesden, then highbury & Tottenham or Hackney or Stratford.

 

[John @ home]

She wants to try and reduce the cost of her journeys from Watford to Harlow.

She travels two or three days per week, in rush hour. ...

She pays well over £30 each day she does this.

It seems to me that she currently buys a £30.50 Standard Anytime Day Return (SDR) Watford Jn - Harlow Town route + Any Permitted.

A combination of two tickets would appear to be a little cheaper:

• £20.20 Standard Anytime Day Travelcard (ADT) Watford Jn - London Zones 1-6 route Also Available At London Zones 7-9.
• £7.40 Standard Anytime Day Return (SDR) Boundary Zone 6 - Harlow Town route Any Permitted.

Total £27.60

These two tickets can be purchased together from Watford Jn ticket office. Unfortunately the Boundary Zone ticket is not available from ticket machines nor, as far as I know, on the internet.

 

[34D]

Could your friend use Watford Cassiobury (met) or Watford High Street - these stations are in zones 7 and 8 respectively, and hence will reduce the first ticket in John's example still further (though trains will take longer). Zone 1-8 (there is no cheaper 1-7 day ticket) are £19.60 peak, or £11.60 off peak.

Also a weekly 1-7 is £58.00 or a 1-8 euston is £69.80 - so if going 3 times a week there is a miniscule saving (plus obviously free travel on all/most red buses in watford and london - if this would be a benefit).

 

[north]

If its the post I think it is, I think you were given a good enough response last time. That green line bus is the cheapest option (and very possibly the quickest - especially if she lives/works nearer to a bus stop).

Apart from that, see if there is a watford-harlow not london ticket, which would involve changing at Willesden, then highbury & Tottenham or Hackney or Stratford.

I don't know how much a return from Watford Junction to Harlow is on the Greenline 724 but an Interlink Explorer is £8.50 for the day and valid on the 724 between Maple Cross and Harlow. So you won't have to pay more than that.

However if the OP needs to be in Harlow before 0900 the 724 is not so useful from Watford as the first through bus arrives in Harlow at 0925 (there is an earlier one starting from St Albans)

 

[jon0844]

These two tickets can be purchased together from Watford Jn ticket office. Unfortunately the Boundary Zone ticket is not available from ticket machines nor, as far as I know, on the internet.

As you can't buy a BZ6 ticket online or from a machine, the next best option (but slightly more, maybe by 5 or 10p?) would be to get a ticket online from the nearest boundary station, which I think is Enfield Lock.

Although it may cost a teeny bit more, you can order online and on some sites, you could save this ticket as a favourite to speed up ordering every day.

It's a shame about the timings of the bus, as the 724 seems very reliable. Maybe getting to St Albans by train/bus to get the earlier 724 is worth looking into?

If you get to St Albans, there are plenty of buses to Hatfield - and from there, you can get to Herford for buses to Harlow, but you would have to leave at a ridiculous time as the buses to Hertford go all around the houses.

For these types of journey, where you pretty much have to go into London and back out, getting/using a car might be worth considering.

 

[John @ home]

As you can't buy a BZ6 ticket online or from a machine, the next best option (but slightly more, maybe by 5 or 10p?) would be to get a ticket online from the nearest boundary station, which I think is Enfield Lock.

But this would be valid only if the train stopped at the boundary station. Using a "Boundary Zone x" ticket avoids that requirement.

 

[jon0844]

Yes, that is true. I don't know how many trains stop there but suspect it's the services to Hertford East, which would mean changing (Cheshunt or Broxbourne) which could be a PITA.