Optimising commute post-railcard

[J4ck100]

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen of railukforums.co.uk.

I live in RH14, approximately half way between Witley (surrey) and Billingshurst(west sussex) rail stations and I work in Victoria on Mondays and Thursdays, needing to be in the office at 9am and leaving at 6pm.

I have been enjoying the benefits of my 26-30 railcard, however unfortunately it has now expired and I am not eligibile for another one. Therefore the cost of my commute has risen dramatically.

Can anyone advise on any suggested optimisations to bring down the cost of this commute?

I can either drive to Witley, park, change at clapham junction and get to victoria that way, or go direct from Billingshurst to Victoria, depending on the cost/most effective. If there is an alternative route incorporating more driving for a significant fare discount then I would also be open to that.

Thank you very much in advance.
Jack

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@J4ck100. Welcome to the forum. So, the undiscounted fare if travelling from Billingshurst to/from London Terminals is something like £56.00 per day when using an Anytime Day Return. Marginal £2.20 saving by buying 2 x Anytime Day Singles and then using a Network railcard discounted ticket on the journey on the way home. An 8 return journeys in 28 days flexi season is £392.00, so £49.00 per day if using that. Maybe further savings to be had by splitting, en route, at some intermediate station like Gatwick Airport? Think most Billingshurst to Victoria trains do call there, so you'd likely not have to change trains.

 

[Watershed]

It obviously depends how far you'd be willing to drive, but if you would be prepared to go as far as somewhere like Tadworth then you're within Zone 6 and that makes the fare considerably cheaper straight away - £8.50 peak each way with PAYG = £17 return. It looks like on-street parking is unrestricted once you are more than a ~5 minute walk from the station (see this map).

If you do want to travel from somewhere closer to reduce the amount of driving, I would suggest having a look at what TrainSplit comes up with. For Billingshurst it suggests splitting at Gatwick and East Croydon, which even without a Railcard reduces the daily fare to £48.50. For Witley it suggests splitting at Guildford which reduces the fare to £42.20.

A Network Railcard doesn't offer much benefit when splitting, since the individual fares tend to be £13 or less and therefore can't be discounted (as that is the weekday minimum fare).

You would get a larger saving using a Gold Card (Billingshurt reduces to £44.95, Witley to £35.85) but this would require you to buy an eligible annual season. The cheapest such season is Hatton to Lapworth at a cost of £212, so you are still making a saving over the course of a year with 2 days per week of commuting, but it is a material upfront cost.

If you can vary the days you travel so that a weekly season can cover 4 days (e.g. go in Wed/Fri one week, Mon/Tue the next) then this would be cheaper, and you can similarly do splits in some cases. There isn't an easy online tool to look up the options but it's worthwhile looking at Gatwick, Guildford, East Croydon etc. as they would be the obvious candidates to me.

As @Mcr Warrior says, another option if the days of the week are fixed would be to buy Flexi Seasons. You can also split when using Flexi Seasons. Flexi Seasons Billingshurst-Gatwick-East Croydon plus an East Croydon-Victoria return (Flexi Seasons aren't available for journeys within Zones 1-6) would work out at £46.58 per journey, assuming 2 days of travel per week for a 4 week period.

When splitting with a season ticket (whether two seasons or a season + a return) you don't need to stop at the station where you are changing tickets, unlike when purely combining return tickets. However all Billingshurst-Victoria trains stop at Gatwick and East Croydon anyway so it's not an issue in this case.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Fares look to be generally cheaper if travelling in from Witley, but as that's situated on an SWR-served line running into London Waterloo, you'd probably need to change trains at Clapham Junction in order to then get over to London Victoria. Always good fun (i.e. busy!) during morning and afternoon peak hours!

 

[Hadders]

It obviously depends how far you'd be willing to drive, but if you would be prepared to go as far as somewhere like Tadworth then you're within Zone 6 and that makes the fare considerably cheaper straight away - £8.50 peak each way with PAYG = £17 return. It looks like on-street parking is unrestricted once you are more than a ~5 minute walk from the station (see this map).

KeyGo could come in to play here.

Depending on your appetite for an early start, if you can touch in before 06:30 you get charged the Off Peak PAYG rate. Tadworth is in the KeyGo area so you could add a Gold Card to a KeyGo for discounted travel. This would make the charges:

Tadworth to Victoria:
Touch in before 06:30 or after 09:30 £3.45 (discounted off peak PAYG fare)
Touch in between 06:30 and 09:30 £8.50 (undiscounted peak PAYG fare)

Victoria to Tadworth:
Touch in before 16:00 or after 19:00 £3.45 (Gold Card discounted off peak PAYG fare)
Touch in between 16:00 and 19:00 £6.25 (Gold Card discounted Anytime Day Single)

You'd have to do the maths to see whether a £212 upfront cost for a Hatton to Lapworth Gold Card is worth it.

 

[Swedenorer]

Where has your origin station been up to now? I only ask because say you live in Wisborough Green you'd have to factor on a 54 mile round trip to Tadworth in the hope of finding somewhere to park. Plus you'd have to change at East Croydon.

This really is a higher maths job it seems to me.

If you did what Hadders suggests I make it £312 for the first four weeks peak add say £40 petrol. After that it would be about £100 a week inc petrol. But two hours driving a day at the quickest i'd say having experienced the area. I don't see there being any cheaper way after the initial investment.

Compared with this the flexi-season from Billingshurst to London Terminals is £392 but you get a lot more flexibility at least to Horsham and even more to Three Bridges which may be useful in disruption. Say the trip to Tadworth was costing £40 in petrol it might be more economical overall to pay the £9.12 a day to park at Horsham though using the Bilingshurst flexi - it's cheaper!

Whichever way you look at at it seems to come out at around £400 for every four weeks if your days are fixed.

If you had the flexibility to do what Watershed thought of with say two Weds to Tues weekly seasons it would come in at less than £300.

Just a final thought but you don't mention any hours but if they were really really flexible could you make something work around a Southern Day Save @ £26?

At my age I'd bite the bullet and pay for the best train service frequency with the least driving and changing but you are clearly half my years at least so the calculation will be different.

 

[walkingsophie]

Witley to Sutton not via London Flexi Season is valid via Clapham Junction, and costs £203.80 for eight days of travel within 28 days.
At Clapham Junction, it is cheapest to exit the station with the season ticket then tap in with contactless.

 

[Swedenorer]

That's the answer then - if you don't want to change and one train an hour stopping at Clapham Junction and nothing between 06.43 and 8.15 suits you.

I can't see it being any cheaper - and I'd never have thought of it.

Mind you I'd pay the extra £100 not to have to go in and out at Clapham Junction where it is easy to lose ten minutes whereas 12- 10 - 8 is the work of a couple if you know where to sit. You'd only be £50 down on the deal.

 

[J4ck100]

Witley to Sutton not via London Flexi Season is valid via Clapham Junction, and costs £203.80 for eight days of travel within 28 days.
At Clapham Junction, it is cheapest to exit the station with the season ticket then tap in with contactless.

Thank you, so that would be 203.80 plus £3.90 contactless in then £3.20 contactless back per day travelled?

 

[JBuchananGB]

To address the timing using the suggested route via Clapham Junction. Looks like the 07.10 departure from Witley, change at Guildford (dep. 07.34) arrive CLJ 08.28, then dep. there at 08.38 arrive Victoria 08.45.
Much better in reverse. Depart Victoria 18.05, arrive CLJ 18.11. Dep there 18.22 arrive Witley 19.12. Same again one hour later.

 

[walkingsophie]

Thank you, so that would be 203.80 plus £3.90 contactless in then £3.20 contactless back per day travelled?

Yes, indeed.

 

[marshlinker]

Consider, Billingshurst to Fleet Anytime Day Return Route "Not Via London" £29.00 stopping short at Clapham Junction plus Clapham Junction to London Terminals Anytime Return £8.40. I believe all direct trains from Billingshurst to Victoria stop at Clapham Junction, you'd have to avoid changing to Gatwick Express trains at Gatwick.

 

[Swedenorer]

Yes all Mid Sussex trains stop at Clapham Junction.