Reading to Bond Street Daily Commute

[Llandudno]

My daughter is about to embark on a six week internship at a company near Bond Street Elizabeth Line Station.

She is planning to travel on the Elizabeth Line from Reading as there is no need to change trains even though it can be quicker changing at Paddington.

The cheapest fare I can find is an anytime day return London to Slough and an anytime day return from Slough to London Underground Zone 1.

She has a 16-25 railcard and the total fare is £28.29 per day.

Are there any season tickets she could buy with her railcard that may work out cheaper?

Thanks!

 

[JonathanH]

Are there any season tickets she could buy with her railcard that may work out cheaper?

Season tickets can't be bought with a railcard.

The cheapest fare I can find is an anytime day return London to Slough and an anytime day return from Slough to London Underground Zone 1.

During July and August this should work out as the best split as there is no minimum fare on the Reading to Slough journey.

The individual fares are:
Reading to Slough £8.55 anytime day return
Slough to Zone U1 London £17.55 anytime day return

Slough is the optimum place to split, particularly as all Elizabeth Line services stop there. No good for GWR peak services of course.

A lot cheaper than the £42.40 it would cost to buy a return from Reading to Zone U1 London with the railcard, which is why there is a reasonably high 'split saving' applied.

 

[Llandudno]

Season tickets can't be bought with a railcard.


During July and August this should work out as the best split as there is no minimum fare on the Reading to Slough journey.

The individual fares are:
Reading to Slough £8.55 anytime day return
Slough to Zone U1 London £17.55 anytime day return

Slough is the optimum place to split, particularly as all Elizabeth Line services stop there. No good for GWR peak services of course.

A lot cheaper than the £42.40 it would cost to buy a return from Reading to Zone U1 London with the railcard, which is why there is a reasonably high 'split saving' applied.

That’s great thanks!

£26.10 is not a bad price for a peak hour return journey!

 

[danm14]

Season tickets can't be bought with a railcard.

On the off-chance the daughter is aged 16 or 17, she can buy a 16-17 Saver (Railcard) which gives a 50% discount not only on single/return tickets but also season tickets.

With a 16-17 Saver, you are permitted to travel using a season ticket bought during the validity period of the 16-17 Saver for up to four months after expiry (even if expiry is due to turning 18) - this is a special rule for the 16-17 Saver.

 

[Llandudno]

Crikey the list of obscure tickets/railcards/validity is bewildering!

She is a university student so too old to take advantage of a 16-17 year old railcard.

Thanks for the info though!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Jun 2024 ==

Season tickets can't be bought with a railcard.


During July and August this should work out as the best split as there is no minimum fare on the Reading to Slough journey.

The individual fares are:
Reading to Slough £8.55 anytime day return
Slough to Zone U1 London £17.55 anytime day return

Slough is the optimum place to split, particularly as all Elizabeth Line services stop there. No good for GWR peak services of course.

A lot cheaper than the £42.40 it would cost to buy a return from Reading to Zone U1 London with the railcard, which is why there is a reasonably high 'split saving' applied.

The Slough to Zone U1 anytime day return presumably is only valid for one journey on the tube/Elizabeth line in each direction and is not a ‘Rover’ ticket for unlimited TfL (tube and bus) journeys within Zone 1?

 

[JonathanH]

The Slough to Zone U1 anytime day return presumably is only valid for one journey on the tube/Elizabeth line in each direction and is not a ‘Rover’ ticket for unlimited TfL (tube and bus) journeys within Zone 1?

Yes, one return. The anytime day travelcard for unlimited journeys in Zones 1-6 from Slough is £19.65, with the railcard, so an extra £2.10.

 

[Llandudno]

Yes, one return. The anytime day travelcard for unlimited journeys in Zones 1-6 from Slough is £19.65, with the railcard, so an extra £2.10.

Wow, that’s good value for all Zones, if she buys this ticket on an app, does she need to collect a paper ticket from a TVM (at Reading?) or can she scan the ticket every time she passes a Network Rail/Tube Station ticket barrier or a London bus scanner?

 

[Watershed]

Wow, that’s good value for all Zones, if she buys this ticket on an app, does she need to collect a paper ticket from a TVM (at Reading?) or can she scan the ticket every time she passes a Network Rail/Tube Station ticket barrier or a London bus scanner?

A Day Travelcard will only be available as a paper ticket to be collected or bought at the station, or for loading onto a smartcard using a smartcard reader, barrier or one of the many apps that support this.

You can't buy Travelcards as e-tickets, as TfL continue to veto this as a fulfilment method. In turn, that's because TfL are still 'trialling' methods of reading e-tickets - years after National Rail operators began installing readers at their barriers...

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Slough is the optimum place to split, particularly as all Elizabeth Line services stop there. No good for GWR peak services of course.

The semi fast 387s to and from Didcot mostly stop at Slough and would be quicker at the cost of a walk across Paddington to or from the low level platforms.

 

[JonathanH]

The semi fast 387s to and from Didcot mostly stop at Slough and would be quicker at the cost of a walk across Paddington to or from the low level platforms.

The 387s don't stop at Slough in the high peak in the direction of the peak flow.

Morning peak GWR departures from Slough towards London Paddington are 0553, 0651, 0931. The 0651 is a 80x unit. Evening peak gap in GWR departures from London Paddington to Slough is 1606 to 1935.

Wow, that’s good value for all Zones, if she buys this ticket on an app, does she need to collect a paper ticket from a TVM (at Reading?) or can she scan the ticket every time she passes a Network Rail/Tube Station ticket barrier or a London bus scanner?

I'd suggest that all of this is done with paper tickets collected from the TVM.

A pattern of only ever scanning e-tickets at Reading and not Slough could potentially lead to interest from revenue protection even though it would be quickly addressed by seeing that there would be evidence of the ticket putchase onwards from Slough as well. The tickets can be bought at the same time and collected together, and as already pointed out the ticket from Slough into London essentially needs to be in paper form anyway.

 

[JBuchananGB]

I would suggest buying the tickets online or on an app the day before, and picking them up at the TVM at Reading on the way home. Then they are in hand for the trip in the morning without worrying about queues for TVMs and such like.

 

[The exile]

You can't buy Travelcards as e-tickets, as TfL continue to veto this as a fulfilment method. In turn, that's because TfL are still 'trialling' methods of reading e-tickets - years after National Rail operators began installing readers at their barriers...

Given the length of time it takes the NR ones to read codes on phones compared with oyster or paper tickets, I’m not surprised they’re reluctant to accept them - and will continue to be until passage through barriers with them can be (and generally is) managed almost without breaking step.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Evening peak gap in GWR departures from London Paddington to Slough is 1606 to 1935.

I wondered what it was like for Slough and Windsor commuters. There's some compensation for the absence of GWR services by virtue of semi fast Elizabeth Line services just stopping at Ealing Broadway and West Drayton.

Example

Journey Planner Results | National Rail

Plan your journey and buy train tickets for all rail links with our national Journey Planner. Check departure times and prices.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

 

[JonathanH]

I wondered what it was like for Slough and Windsor commuters. There's some compensation for the absence of GWR services by virtue of semi fast Elizabeth Line services just stopping at Ealing Broadway and West Drayton.

Yes, the residual GWR peak service at Slough was switched to the Elizabeth Line. These trains effectively replaced the GWR trains that previously ran without station calls between Paddington and Slough in the peaks.

 

[mangyiscute]

Given the length of time it takes the NR ones to read codes on phones compared with oyster or paper tickets, I’m not surprised they’re reluctant to accept them - and will continue to be until passage through barriers with them can be (and generally is) managed almost without breaking step.

Once you get very used to them, you can go through just as fast as paper tickets - on my phone, google wallet automatically raises to max brightness making it easier to read, and i know i just have to put my phone so the end of the phone touches the barrier and it'll scan the barcode every time, opening very quickly.

However, this takes quite a bit of practice, and for normal people who don't take trains that often it can take a while to scan (although the same can be said about other methods - I helped someone recently who was trying to put their paper ticket into the bit that the ticket comes out of!)

 

[Haywain]

although the same can be said about other methods - I helped someone recently who was trying to put their paper ticket into the bit that the ticket comes out of!

Indeed, it's not as if paper tickets are foolproof when it comes to using barriers. I too seem to help people with paper tickets on a fairly regular basis - putting the ticket through with the mag stripe facing upwards, trying to show the ticket to the scanner or trying to tap in with it. And then there's the people trying to use reservation coupons or collection receipts instead of tickets.

 

[mangyiscute]

And the other issue that often happens with paper tickets, especially with travelcards since they are used all day, is the ticket getting demagnetised and then it doesn't work anyway - although in my experience they seem to have gotten better, but that may just be me ensuring i don't leave my magnetic earbuds case on top of my ticket (even tho they're still in the same pocket)

 

[Hadders]

I don't think we'll ever see Travelcards issued as e-tickets. The problem is the barcode can be distributed multiple times and as it's a ticket that has unlimited validity within the zones that's going to be a huge revenue protection issue.

I suppose the barcode could be issued within an app like a railcard but that bring us back to m-tickets which is an awful format.

Long term I suspect Travelcards will largely be smartcard only or contactless with daily caps.

 

[furlong]

Further savings are possible if you buy the tickets through the Uber app, taking advantage of their current promotion that gives you 10% credit for all your rail ticket purchases until the end of August.

 

[redreni]

Yes, the residual GWR peak service at Slough was switched to the Elizabeth Line. These trains effectively replaced the GWR trains that previously ran without station calls between Paddington and Slough in the peaks.

If you're coming from central London I find it's better than the arrangements prior to Elizabeth Line through running - the slower Paddington to Slough journey time with the extra calls at Ealing Broadway and West Drayton being compensated for by not having to change at Paddington.