Reading to Grays (Essex)

[Andyh82]

I’m going to be travelling from Reading to Grays in Essex and are trying to work out the cheapest way to do it. The whole journey would be in the off peak except for the Grays to London part which would be in the afternoon peak

An off peak return is £48.40 although isn’t suitable as it doesn’t seem to allow me to leave Grays until 7pm which I’m surprised about as I’d assumed afternoon peak time only applies out if London

The Reading contactless cap is £34.40, so does that mean I use that as far out as Barking or Upminster and then just get a conventional ticket from there. Upminster is just £6.40, with the only rule being not to depart Paddington until after 7pm?

 

[Jimini]

I’m sure the experts will be along soon to assist, but as a starter for ten, have you got a Network Railcard? That’ll get you an off-peak Reading <> Z1-6 travelcard for around £23. I’m only on my phone at the moment but that’ll get you to Upminster and back I think, then all you need is a ticket from there to Grays?

 

[CyrusWuff]

I’m going to be travelling from Reading to Grays in Essex and are trying to work out the cheapest way to do it. The whole journey would be in the off peak except for the Grays to London part which would be in the afternoon peak

An off peak return is £48.40 although isn’t suitable as it doesn’t seem to allow me to leave Grays until 7pm which I’m surprised about as I’d assumed afternoon peak time only applies out if London

It appears that c2c (who set the fare) are treating Reading - Grays as being within the Project Oval area for consistency with journeys beyond Grays. As such, a PM peak restriction applies between 16:00 and 19:00 in both directions where any train departs between those times. However, they haven't priced an Off-Peak Single from Reading, so you're not able to buy a combination of Singles to get a cheaper price.

One option would be to buy a ticket from Reading - Barking (priced by GWR) as that doesn't have a restriction on the Barking - London leg, with another ticket from Barking - Grays. That wouldn't have a PM peak restriction on the Grays - Barking leg.

 

[Andyh82]

I’m sure the experts will be along soon to assist, but as a starter for ten, have you got a Network Railcard?

No as I’m visiting the area from up north

 

[kieron]

I’m sure the experts will be along soon to assist, but as a starter for ten, have you got a Network Railcard? That’ll get you an off-peak Reading <> Z1-6 travelcard for around £23. I’m only on my phone at the moment but that’ll get you to Upminster and back I think, then all you need is a ticket from there to Grays?

If Andyh82 doesn't have (or plan to get) a railcard, splitting things up could reduce the price a bit:

£16.20 Reading–West Drayton off peak day return
£16.60 zone 1–6 off peak travelcard
£6.40 Upminster–Grays off peak day return
£39.40 total

The only restriction on the return is that the Reading ticket isn't valid on faster GWR trains (roughly, any which go beyond Didcot) which leave London between 16:00 and 19:06.

A Rainham–Grays off peak day return would also cost £6.40. A ticket from boundary zone 6 (which would allow travel via Rainham or Upminster) costs £6.60.

There's no need to catch a train which stops in West Drayton with this ticket combination as you would be switching between a travelcard and another ticket each time you go there. The same is true for Upminster (or Rainham), for what that's worth.

 

[MikeWh]

As it happens I did something like this last week while testing out (or trying to) the included zones in a capped fare. The important bit that I did was a peak and an off-peak journey from the boundary to Grays and back, which came to £3.90. I have a feeling that the extension fares might be set up wrong in the Grays area, but that won't get fixed any time soon if true.

If you make a journey from one side of London to the other with both ends outside the zones then the system will charge you the smaller of the cap from one end plus two extension fares from the other end. As long as you touch in at Reading after 0930, I would lay money on that being a Reading off-peak cap plus £3.90. If you do it then make sure you adhere to relevant OSIs at Paddington (no more than 20 minutes NR-EL or 40 minutes EL-NR). I think I would do Reading to Paddington (fast), change to Elizabeth Line to Stratford, then Jubilee line to West Ham and finally c2c to Grays. I'd be very interested to see journey history afterwards if you do it.

 

[Andyh82]

I may have spent too much but I paid £45.20 in the end

Reading to Barking using contactless but also making additional bus and tube journeys in zone 1 rather than going direct. This came to £35.40. Then a standard off peak return from Barking to Grays

On a separate day I travelled from Reading into Paddington on GWR in the off peak and made 4 tube journeys and 4 bus journeys, all in zone 1 which came to £32.60. I was slightly worried i’d have an incomplete journey as the gates were open and the oyster pads were switched off on arrival at Paddington, due to it being a long distance service that I had boarded, but the system seems to have worked it out

 

[MikeWh]

Hi @Andyh82,

Could you copy your journey histories for these two days, either here or in a conversation with me.

At the bare minimum, please confirm what date you were charged £35.40 on contactless. Was it after 7th September?

 

[Andyh82]

Both journeys were last week, Sunday and Monday

Reading to Euston Square £16.80
Bus Journey, £1.75
Victoria (London Underground) to Vauxhall (London Underground) £2.20
Bus Journey, £0.00
Bus Journey, £0.00
Bus Journey, £0.00
Holborn to Piccadilly Circus £0.00
Westminster to Reading £11.85

Reading to Wood Lane £16.90
Bus Journey, £1.75
Bus Journey, £0.00
Putney Bridge to Barking £3.40
Barking to Fenchurch Street (National Rail) £2.40
Liverpool Street (London Underground) to Reading £10.95

 

[MikeWh]

Thanks. So one day capped at £35.40. That is very interesting, and helpful. I'm still working out why the other day wasn't as much.

It's a shame you didn't use contactless to Grays as I think you'd have paid a lot less than the ticket you bought.



Edited cos maths went awry.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Sep 2025 ==

I'm still working out why the other day wasn't as much.

The price of an off-peak Reading to boundary zone 2 single on PAYG is only £11.85. It should be higher (possibly £14.10). Thus you were charged a zone 1-2 cap (£.8.90) plus two boundary zone fares of £11.85, making £32.60. I imagine this will get fixed at some point, so enjoy while you can.