Reading to London ticket for dummies

[Gizmos_ human]

I’ve searched previous posts and also checked the ticket finder but have thoroughly confused myself.

I need to commute from Bramley (Hampshire) to Kings cross every Tuesday and Thursday. Preferably into a KX by 9 and leave at 5pm.

I’ve been paying around £55 for peak returns from Bramley to Paddington but desperately hoping there is something more affordable.

I tried the Lizzi line home from Paddington today and it was standing room only and I used an Oyster card at Paddington even though I had a semi flex off peak ticket so messed that up as I couldn’t tap out at Reading. Rookie error.

Is there anything cheaper please? I have a network rail card.

Would a daily return Bramley to Reading and then tapping in at Reading via contactless be any cheaper? Would I be able to use the fast train to Paddlngton or with one stop around 7:45am?

Many thanks

 

[Watershed]

The good news is that there is a cheaper option: you can buy two Flexi Season tickets for your journey - one from Bramley to Slough, and another from Slough to Paddington. This costs £314.40 per pair of Flexi Seasons. Since each Flexi Season is valid for 8 days' travel within a 28 day period, the cost per journey is £39.30, which is quite a bit less than you are currently paying.

Because Flexi Seasons are a type of season ticket, they fall under condition 14.3 of the National Rail Conditions of Travel:

if you are using a Season Ticket, daily Zonal Ticket, or another area based Ticket such as a concessionary pass, ranger, or rover, in conjunction with another Ticket and the last station at which one Ticket is valid and the first station that the other Ticket is valid are the same, then the train does not need to Call at that station for your combination to be valid.

This means you don't need to take a train that stops at Slough - you just need to travel via Slough. In other words, you can't travel via Basingstoke into Waterloo, but you can take any train via Reading, even if it runs non-stop between Reading and Paddington. Since that's your normal route (and likely the quickest option most of the time) that's not much of an limitation for you.

You can either get Flexi Seasons loaded onto a smartcard, or as an sTicket which is visible within the app where you bought it (it can't be added to Apple/Google Wallet or shown as a PDF). Whichever way you choose, it is important to make sure that you have activated a day's travel on both Flexi Seasons before you start your journey in the morning. Otherwise, you would be regarded as travelling without a valid ticket - an unactivated Flexi Season does not count.

If you choose smartcard, you will need to do this via your phone, since tapping the smartcard reader at Bramley will only activate the Bramley-Slough Flexi Season. You can activate a day's travel for both Flexi Seasons via the National Rail Smartcard Manager app, or via whichever app you used to buy your Flexi Season.

Contactless is an option, but it is quite a lot more expensive than the above. Similarly, you could use your Network Railcard for your return journey in the evening (it's not valid before 10am on weekdays so can't be used on the outward journey). But this would still work out more expensive than the above.

 

[Gizmos_ human]

Many many thanks. Is there a similar work around for 1 day return? Just thinking of times where I’m unlikely to go in 8 times in 28 days.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Many many thanks. Is there a similar work around for 1 day return? Just thinking of times where I’m unlikely to go in 8 times in 28 days.

For a start, you should perhaps check your current ticket. Referring to BRfares.com, which is unofficial but does use the official information, the only anytime Bramley - London fare that I can find of 'around £55' is £57.20 (https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=BMY&dest=PAD&grpd=1072&rte=620&tkt=SDR) but that's routed 'via Basingstoke' so wouldn't be valid to Paddington. If you're using that ticket via Reading, then at some point you may be picked up on it: we would rather not see you asking for our help in our 'Disputes and Prosecutions' forum.

The anytime return via Reading from Bramley to Paddington appears to be £64 (https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=BMY&dest=PAD&grpd=1072&rte=826&tkt=SDR). You could buy a return from Bramley to Slough for £21 (https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=BMY&dest=SLO&rte=1000&tkt=SDR) and then a return from Slough to Paddington for £21.50 (https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=SLO&dest=PAD&tkt=SDR) making a total of £42.50 - but for this your train would need to call at Slough: it's a particular benefit of splits with a season ticket in them that the train doesn't have to call at the point where you change over between tickets. Note that for the 'train calls at' bit, you don't have to get off the train you're on and step back to the next one along - it's just the call that is important

I can imagine that there may also be other splitting points that might work even better, but I haven't explored those. You might also be able to save a few more pounds by careful use of contactless travel for some or all of the Reading - Paddington (and vice versa) leg, although that would mean going out through the barriers with your ticket to/from Bramley, and back in again using your contactless card.