Reading to Paddington

[baz2277]

Hello

Just investigating ticket prices from Reading to Paddington for a journey in spring. Am I right in thinking that GWR et al don't show the Elizabeth Line for ticketing sales?

I'm wondering if Eliz line is the cheapest return option for my group, no need to pre-book tickets either if the rate is set - they could just tap in and out. This would be for a Sunday afternoon into London and Monday morning back out to Reading. Also is there any nearby overnight park & ride option? They are driving up from Wales as its over £100 each with GWR from Cardiff. I suggested this as a cheaper halfway house option.

Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Watershed]

The fares are broadly speaking the same whether you use Elizabeth line or GWR services. Either way there are no Advance tickets so the price is the same regardless of how far in advance you book.

The Elizabeth line is a TfL concession but it's also a National Rail service, so there is no difference ticketing wise between it and GWR.
They often just won't show up by default because they get overtaken by faster GWR services. "Any Permitted" tickets are entirely valid on either operator, as well as SWR into Waterloo (though that's much slower)

Unless you have a lot of luggage or other requirements which make it a pain to change at Paddington, I'd suggest taking a GWR service and changing there. It's a very easy change - sit towards the front of the train, exit the barriers, turn right and then the subterranean Elizabeth line platforms are down a set of escalators.

And yes, contactless PAYG can be used on either GWR or Elizabeth line (but not SWR) from Reading. That being said, if there's a group of 3+ people or any children involved, then paper/eTickets may work out cheaper as you can get GroupSave or child discounts. With contactless you always just pay the full adult fare.

 

[baz2277]

Hello thanks for this - I think it looked like £14 each way pp on the Eliz and with the group save (which I didn't know about so thanks!) it's £98.40 for 4 people - so £24.60ea. I was just thniking of flexibility on timings for them.

I've potentially picked a return train but does the return time matter? It's an off peak return so I didn't think it did? Also does the actual start train from Reading to Paddington have to be the one selected if its an off peak return? or can they take any off peak train each way?


Thanks again for your advice!

 

[Watershed]

As mentioned, there are no Advance tickets on this route, only walk-up (Anytime and Off-Peak) tickets. Therefore you're not tied to the train you select when booking - you can take any train that meets the ticket's restrictions.

The ticket would be "Any Permitted" so there are no route or operator restrictions. So it's purely about the time restrictions with an off-peak ticket. A Reading to London Off-Peak Day Return is valid to depart Reading from 09:31 onwards. On the way back from Paddington it's not valid on most of the GWR departures between 16:00 and 19:06, but you can still take Elizabeth line trains. The details are shown at nre.co.uk/O9 - this is also printed on the ticket.

If they're returning the next day (or any other day within a month) they'd instead be buying an Off-Peak Return which has slightly different restrictions - not valid to depart Reading before 09:30, or on most Paddington GWR departures between 16:00-18:57. See nre.co.uk/FP for the details.

Hope that helps!

 

[baz2277]

This sounds great - they'd be leaving reading about lunchtime on a sunday and leaving back from Pad on the Monday lunchtime.

I just don't want them to be tied to a specific train if they dont need to be, at least they have some flexibility. So when I book this online for them, any time at about lunchtime can be selected?

 

[Watershed]

This sounds great - they'd be leaving reading about lunchtime on a sunday and leaving back from Pad on the Monday lunchtime.

I just don't want them to be tied to a specific train if they dont need to be, at least they have some flexibility. So when I book this online for them, any time at about lunchtime can be selected?

You can select "open return" if you don't want to select a specific train. If you do select a specific time it still doesn't matter; it's a flexible ticket so there is no need to take the booked train.

 

[baz2277]

Brilliant thanks for your help

 

[MarlowDonkey]

You can select "open return" if you don't want to select a specific train. If you do select a specific time it still doesn't matter; it's a flexible ticket so there is no need to take the booked train.

Almost all the longer distance trains stop at Reading and they are frequent, so subject to the peak restrictions it's just turn up and go at Paddington and for that matter Reading.

 

[takethat12]

To answer your question about park & ride, Mereoak P&R is probably your best bet if you’re only going for the day, the 600 bus serves it and goes pretty fast into town. Just stay on it at St Mary’s Butts and it goes around to the station (worth checking with the driver though as they sometimes wait for 10 mins there, but usually don’t).

But if you need overnight I’d recommend Winnersh P&R; you can either get a train from Winnersh triangle -> Reading -> Paddington or use the P&R bus whichever works better with your timings. The train is quicker than the bus but the train is only half-hourly. The Winnersh Triangle any permitted fare is 20p more than the Reading fare but the restrictions can be slightly different on timings so just double check those before.

 

[lnerazuma]

Cheapest would be 2 single Reading to Eynsford and vice versa with group save discount, £10.7 per passenger one way. This ticket also includes a free tube/liz line/Thameslink transfer between Paddington and other London terminal