"Reverse commute" season ticket

[RYS]

I'm possibly going to be moving job and home soon and need some advice about season tickets and London travelcards. It is likely that I will be living in London and commuting out to Reading, so I would need a season ticket to cover my commute to Reading and back, but I also need a travelcard to get me around London at evenings/weekends/etc.

I know that you can get season tickets which have a destination of eg. "London Zones 1-6", and these cover your commute into London, and are a travelcard for unlimited use on the tube, buses, etc. The problem of course is that I am going to be a "reverse" commuter. I will start my journey each day in London and will travel out. There appears to be no season ticket with an origin of travelcard zones.

Is there anything to stop me buying a season ticket which is the wrong way round? i.e. buy one from Reading to Zones 1-6, even though my commute will be the other way?

Incidentally can anyone tell me what the services I will be using are like? I'll be going against the main commuter flow right? So not too overcrowded?

 

[PermitToTravel]

Season tickets are valid in both directions so this is absolutely valid. In fact it's pot luck the order the stations are printed in on the ticket.

 

[Kristofferson]

Bear in mind that a ticket from your local London station to Reading will be significantly cheaper than a Reading to 1-6 travel card...

 

[bb21]

... if season tickets are available from the local station in the first place.

Anyway the OP has said that he requires a Travelcard.

 

[Kristofferson]

Of course, but I do wonder that, assuming seasons from a local station are available, it would work out cheaper to do this and then PAYG Oyster around town? All depends on the length and frequency of OP's journeys in zone 1-6.

 

[RYS]

Thanks guys. I do need to consider whether Oyster Pay & go would be cheaper yes. It's about an extra £690 per year to make the ticket a Zone 1-6 travel card. I think my employer have a deal with FGW which means I get 15% off season tickets, so this brings that £690 down to £586.50.

That figure works out equivalent to about 127 days of zone 1-2 oyster pay and go off-peak price caps or 400-ish single journeys (with gold card discount). Will I be travelling that often? I'm not sure.

 

[maniacmartin]

Where abouts in London do you live, and will you be working during normal office hours?

 

[RYS]

Normal office hours. Not currently in London but hopefully living somewhere within 10-15 minutes of Paddington (by a single tube journey or by bike/foot).

 

[Hadders]

If you can get to Paddington without using the tube then a London Terminals-Reading 'point to point' season ticket is £102.60 per week. I believe this wold also be valid for travel between Reading and Waterloo via Staines.

Alternatively a Reading-London Zones 1-6 travelcard is £124.20 which would allow travel into between Reading and London in addition to travel within zones 1-6.

It comes down to whether you need the extra £21.60 per week is worth it for you.

 

[cuccir]

Presumably it is possible to buy the London Terminals ticket and then get a season ticket changeover to change the destination to Zones 1-6? If so the best bet might be to buy the cheaper ticket initially and then monitor your Oyster spend to see whether you'd get value out of the Travelcard - you can change it later if you find that you're spending more than £21 a week.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Presumably it is possible to buy the London Terminals ticket and then get a season ticket changeover to change the destination to Zones 1-6?....

Yes it is.