Waterloo to Reading M-F fare?

[faringdon]

Hi,
Starting a new contract job in Reading next week.
I live in Bournemouth so its cheapest to stay in various central
London cheap Hotels and travel to Reading return each day.
So I need to travel M-F return Waterloo to Reading.
Out ~0630hrs, back ~1800hrs.
As such please advise... is the cheapest way to go Oyster travelcard £81.60/week?

Or can I use my GWR smartcard in some way?
___ ____
It looks like if you buy a weekly travelcard, you need to pay £10.50 in your oyster account,
to make your oyster card OK for the particular travelcard that you want?
Then you go online and purchase the weekly oyster travelcard each week for eg weekly travel from
Waterloo to Reading?

 

[enginedin]

Is that really cheaper than just getting a cheap hotel in Reading? travelodges seem to be ~£60 per night in my experience around there, I'm sure guest houses would be cheaper

 

[Haywain]

Is that really cheaper than just getting a cheap hotel in Reading?

Or somewhere like Basingstoke that also has direct trains to Reading.

 

[Adam Williams]

Is that really cheaper than just getting a cheap hotel in Reading? travelodges seem to be ~£60 per night in my experience around there, I'm sure guest houses would be cheaper

Depending on what comforts you're willing to sacrifice, you can do central LDN for £36.47 a night in a capsule.

Can't really say it'd be for me, but I can imagine this might be harder to do in somewhere like Reading.

 

[gembercannelle]

Depending on what comforts you're willing to sacrifice, you can do central LDN for £36.47 a night in a capsule.

Can't really say it'd be for me, but I can imagine this might be harder to do in somewhere like Reading.

or you can get Monday - Friday accommodation in Reading with by far more comfort for the same price.

 

[JonathanH]

So I need to travel M-F return Waterloo to Reading.
Out ~0630hrs, back ~1800hrs.
As such please advise... is the cheapest way to go Oyster travelcard £81.60/week?

Oyster isn't valid west of Feltham (or West Drayton). Contactless isn't valid between Virginia Water and Reading. The price you quote is for travel within Zones 1-6 in any case, and very much doesn't extend to Reading.

A weekly season from Waterloo (or Paddington) to Reading is £146.40

 

[Haywain]

Hi,
Starting a new contract job in Reading next week.
I live in Bournemouth so its cheapest to stay in various central
London cheap Hotels and travel to Reading return each day.
So I need to travel M-F return Waterloo to Reading.
Out ~0630hrs, back ~1800hrs.
As such please advise... is the cheapest way to go Oyster travelcard £81.60/week?

Or can I use my GWR smartcard in some way?
___ ____
It looks like if you buy a weekly travelcard, you need to pay £10.50 in your oyster account,
to make your oyster card OK for the particular travelcard that you want?
Then you go online and purchase the weekly oyster travelcard each week for eg weekly travel from
Waterloo to Reading?

If you are going to be working in Reading, I can't really see why you would want to be travelling to and from London each day. While accommodation in the metropolis might be a bit cheaper, you will also need to take into account travel costs and time which account for an additional £30 and anything from 1 to 3 hours plus each day. You will have a far better quality of life staying closer to where you are working. And if you don't stay in London you won't need tickets to get there, so you'll some money from that as well.

FWIW, travelling from Waterloo to Reading via Staines a season ticket is more expensive then day returns, the latter costing £26.00 a day.

 

[Non Multi]

I'd suggest looking at renting a room (AKA being a lodger) in Reading or a nearby town. Reading may be more pricey as you're competing with Uni students seeking accomodation. Sites like spareroom.co.uk have listings. Looks like the monthly cost would be cheaper per day than a commute plus a fully serviced apartment or hotel room.

 

[simonw]

Hi,
Starting a new contract job in Reading next week.
I live in Bournemouth so its cheapest to stay in various central
London cheap Hotels and travel to Reading return each day.
So I need to travel M-F return Waterloo to Reading.
Out ~0630hrs, back ~1800hrs.
As such please advise... is the cheapest way to go Oyster travelcard £81.60/week?

Or can I use my GWR smartcard in some way?
___ ____
It looks like if you buy a weekly travelcard, you need to pay £10.50 in your oyster account,
to make your oyster card OK for the particular travelcard that you want?
Then you go online and purchase the weekly oyster travelcard each week for eg weekly travel from
Waterloo to Reading?

As others have said, not sure why you wouldn't stay in Reading. Paddington to Reading is much faster than Waterloo to Reading.

 

[mmh]

You could want to go places in London in the evenings.

 

[JonathanH]

You could want to go places in London in the evenings.

Spending 90 minutes on the train from Reading to Waterloo in the evening would somewhat prevent that.

 

[Timbo999]

06:30 Bournemouth arrives Reading 08:09, 17:51 Reading arrives Bournemouth 19:14. Weekly season £193.20. Is't this the simplest and cheapest solution? Plus a Bournemouth to London Terminals season, which I understand covers Basingstoke - Reading - Paddington/Waterloo is £220.90. This would allow "mix and match" - stay where most convenient or go home overnight.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

So I need to travel M-F return Waterloo to Reading.

Any good reason not to use Paddington? With the non-stop service it's about 30 minutes. Reading is some way outside the Oyster zone, but inside contactless, for the Paddington route at least.

 

[island]

06:30 Bournemouth arrives Reading 08:09, 17:51 Reading arrives Bournemouth 19:14. Weekly season £193.20. Is't this the simplest and cheapest solution? Plus a Bournemouth to London Terminals season, which I understand covers Basingstoke - Reading - Paddington/Waterloo is £220.90. This would allow "mix and match" - stay where most convenient or go home overnight.

This seems certain to be cheaper than paying for accommodation in London or Reading, if the times work.

 

[faringdon]

Thanks,
There are some good ideas here.
Bournemouth to Reading return sounds tempting, and I bet the morning train
would always run...but I often find that evening trains get cancelled, and that would be my fear.

..For example, some 2 or so months ago, there were floods, and all evening trains out of Reading going towards (Westbury? Frome? etc) were cancelled....Luckily i managed to get as far as Theale.
I used to live in Bournemouth, and commuted Bournemouth to Parkstone each day...the evening train from Parkstone to Bournemouth so often never showed that i just used to always walk home from Poole to Bournemouth...i have the impression that the Rail operators sometimes "don't do" evening trains.

Thanks Haywain saying Paddington to Reading is £26.20 return, but I cant find that on TheTrainline...I see more
like £46/day?

I have currently been staying in travelodges in the Reading vicinity, but now the summer is here, these have gone
up to £90-£100/night. There are cheaper travelodges within reasonable car distance, but my car has an oil leak
and I suspect its on the verge of clapping out, so don't want to rely on car.

The cheaper travelodges now seem to be in the outskirts of London. (Epsom, Kingston Upon Thames, Borehamwood,
Sunbury, Staines, Egham, etc etc

As far as I see, there are three routes for London-Reading return...
1...Via Feltham , Staines, Ascot...Reading
2...Via Elizabeth Line....Reading
3...MainLine Paddington to Reading
4....London to Farnborough, then walk to Farnborough North, then Farnborough North to Reading...but would this be one ticket?..and how much?

Please advise Which of these is cheapest may i please ask?

Can i buy a Weekly season without a railcard? I do have a SWR smartcard but that's it.
__ ___ ___
BTW, thanks for advice on London Capsule accomodation...yes, been there done that....never ever again...the capsule was frying hot when you had the door closed...like a microwave oven........and you have all your clothes shovelled away in a small locker or on top of your bed, and so you cant iron anything and go into work looking like a tramp.......(i dont mind that but feel the odd one out if other colleagues are smartish) i had to leave the capsule at 22:30 hrs and luckily got into Finchley Travelodge that same night.
___ ___ ___ ___
Also, staying at Sunbury Travelodge...then the bus from Sunbury to Feltham, (which is a 10min regular bus, the 235?)...then rail Feltham to Reading = £18 return.

 

[Haywain]

Thanks Haywain saying Paddington to Reading is £26.20 return, but I cant find that on TheTrainline...I see more
like £46/day?

I said Waterloo to Reading is £26.00 return*; the equivalent return ticket from Paddington is £63.80. I guess Trainline are saving something on the latter by splitting somewhere.

*Because you said:

So I need to travel M-F return Waterloo to Reading.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

As far as I see, there are three routes for London-Reading return...
1...Via Feltham , Staines, Ascot...Reading
2...Via Elizabeth Line....Reading
3...MainLine Paddington to Reading
4....London to Farnborough, then walk to Farnborough North, then Farnborough North to Reading...but would this be one ticket?..and how much?

If journey time is an issue, there's only one route and that's GWR to or from the main station at Paddington. There's a choice of sorts between the non stop services heading to or from Exeter, Bristol, Cardiff etc. or the semi fasts, stopping at Slough, Maidenhead and Twyford.

It's always possible to change to or from the Elizabeth at Paddington.

Apart from the evening peak restrictions on GWR, I don't think there's any price differential against the Elizabeth for using the fast services.

 

[Swedenorer]

I'd go for the weekly season which works out at about £29 a day. You get maximum flexibility and are pretty well certain to have some kind of service home whatever happens

 

[gembercannelle]

I have currently been staying in travelodges in the Reading vicinity, but now the summer is here, these have gone
up to £90-£100/night. There are cheaper travelodges within reasonable car distance, but my car has an oil leak
and I suspect its on the verge of clapping out, so don't want to rely on car.

I would check if the University of Reading has something to offer (studio flats) while students are away for the summer. It appears that there are travelodges in Reading for about 50GBP per night if one books far enough in advance. An alternative would be to look for a Monday - Friday rental on spareroom and such.