Best choice and cost of an Annual Season ticket to London from Reading

[whole diary]

[Boppy]

Hi,

For the past few years I've commuted from Reading to London and always got various length travelcards between 1 and 3 months.  Part of this was from when I was single and tended to change where I was living a lot but now that I am settled with wife (and imminent new-born!!!) in Reading it makes more sense to buy a big boy's annual season ticket.

My company will lend me the cost of the ticket up front so I just need to let them know how much that is.  I have two problems though:

1)  On FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s site the Season Ticket Calculator seems to not show prices inc underground which I'd like to know.  Can anyone enlighten me?

2)  Which is cheaper nowadays - Buying just a season ticket to Paddington and then using Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) or still purchasing a season ticket that includes the underground?

Thanks!

Boppy.

[Boppy]

I realise a bit more info is needed for the Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) comparison.

I will need up to 2 single zone 1 journeys each day (^1.60 each).  So assuming 5 days a week and 48 weeks usage that comes to:

2 * 1.60 * 5 * 48 = ^768 for my tube journeys per year with Oyster.  So it's now a case of comparing that to the difference between Season tickets with and without the underground.

[Mookiemoo]

I realise a bit more info is needed for the Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) comparison.

I will need up to 2 single zone 1 journeys each day (^1.60 each).  So assuming 5 days a week and 48 weeks usage that comes to:

2 * 1.60 * 5 * 48 = ^768 for my tube journeys per year with Oyster.  So it's now a case of comparing that to the difference between Season tickets with and without the underground.

Could you not get a underground travel card on the oyster? surely thats cheaper than 3.20 per day

[RailCornwall]

Zones 1&2 Annual Pass is ^1032 TFL^▸ (Transport for London).

[Boppy]

Hi,

I went and asked at the station this morning and was handed a leaflet with the fares:

^3492 - without underground
^4152 - with underground

And first class for those interested:

^7084 - without underground
^8204 - with underground

so as the difference is ^660 I'll get the underground included.

Cheers.

Boppy.

[Mookiemoo]

Hi,

I went and asked at the station this morning and was handed a leaflet with the fares:

^3492 - without underground
^4152 - with underground

And first class for those interested:

^7084 - without underground
^8204 - with underground

so as the difference is ^660 I'll get the underground included.

Cheers.

Boppy.

What I find interesting is that first class the difference is over a grand!  Didnt know the underground had FC^‡(resolve)!  Surely the difference should be the same aince regardless of the class of the rail ticket, the underground is te underground

[paul7575]

It isn't just 'with the underground' though, if you have a season including a Z1-2 travelcard there are the odd NR^» (Network Rail - home page) services with First that stop in the zones, eg Southern on the WLL, SWT^▸ (South West Trains) Clapham to Waterloo etc etc...

That'll probably be why you can get a FC^‡(resolve) travelcard add on...

Paul

[Ollie]

Also bare in mind it will be a Zone 1-6 travelcard.