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^▸ (First Class, or Fat Controller, or Football Club, depending on context)!  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^▸ (First Class, or Fat Controller, or Football Club, depending on context) travelcard add on...

Paul

[Ollie]

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