London to Trowbridge - a comparison for a customer

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I've just been researching travel for an overseas guest arriving at Waterloo via Eurostar mid afternoon (say 15:15) and travelling on to Trowbridge.

By South West Trains, the 15:50, change at Salisbury, will get him to Trowbridge at 18:12.   This is an hourly service more or less (clock fact off Waterloo, slightly erratic onward from Salisbury) and the cost of a day single ticket - walk up and use any train on the route - is 25.10

There are an additional 2 through trains a day - from Waterloo at 12:20 and 19:20.

The alternative is to get the tube from Waterloo to Paddington then the train with a change at Westbury, Bath or Swindon depending on the timing.   The 16:33 off Paddington (which is my best estimate for the train he would catch by the time he had taken his tube journey) connects into the same train at Westbury, so also gives an 18:12 arrival at Trowbridge.  The single fare from Paddington is 46 pounds.  Note that does not include the London Underground journey, and that fare is not valid on peak trains; the fare rises to 60.50 on the next train.

Advanced booking from Paddington could reduce the cost for customers who are CERTAIN that they'll be able to make a specified train.

Major engineering works at Basingstoke will adversely effect the timings from Waterloo for the week after Easter.  And the whole game changes once Eurostar shifts to St Pancras at the end of the year.