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London to Farnborough monthly ticket

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3rd rail land

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I will soon be travelling 5 days a week from London zone 2 to Farnborough. I don't yet know the exact times I will be travelling except that it will be during the morning peak. This will be for a few months so an annual season ticket is not appropriate in this case.

I won't always take the same route as sometimes it will be quicker to go via Vauxhall than use my local National Rail station which is Clapham High Street due to connection times at Clapham Junction.

The two routes I would use are:
Clapham High Street - Clapham Junction - Farnborough
Stockwell - Vauxhall - Clapham Junction - Farnborough

Additionally I do a lot of travel in Zones 1-2 but do sometimes go into other zones as well and was wondering what the most suitable ticket would be that would cover all my Zone 1-2 travel as well as both routes I have listed above?

Would a zone 1-6 + Farnborough extension be the most cost effective option?
What about a zone 1-2 to Farnborough?

I am not at all familiar with tickets between London zones and named stations outside of the London zonal system so all help is appreciated.
 
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Romilly

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Use the season ticket calculator on National Rail Enquiries to look at prices. Try first for Farnborough (main) to London Waterloo. That will come up with a number of options. They will include a ticket to London Terminals that includes only rail travel between London and Farnborough. The options will also include a ticket to London travel zones 1 to 6. The options will also include versions of these tickets that give you a choice of out-of-London destination in addition to Farnborough.

The thing to remember about travelcards to London that start from outside the zones is that you have to pay for all the zones you will travel through. So for a journey from Farnborough to Waterloo you need to pay for the journey from Farnborough to the outer edge of the zones and then for all of zones 6 to 1.

If you search on the season ticket calculator for Farnborough to Vauxhall, one of the options will be a Farnborough to Zones 2 to 6 travelcard. It will include all travel in Zones 6 to 2. It will not include train or tube travel in Zone 1, but it will include bus travel in Zone 1.

I hope that this is a useful starting reply.
 

3rd rail land

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Use the season ticket calculator on National Rail Enquiries to look at prices. Try first for Farnborough (main) to London Waterloo. That will come up with a number of options. They will include a ticket to London Terminals that includes only rail travel between London and Farnborough. The options will also include a ticket to London travel zones 1 to 6. The options will also include versions of these tickets that give you a choice of out-of-London destination in addition to Farnborough.

The thing to remember about travelcards to London that start from outside the zones is that you have to pay for all the zones you will travel through. So for a journey from Farnborough to Waterloo you need to pay for the journey from Farnborough to the outer edge of the zones and then for all of zones 6 to 1.

If you search on the season ticket calculator for Farnborough to Vauxhall, one of the options will be a Farnborough to Zones 2 to 6 travelcard. It will include all travel in Zones 6 to 2. It will not include train or tube travel in Zone 1, but it will include bus travel in Zone 1.

I hope that this is a useful starting reply.
Thanks, very useful. I did know about needing to pay for all zones traveled through but I was struggling to get the ticket I wanted to show up on a multitude of sites I tried. Turns out I was going about in the wrong way and using the NRE site has given me the information I need.

Work will be paying so I just need to check their travel policy.

At the moment I use PAYG oyster since I don't go to my assigned workplace very often and mostly work from home. Will I have to get a paper ticket? I can imagine the ticket getting bent/creased etc to the point where the barriers won't accept it and it will be a faff going to a ticket office to request a replacement, which I believe can be done admin charge free?
 
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Romilly

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There are no Oyster readers outside the Oyster area so the best option would seem to be a paper ticket. I used to find that paper tickets would last at least a month, so long as not stored in the same wallet/pocket as a mobile phone or anything else that will wipe the coding in the magnetic strip on the back of the ticket.

Also, be aware that out-boundary travelcards (or ordinary rail season tickets) can be bought at the monthly rate for any period between a month and a year. For example, if you don't travel at weekends you could buy a ticket for 1 month and 2 or 3 days that starts with a Monday and ends with a Friday. Or if it's 6 weeks until you have a holiday coming up, a ticket for 6 weeks should be cheaper than a monthly plus 2 weeklies.
 

greatkingrat

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There are no direct trains between Farnborough and Clapham Junction (or Vauxhall) in the peaks, so even though your ultimate destination is in zone 2, you may find the quickest route is via Waterloo which would require a zone 1 ticket.
 

3rd rail land

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There are no Oyster readers outside the Oyster area so the best option would seem to be a paper ticket. I used to find that paper tickets would last at least a month, so long as not stored in the same wallet/pocket as a mobile phone or anything else that will wipe the coding in the magnetic strip on the back of the ticket.

Also, be aware that out-boundary travelcards (or ordinary rail season tickets) can be bought at the monthly rate for any period between a month and a year. For example, if you don't travel at weekends you could buy a ticket for 1 month and 2 or 3 days that starts with a Monday and ends with a Friday. Or if it's 6 weeks until you have a holiday coming up, a ticket for 6 weeks should be cheaper than a monthly plus 2 weeklies.
I didn't realise I could do differing lengths of ticket validity such as 6 weeks etc... It's good to know but as my work will be paying its not too much of a concern. As for paper tickets it's a shame as it would mean I have to take the ticket out of my wallet whenever I board a bus or go through a gateline and place it back in my wallet afterwards.

There are no direct trains between Farnborough and Clapham Junction (or Vauxhall) in the peaks, so even though your ultimate destination is in zone 2, you may find the quickest route is via Waterloo which would require a zone 1 ticket.
I am referring to Farnborough (Main) to which there are multiple direct trains between Farnborough and Clapham Junction every hour throughout the day including during the peaks. For example I took the 08:46 from Clapham Junction to Farnborough yesterday and the 17:00 back into Clapham Junction. Much quicker to change there than go all the way to Waterloo.
 

swt_passenger

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There are no direct trains between Farnborough and Clapham Junction (or Vauxhall) in the peaks, so even though your ultimate destination is in zone 2, you may find the quickest route is via Waterloo which would require a zone 1 ticket.
The OP is travelling in the opposite direction though...
 

infobleep

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That's correct. Usually people come into London to work and live outside London but I am doing it the other round to most people.
Which is very fortunate for you as in the other direction you wouldn't get direct trains in the peaks.

How much do you use tubes and trains in zone 1? If it is not every day then maybe a zone 2 would be better and you just pay for tubes and trains as you need them.

Of course if work are happy to pay from zone 1 then it could be a no brainer.
 

3rd rail land

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Which is very fortunate for you as in the other direction you wouldn't get direct trains in the peaks.

How much do you use tubes and trains in zone 1? If it is not every day then maybe a zone 2 would be better and you just pay for tubes and trains as you need them.

Of course if work are happy to pay from zone 1 then it could be a no brainer.
I probably go into zone 1 2 or 3 times, a week. As you say it's probably best if I just use PAYG for Zone 1 journey's but if I can get my employer to pay then I might as well get a ticket that includes zone 1 and save myself a few pounds.

I need to check my employer's work policy. For example I don't think they allow 1st class travel which I think is a sensible decision.
 

Puffing Devil

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Work will be paying so I just need to check their travel policy.

At the moment I use PAYG oyster since I don't go to my assigned workplace very often and mostly work from home.

Tax Alarm Bells ringing in my head right now. If your workplace is officially Farnborough, then you face a potential tax issue if your employer pays you to travel to your place of work. For you to be free of tax worries, you need to have your home recognised as your place of work and that you spend no more than 50% of your time in Farnborough.

Otherwise, you'll be taxed as a benefit in kind.
 

twpsaesneg

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Tax Alarm Bells ringing in my head right now. If your workplace is officially Farnborough, then you face a potential tax issue if your employer pays you to travel to your place of work. For you to be free of tax worries, you need to have your home recognised as your place of work and that you spend no more than 50% of your time in Farnborough.

Otherwise, you'll be taxed as a benefit in kind.
^^This is good advice!

However, as long as the OP gets themselves officially "homebased" they can then get paid travel to another place of work without incurring a tax liability for up to 2 years as a temporary secondment" unless the rules have changed recently. After that the 50% rule comes into play. The HMRC rules seem quite fuzzy on what constitutes a change of workplace too - in theory it looked to me as if you could be seconded to a different office in the same town and that would reset the clock!
 

3rd rail land

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Tax Alarm Bells ringing in my head right now. If your workplace is officially Farnborough, then you face a potential tax issue if your employer pays you to travel to your place of work. For you to be free of tax worries, you need to have your home recognised as your place of work and that you spend no more than 50% of your time in Farnborough.

Otherwise, you'll be taxed as a benefit in kind.
I am currently assigned to a site in London but I work from home mostly these days. When I work from Farnborough I will be a mobile worker with my home as my base location. I would be spending 100% of my time in Farnborough and the role has no work from home option.
 
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Puffing Devil

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I am currently assigned to a site in London but I work from home mostly these days. When I work from Farnborough I will be a mobile worker with my home as my base location.

That's good - you also need to be careful with expenses when travelling to other sites when you have a fixed base which is an office; it's almost always preferable to be home based if you need to travel.

For example, I had a consultant who lived in A, was "based" in C and needed to visit a client in B. Imagine them as stops on a rail line A-B-C. HMRC rejected any travel expenses as the journey cost less than the commute to the notional office base.
 

3rd rail land

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That's good - you also need to be careful with expenses when travelling to other sites when you have a fixed base which is an office; it's almost always preferable to be home based if you need to travel.

For example, I had a consultant who lived in A, was "based" in C and needed to visit a client in B. Imagine them as stops on a rail line A-B-C. HMRC rejected any travel expenses as the journey cost less than the commute to the notional office base.
The cost of travelling to my home is of course £0 so I can't experience this issue. Apparently I can claim sustenance and travel whilst on a temporary assignment and if I end up doing it as my permanent assignment I would still be a mobile worker and be able to claim the same expenses. Must work out for my employer if they allow people permanently assigned to Farnborough to be mobile workers and claim expenses.
 

Puffing Devil

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if I end up doing it as my permanent assignment I would still be a mobile worker and be able to claim the same expenses.

This is where you could run into trouble: as @twpsaesneg said, once you become permanent, that office becomes your base and you no longer can claim expenses free of tax. Your employer may pay them, but they become taxable.

The rule of thumb is more than 50% of your time in a single location and that becomes your base, even if you are classed as a mobile worker, though you do have a couple of years on "secondment" to burn up.
 

FenMan

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A Clapham High Street - Farnborough Stations Anytime Day Return is very reasonably priced - £16.20.
If travelling 21 days a month the total cost is £340.20.

In contrast, a Farnborough Stations - Z2-6 monthly season is £407.50.
I'd imagine your employer would be interested in realising a £67/month saving?
 

3rd rail land

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A Clapham High Street - Farnborough Stations Anytime Day Return is very reasonably priced - £16.20.
If travelling 21 days a month the total cost is £340.20.

In contrast, a Farnborough Stations - Z2-6 monthly season is £407.50.
I'd imagine your employer would be interested in realising a £67/month saving?
I'd need to check what is permissible with my employer. I'd don't want to be buying tickets every work day as queuing at TVMs takes time. Even buying a load of daily tickets in advance is a faff.
 
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kieron

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A Clapham High Street - Farnborough Stations Anytime Day Return is very reasonably priced - £16.20.
If travelling 21 days a month the total cost is £340.20.
The £16.20 ticket is a "not via London" one, which means it can't be used to start at Vauxhall. There isn't a specific Vauxhall-Farnborough ticket, but a London-Farnborough "not via Reading" return costs £18.90, and a Calpham-Farnborough "any permitted one £23.90.

If 3rd rail land wants the freedom to catch a train to either station, especially if this includes going from one station in the morning and returning to a different one in the evening, then a travelcard season may simply be a more suitable product.
 

3rd rail land

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The £16.20 ticket is a "not via London" one, which means it can't be used to start at Vauxhall. There isn't a specific Vauxhall-Farnborough ticket, but a London-Farnborough "not via Reading" return costs £18.90, and a Clapham-Farnborough "any permitted one £23.90.

If 3rd rail land wants the freedom to catch a train to either station, especially if this includes going from one station in the morning and returning to a different one in the evening, then a travelcard season may simply be a more suitable product.
I don't want to have to hang around at Clapham Junction any longer than I need to so having the freedom to go via Vauxhall or to Clapham High Street will be very useful. I know someone who works at Farnborough who doesn't usually go the cheapest route as it is not usually the quickest route and this is permissible with my employer so I can't imagine having any issues with my desired travel arrangements. A monthly travelcard would best as if something comes up when it is my turn to do the on call then I would have to travel in to Farnborough as none of the job can be done outside of the approved area in the office. Would probably be a rare occurrence but you never know when it might happen.

Will be different from my current 20 minute commute, which I personally pay for, and these days I only do it when I have a need to,which has been 4 days since the start of March.
 

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Have you explored the possibility of South Western Railways own product an (Itso) Smart-card?

See here: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/train-tickets/smart-ticketing/touch-smartcard

You can purchase a daily, weekly & monthly seasons as well as 10 day Carnets all from the comfort of your armchair, no queuing at the station!

The size of an Oyster/contactless payment card so it's robust, you will also require a Photocard assigned to to it.
 

3rd rail land

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Have you explored the possibility of South Western Railways own product an (Itso) Smart-card?

See here: https://www.southwesternrailway.com/train-tickets/smart-ticketing/touch-smartcard

You can purchase a daily, weekly & monthly seasons as well as 10 day Carnets all from the comfort of your armchair, no queuing at the station!

The size of an Oyster/contactless payment card so it's robust, you will also require a Photocard assigned to to it.
I have heard of the ITSO but know nothing about it. How would that work when using a zone 2-6 to Farnborough ticket on the underground or Overground etc, i.e at a non SWR station? I already have a photocard acquired in SWT days.
 

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I have heard of the ITSO but know nothing about it. How would that work when using a zone 2-6 to Farnborough ticket on the underground or Overground etc, i.e at a non SWR station? I already have a photocard acquired in SWT days.

You can load (tfl) zone travel cards on to your smart card a/c.
I’ll PM you.
 

3rd rail land

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I sent an email to SWR customer service on 3rd June but have yet to get a reply.

I need to buy tickets to cover this journey for the next 3 days as I don't know my working arrangements for next week yet.

I have decided that a London Underground Zones 1-2 to Farnborough is the best ticket for my needs. The only place I can find a return fare for this ticket is on The Trainline.

Can I buy this ticket from a TVM? Do TVMs sell tickets from zones (such as 1-2 in my case)?
Is there any other site I would be able to buy this type of ticket from? Most TOC websites couldn't find the ticket I was after and the one that could only gave me the price for singles and showed no option for a return fare.
 

Romilly

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Try the LNER website: type "London Z" into the box for the "from" station and you should then get a drop-down list from which you can select "London Zone U12". To Farnborough, the tickets offered include a £24.90 anytime "not via Reading" day return.
 
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