Blackfriars London, south side of the Thames

[ACL]

Greetings. A group of us will be staying in London for a few days. We will be staying on the south side of the Thames over near Tower Bridge Road. On a Saturday morning we will be going to Gatwick Airport.

We can go from London Bridge station, and we may well still do that, but the trains from Blackfriars are more frequent, the cost is marginally less, and they make fewer stops.

My question is, can we purchase tickets and board the train at Blackfriars Station from the south side of the Thames, or must we go to the north side of the Thames to the main part of the station?

 

[Firesprite]

Greetings. A group of us will be staying in London for a few days. We will be staying on the south side of the Thames over near Tower Bridge Road. On a Saturday morning we will be going to Gatwick Airport.

We can go from London Bridge station, and we may well still do that, but the trains from Blackfriars are more frequent, the cost is marginally less, and they make fewer stops.

My question is, can we purchase tickets and board the train at Blackfriars Station from the south side of the Thames, or must we go to the north side of the Thames to the main part of the station?

You can do both

 

[ACL]

Thank you very much. I appreciate the response.

 

[Bald Rick]

It is of course up to you, but...

The standard timetable pattern is for 4 trains an hour from each of London Bridge or Blackfriars to Gatwick. For both origins, 2 stop only at East Croydon then Gatwick, whilst the other 2 run on the slow lines south of Croydon and call at most stations between there and Gatwick. In addition, the Blackfriars services have the excruciatingly slow stagger via the Hills of south London (Herne, Tulse, Gypsy) to get to Croydon - this can take 30 minutes for the c12 miles.

From London Bridge, the fast trains take 29 mins, the stoppers take 50.

From Blackfriars, the fast trains take 41 mins, the stoppers 53.

So frequency is the same, whilst the journey time from London Bridge is consistently quicker.

Also you will need to factor in your walk from London Bridge to Blackfriars, which is 15 mins route march at best when unencumbered with luggage.

From where you are staying I would definitely use London Bridge.

 

[ACL]

Thanks. I'll give the London Bridge trains a closer look.

 

[Deepgreen]

Thanks. I'll give the London Bridge trains a closer look.

It's also interesting to note that your avatar photo is the same one used by another member (Paul Sidorczuk).

 

[IslandDweller]

If you have contactless bank cards or Apple/Android Pay (one per person) you don't need to buy paper tickets at all - and the fare will be cheaper. This is a very simple and convenient option. It would be £8 - from either London Bridge or Blackfriars. Even if you pay a small foreign currency surcharge, that'll still be cheaper than the individual paper ticket.
That said, if the group is travelling together and you are a number divisible by 3, then the "groupsave" ticket is your cheapest option.

 

[Kite159]

It's also interesting to note that your avatar photo is the same one used by another member (Paul Sidorczuk).

I believe the 373 picture is one of the pre installed avatar pictures, similar to a 222 in midland mainline colours.

One advantage of boarding at London Bridge is the better chance of a decent seat as the train starts from there

 

[IanKR]

... Via the hills of south london (herne, tulse, gypsy) ...

*Smiles*

 

[yorkie]

...We can go from London Bridge station, and we may well still do that, but the trains from Blackfriars are more frequent, the cost is marginally less, and they make fewer stops. ...

It's the same fare. The trains from Blackfriars to Gatwick would normally go via London Bridge, but due to the ongoing redevelopment of London Bridge station they are diverted via a slower route between Blackfriars & Croydon.

The Oyster/Contactless fare is £8.10 off peak. (Not applicable to you, but for the benefit of anyone else, do not use Osyter/Contactless for this journey, if you are travelling at peak time)

A paper single from London St Pancras/Blackfriars is or £8.00 at weekends ( http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=BFR&dest=GTW&rte=208&tkt=CBB) this is valid to start 'short' at London Bridge. (For completeness, the paper fare on weekdays is £10.40 valid anytime)

If you are using public transport in London on Saturday morning, you may want to get an inclusive Gatwick to London Zones 1-6 Travelcard for £12.30 (http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=GTW&dest=0035&rte=789&tkt=WRE).

 

[ACL]

First, thanks to everyone for your help and information. We wound up taking a train from London Bridge to Gatwick. The nice lady in the ticket office directed us to the 08:12 train to Brighton, which only made one stop at East Croydon. My mates think I'm a genius.

We also took the train up to York for a couple of days (Virgin up, and Grand Central back). While there we visited the train museum there in York. It is magnificent.

Each and every rail and tube employee that I met or asked questions from while I was in the UK, was very polite and extremely helpful. Thanks to all.

And also, that is quite a project going on at London Bridge station. We stayed on Tower Bridge Road and walked back and forth to London Bridge every day and were impressed with the scope of what was going on.