Commuting From Teddington to Liverpool St for a week; Cheapest way of doing things?

[phil35]

I'm staying with a mate who lives in Teddington next week, and I need to commute to work at Liverpool St tube station. The will be my first week living in London, and although I understand train tickets more than your average person, London fares still confuse me.

What would the best ticket for me to buy be?

£55.60 for an Oyster zones 1-6 travel pass.
£55.60 for a National Rail Teddington to zones 1-6 seven day season ticket.
£50 for 10x PAYG zones 1-6 peak single @ £5

Are they my only options, or am I missing any? If so I'd get the Oyster 7 day pass as I'd probably use the tube and buses in the evenings too.

Any help is much appreciated! Thanks.

 

[cjohnson]

£50 for 10x PAYG zones 1-6 peak single @ £5

Teddington-Liverpool Street is actually £7.20 on PAYG peak so definitely worth getting the weekly 1-6.

(It's more as you will be travelling mixed mode, 'red route' - see this TfL page for an explanation).

 

[swt_passenger]

Bear in mind by the way that your options 1 and 2 have identical validity, they are effectively both '7 day zone 1-6 travelcard seasons'.

The difference is only the medium, ie paper or Oyster; which is why they are exactly the same price...

 

[Muzer]

I thought Oyster tickets were cheaper than paper ones, or does this not apply to (national rail-issued) travelcards?

 

[phil35]

Teddington-Liverpool Street is actually £7.20 on PAYG peak so definitely worth getting the weekly 1-6.

(It's more as you will be travelling mixed mode, 'red route' - see this TfL page for an explanation).

It's that sort of stuff that really confuses me when it comes to travelling around London. It's never as simple as you think!

And yes, I assumed the only difference between the two 7 day travel cards was the medium of ticket, but I wanted to list them both for completeness, because as I say London ticketing can be very confusing and I wanted to make sure I understood everything.

One more thing - the fact that I have a YP doesn't make any difference at all does it? I looked on the railcard tab of the "national rail" section on the TfL fares website at there's no mention of red or green journeys. Obviously I'll be travelling at peak times to get to and from work so I'm not expecting any discount tbh, I just wondered why it wasn't mentioned.

 

[MikeWh]

I thought Oyster tickets were cheaper than paper ones, or does this not apply to (national rail-issued) travelcards?

Oyster single fares are cheaper than the paper alternatives and daily caps are cheaper than the relevant paper travelcard, but period travelcards are the same price.

 

[Paul Kelly]

How near do you need to be to Liverpool Street? Would travelling to Shoreditch High Street instead, changing at Clapham Junction onto an Overground train be an option? It would be a little bit slower, but unless I've made a mistake the peak Oyster fare is only £3.60 - so that would be £36 per week; quite a saving on the other options. And don't forget you can get your 16-25 Railcard added onto your PAYG Oyster card so that you get a 34% discount on Off-Peak PAYG Oyster fares.

 

[bb21]

How near do you need to be to Liverpool Street? Would travelling to Shoreditch High Street instead, changing at Clapham Junction onto an Overground train be an option? It would be a little bit slower, but unless I've made a mistake the peak Oyster fare is only £3.60 - so that would be £36 per week; quite a saving on the other options. And don't forget you can get your 16-25 Railcard added onto your PAYG Oyster card so that you get a 34% discount on Off-Peak PAYG Oyster fares.

That is correct. Teddington - Shoreditch High Street via Clapham Junction, WLL and NLL (or SLL and ELL, or any other route that does not involve intermediate touches) is a single mode (NR) fare, hence no massive Zone 1 premium. (£1.65 outside peak hours with Railcard discount.)

 

[yorkie]

What would the best ticket for me to buy be?

£55.60 for an Oyster zones 1-6 travel pass.
£55.60 for a National Rail Teddington to zones 1-6 seven day season ticket.

Same product, but on a different medium - this is a 7 Day Travelcard. D

£50 for 10x PAYG zones 1-6 peak single @ £5

Default fare is £7.20 peak (£4.90 off peak) unless you interchange onto the Victoria Line at Vauxhall, in which case it reduces to £5.90 (£4.50 off peak).

But as others have said Shoreditch (changing at Clapham Jn) is cheaper still, at £3.60 (£2.50 off peak).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

One more thing - the fact that I have a YP doesn't make any difference at all does it?

It does, if you touch in at off peak times. The fares I quote above are without a Railcard, but the off peak fares reduce if you have a Railcard discount loaded onto your Oyster card.

The absolute lowest your commute could be is £1.65 each way, totalling £16.50 for the week, if you tapped in by 0629, and if you could leave work early and tap in by 1559, or leave work late and tap out after 1900, and using the Shoreditch-Clapham route.

(In reality there is a little bit of slack in the system, so, generally speaking, tapping in at 0631, or 1601, should just about be off peak, but don't count on it!)

 

[bicbasher]

BRFares.com is showing £3.50 for the Off-peak PAYG single via Surrey Quays or £5.70 peak.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Oh dear. I hope I haven't inadvertently exposed a useful anomaly!

 

[maniacmartin]

There is a ticket that you can buy that's valid to Shoreditch via Richmond and Willesden Jn or via Clapham Jn and Surrey Quays in the peak. You can get itineraries for this ticket on NRE in the peak, and its cheaper than the £3.50 Oyster anomaly. PM me for details.

I personally would consider the Overground route to be too slow for this journey and stump up the fare via Zone 1. Your priorities may of course differ.

 

[MikeWh]

Oh dear. I hope I haven't inadvertently exposed a useful anomaly!

It's definitely an error. Seems to be for all stations from Hampton to Kingston. The fares go up from either Norbiton or Strawberry Hill. Interestingly, if you look at the alternate fares it is also wrong for the changing at Vauxhall vs changing at Waterloo options with the latter cheaper than the former.

 

[phil35]

Shoreditch High Street is indeed a lot closer to where I will be working, I only mentioned Liverpool Street because it's much better connected and I didn't think Shoreditch was would be useful to me.

Doing a TfL journey planner from Teddington station to the postcode of my work is showing that the average journey time of taking the train to Waterloo and taking a couple of tubes and then walking is around 1h10m - 1h20m. A NR journey planner says that from Teddington Station to Shoreditch High Street via Surray Quays will take 1h23m. So there's really not much in it in terms of time.

So let me get this right. I touch in at Teddington, change at Clapham Junction onto the overground (no touch in or out), then touch out at Shoreditch High Street, and I should be charged £3.50 during peak times? I'll give it a go on Monday morning and I'll let you know how I get on.

 

[bicbasher]

I suspect this won't be answered until you start travelling to SHS. The 'correct' fare should be £5.70 during the peak, which is the Z1-6 NR Oyster fare. TfL's single fare finder still shows £3.60 peak.

 

[maniacmartin]

Doing a TfL journey planner from Teddington station to the postcode of my work is showing that the average journey time of taking the train to Waterloo and taking a couple of tubes and then walking is around 1h10m - 1h20m. A NR journey planner says that from Teddington Station to Shoreditch High Street via Surray Quays will take 1h23m. So there's really not much in it in terms of time.

I'm surprised that the journey times are that similar. Evidently I don't know London as well as I thought I did!

 

[theageofthetra]

Doesnt the YP railcard have no restrictions in July/Aug and can be used any time? Another London thing is that buses are not zone dependant. If I was doing that journey I would buy a z1 4 monthly and catch the bus from Teddington to Richmond. As long as you have a weekly or longer ticket it does not matter what zone your bus starts from.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Due to a bit of a TFL rip off Shoreditch high st is in zone 1. Depending what part of Shoreditch you are in you could travel from Teddington to Hoxton on a z2 4 weekly for 25 quid.Bus Tedd to Richmond. LO from Richmond to Highbury amd Islington and another bus or change and get LO to Hoxton. You save a lot of money in London by avoiding anything which runs on rails in z1. If you are healthy dont forget you could get a Boris bike to Shoreditch from Hoxton.

 

[yorkie]

Doesnt the YP railcard have no restrictions in July/Aug and can be used any time?

A YP railcard is valid at any time, but has a minimum fare of 12 pounds on many walk-up paper tickets, but there is no minimum fare applicable to those tickets during July/August.

Separate minimum fares apply year-round to Travelcards.

Oyster PAYG fares are discounted at times defined as 'off peak' for the flow in question - full details are in the journey planner, but in this case, peak fares are charged 'Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900' and off-peak fares are charged 'at all other times'.

Oyster may not be cheaper for Railcard holders, particularly in the evening.

But Oyster may be significantly cheaper for Railcard holders early morning.

 

[bb21]

Doesnt the YP railcard have no restrictions in July/Aug and can be used any time?

You are talking about the minimum fare on National Rail tickets.

London Travelcard minimum fares apply at all times, and Railcard discount is not available during the peak on Oyster PAYG at all.

 

[phil35]

Just to confirm, I have been changed £3.60 for the journey, so the fare finder was correct.

 

[Deerfold]

Doesnt the YP railcard have no restrictions in July/Aug and can be used any time? Another London thing is that buses are not zone dependant. If I was doing that journey I would buy a z1 4 monthly and catch the bus from Teddington to Richmond. As long as you have a weekly or longer ticket it does not matter what zone your bus starts from.

It doesn't matter on 1 day travelcards either.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Just to confirm, I have been changed £3.60 for the journey, so the fare finder was correct.

Excellent to hear. Now keep quiet about it and enjoy the perk!

 

[bicbasher]

Just to confirm, I have been changed £3.60 for the journey, so the fare finder was correct.

Bargain!