Eastbourne area to London area

[johnnycache]

The fares from Eastbourne to the London area quite often get discussed here.
The main interest is the opportunity to undercut season ticket fares to London by buying combinations of tickets

All the fares quoted below are weekly standard class rail only seasons

Lewes London Terminals £107.60 route Any Permitted
Lewes London Victoria £99.30 route Any Permitted
Polegate London Terminals £110.80 route Any Permitted
Polegate London Victoria £108.80 route Any Permitted
Eastbourne London Terminals £110.80 route Any Permitted
Eastbourne London Victoria £108.80 route Any Permitted
Cooden Beach London Terminals £110.80 route Haywards Heath
Cooden Beach London Victoria £108.80 route Haywards Heath
Bexhill London Terminals £110.80 route Haywards Heath
Bexhill London Victoria £108.80 route Haywards Heath
Hastings London Terminals £110.80 route Haywards Heath
No fare to London Victoria
Rye London Terminals £110.80 route Haywards Heath
No fare to London Victoria
Ashford London Terminals £110.80 route Haywards Heath
No fare to London Victoria

The first thing to notice is the very flat fares structure along the coast.
Passengers thinking of buying a season from Eaastbourne to London Terminals could buy a ticket from Ashford for the same price.
Generally there is a modest discount for a ticket with destination London Victoria rather than London Terminals reflecting the additional revenue allocation to Southern with these tickets.

For passengers prepared to commit to Southern only the daysave weekly fare is £90

http://www.southernrailway.com/tickets-and-fares/ticket-types/daysave-weekly/

This is the price to try and beat!

Eastbourne to Dorking route not London £65.50
Eastbourne to Dorking route not Clapham Junction £61.80
Eastbourne to Leatherhead route not London £65.50
Eastbourne to Leatherhead route not Clapham Junction £53.60
Eastbourne to Epsom route not London £88.40
Eastbourne to Epsom route not Clapham Junction £61.80
Eastbourne to Sutton route not London £88.40
Eastbourne to Sutton route not Clapham Junction £77.60
Eastbourne to Clapham Junction route not London £88.40
Eastbourne to Croydon stations route Any Permitted £69.40

Clapham Junction London Terminals £17.40
East Croydon London Terminals £40.50
East Croydon London Victoria £36.60

The first thing to notice is that it is worth rebooking at Clapham Junction although its not as cheap as a daysave weekly
Eastbourne Clapham Junction £88.40
Clapham Junction London Terminals £17.40
total £105.80

Eastbourne East Croydon £69.40
East Croydon London Victoria £36.60
Total £106.00

Eastbourne East Croydon £69.40
East Croydon London Terminals £40.50
Total £109.90

Its also very slightly cheaper to split tickets at East Croydon (where all trains stop except Gatwick Express)

The Eastbourne Leatherhead route not via London fare of £65.50 is valid via Clapham Junction (nationalrail.co.uk) so gives the following combined price

Eastbourne Leatherhead £65.50 route not via London
Clapham Junction London Terminals £17.40
Total £82.90

This is cheaper than daysave weekly
Its fine for Victoria or Waterloo but a bit of a detour for London Bridge
so daysave weekly is preferred for that

 

[Bishopstone]

Ashford London Terminals £110.80 route Haywards Heath
No fare to London Victoria

Goodness, you'd have to really love trains or be a total masochist to travel from Ashford to London via Haywards Heath, five days a week!

Where on the coast is the watershed, beyond which people travel via St Leonards and then South Eastern into Cannon Street/Charing Cross - or indeed via Ashford and HS1? Without looking at the timings, I'd assumed Pevensey picked up some London traffic in both directions, whilst Bexhill commuters started their mammoth commute in an easterly direction.

 

[paul1609]

Goodness, you'd have to really love trains or be a total masochist to travel from Ashford to London via Haywards Heath, five days a week!

Where on the coast is the watershed, beyond which people travel via St Leonards and then South Eastern into Cannon Street/Charing Cross - or indeed via Ashford and HS1? Without looking at the timings, I'd assumed Pevensey picked up some London traffic in both directions, whilst Bexhill commuters started their mammoth commute in an easterly direction.

I think some commuters just buy tickets from stations for the heck of it. According to the ORR figures Doleham has around 38000 passengers a year most of them season ticket holders, despite regularly travelling on one of the 3 trains a day that stop there I still haven't seen anybody get on or off there since the Thumper days.

In terms of the Hastings line I think daily commuters to London are pretty thin on the ground south of Etchingham. Id guess that there are commuters from Bexhill to london but I doubt that they'd fill a whole Electrostar coach.

 

[bicbasher]

In terms of the Hastings line I think daily commuters to London are pretty thin on the ground south of Etchingham. Id guess that there are commuters from Bexhill to london but I doubt that they'd fill a whole Electrostar coach.

The semi-fast Hastings services are more attractive for those who live in Hastings, St Leonards and Battle and even from Bexhill changing at Warrior Square.

Battle to Charing Cross is around 95 mins in the peak and 84 mins in the off-peak on the semi fasts.

 

[MikeWh]

This raises an interesting question about validity from Bexhill, Collington and Cooden Beach. All three stations have two travelcard seasons to zones 1-6, any permitted set by Southeastern and via Haywards Heath set by Southern and cheaper. This is quite straightforward. However, lose at least zone 1 and the two routes change. Southeastern set the higher Battle Not HS1 fares while Southern set the cheaper any permitted fares.

So, what are the valid permitted routes from Bexhill to Orpington using a ticket to zones 5-6?

 

[John @ home]

what are the valid permitted routes from Bexhill to Orpington using a ticket to zones 5-6?

ATOC have told us that it is:

• by any Permitted Route from Bexhill to the first entry into Zone 6, followed by
• any route within Zones 5 and 6 which does not leave the Zones nor enter any other Zone.

I have a 5-hour train journey planned for later today. If the free wifi is working, that should give me enough time to complete the calculation! I'll then amend this post (if nobody else beats me to it).