Guildford to Hastings - 2 adults and 1 child next Friday

[infobleep]

Hi there

I was wondering if somoene could help. I have some friends, two adults and a child, who are visiting me this coming week. They are going to be making various journeys but the longest will be Guildford to Hastings, which is next Friday. It takes forever to get to Hastings from Guildford. The quickest journey in the morning after peak rush hour is 2 hours 24 minutes and that involves 3 train changes. If one wishes to make less train changes it takes even longer! In fact a journey involving the slow train from Guildford to Redhill is the quickest!

Now the first off peak ticket is at 9.48am which means one doesn't get into Hastings until 12pm. This is rather late when you have a 6 year old child who can't be out to all hours of the night and you actually want to spend some time in Hastings when you get there.

Now I think a friends and family is the cheapest point to point ticket, if getting 9.48 but in a network area it isn't valid before 9.30. This is quite a restriction when travelling such long distances and doesn't seem so fair in my opinion.

A groupsave is available before 9.30am, with the child classed as an adult. However it is very expensive to travel before 9.30 even with a groupsave. Bear in mind only 1 person is paying for all the tickets.

So is there any split ticketing or over distance ticket combinations which might be cheaper? Perhaps getting a peak ticket and switching to an off peak for the next part of the journey.

In addition to that journey they are making other journeys this week:
Monday - single from Gatwick to Guildford using friends and family [is during off peak hours]
Tuesday and Thursday - return to London with myself (groupsave 4 is cheapest here)
Wednesday - Guildford to Brighton - just the three of them so potentially friends and family
Friday - Guildford to Hastings as above
Saturday - single from Guildford to Gatwick using friends and family

Adding up all the friends and family savings, it makes sense to get the discount railcard, even though it is unlikely to be used again in the coming year.

 

[TEW]

You can make a significant saving on the Guildford to Hastings fare by splitting at Gomshall, a small station between Guildford and Redhill, but it does limit you to only a few services. The total cost for a through Guildford to Hastings ticket for 2 adults and 1 child with a family railcard travelling after 09:30 via Redhill is £43.95. Splitting at Gomshall breaks this down to £6.20 Guildford to Gomshall and £22.65 Gomshall to Guildford, so an overall cost of £28.85. This does limit the times you can travel though, the first train after the peak would be the 09:48 from Guildford, arriving in to Hastings at 12:12, the same journey as above. Available services back would be at 15:45, 16:26, 18:26, 19:14 and 20:14 from Hastings, arriving into Guildford at 18:22, 19:22, 21:14, 22:13 and 23:12. It does limit your options, as the train would have to stop at Gomshall but it is a fairly hefty saving.

 

[infobleep]

Thank you for your reply. As it so happens the 9.48 is the fastest total journey after 9am! Faster than taking fast service to Gatwick and changing their.

However they may well decide to travel before 9am so it may be worth doing the Gomshall route, even if the journey back is slightly longer than a train not stopping there.

A friend did ask me why they don't go via Tonbridge. That might seem logical. However when have trains ever been totally logical? In peak rush hour via Tonbridge is a service which comes up but not during the day. I can only assume that is due to the fact they don't time the trains to connect.

An alternative would be to split at Dorking, whilst making it more expensive to reach Dorking, would given them more train choices as the price is the same. In fact it appears to get much cheaper from Gomshall onwards, rather than gradually cheaper. Makes sense [he says sarcastically]. I just love our great logical train system we have. Ha-ha

The good thing about splitting at Dorking is that they could then start the friends and family portion of their ticket because it's 9.30 exactly when the train leaves. This would get them into Hasting about 23 mins earlier.

 

[paul1609]

Hi there

I was wondering if somoene could help. I have some friends, two adults and a child, who are visiting me this coming week. They are going to be making various journeys but the longest will be Guildford to Hastings, which is next Friday. It takes forever to get to Hastings from Guildford. The quickest journey in the morning after peak rush hour is 2 hours 24 minutes and that involves 3 train changes. If one wishes to make less train changes it takes even longer! In fact a journey involving the slow train from Guildford to Redhill is the quickest!

Now the first off peak ticket is at 9.48am which means one doesn't get into Hastings until 12pm. This is rather late when you have a 6 year old child who can't be out to all hours of the night and you actually want to spend some time in Hastings when you get there.

Now I think a friends and family is the cheapest point to point ticket, if getting 9.48 but in a network area it isn't valid before 9.30. This is quite a restriction when travelling such long distances and doesn't seem so fair in my opinion.

A groupsave is available before 9.30am, with the child classed as an adult. However it is very expensive to travel before 9.30 even with a groupsave. Bear in mind only 1 person is paying for all the tickets.

So is there any split ticketing or over distance ticket combinations which might be cheaper? Perhaps getting a peak ticket and switching to an off peak for the next part of the journey.

In addition to that journey they are making other journeys this week:
Monday - single from Gatwick to Guildford using friends and family [is during off peak hours]
Tuesday and Thursday - return to London with myself (groupsave 4 is cheapest here)
Wednesday - Guildford to Brighton - just the three of them so potentially friends and family
Friday - Guildford to Hastings as above
Saturday - single from Guildford to Gatwick using friends and family

Adding up all the friends and family savings, it makes sense to get the discount railcard, even though it is unlikely to be used again in the coming year.

Id book on the Southern Website and use the following tickets: Guilford to Dorking Stations Route Gomshall £8.45 off peak day return available on the 8.48 from Guildford.
Dorking Stations to Hastings route not via london £18.20 off peak day return available on the 09.30 (9.13 from guildford). Total £26.25
This includes all the current southern discounts 12% off off-peak tickets, kids for a quid etc.
Although not served by Southern trains stations between Gomshall and Reigate are included in Southerns offers.
All trains stop at Dorking Deepdene so as you as you use this route you will be okay

 

[infobleep]

Hi there

Groupsave is available on South West Trains; Southern and SouthEastern services. If that is the case why then isn't a return from Guildford to Hastings, travelling via Clapham Junction available as a groupsave price.

In fact when I put in 3 people into National Rail Enquiries I get no fares for that route at all, where as putting in one person I do. Yet they clearly suggest it is a route to travel.

Kind regards

 

[dzug2]

Hi there

Groupsave is available on South West Trains; Southern and SouthEastern services. If that is the case why then isn't a return from Guildford to Hastings, travelling via Clapham Junction available as a groupsave price.

In fact when I put in 3 people into National Rail Enquiries I get no fares for that route at all, where as putting in one person I do. Yet they clearly suggest it is a route to travel.

Kind regards

There seems to be a glitch on certain dates - not sure why. Can't see any reason for them not to be available.