London - Cambridge Commute Cheapest Route

[Kzk]

I currently commute from London to Cambridge about 2x a week. I live in Zone 2 near Brondesbury overground station and Kilburn on the Jubilee line. I have a 16-25 railcard. I usually try to get to Cambridge by 9:30/10am, so my travel is on-peak.

I currently use contactless to pay between Kilburn and Kings cross (change at finsbury park) and buy a return ticket (any permitted route) on a fast train from London to Cambridge. This ends up costing me about 29.15 + 3.40*2 = GBP 35.95

I think the cheapest way for me to travel is to use this fare https://www.brfares.com/!fares?orig=0797&dest=CBG&rlc=YNG&period=20230703 (Thanks @Watershed for posting this in an earlier thread of mine). My understanding is that this should be valid on the fast trains between kings cross and cambridge as they go through Finsbury Park and should only cost GBP 27.50.

However I can't for the life of me figure out how to book it. I'd appreciate if someone could direct me to where I can book it.

Also, is there another route or ticket that I can use to save even more? Thanks in advance.

 

[MrJeeves]

Also, is there another route or ticket that I can use to save even more?

You could split, depending on which trains you get.

I'd recommend using the forum's ticketing site as it offers me a saving for some services, especially if you put in an origin of Brondesbury and use Overground.

What's your proposed route on the Underground/Overground to Finsbury Park with the Zones 2-3 ticket? The routes I can see all go via Zone 1, which isn't covered by your ticket (you'd need Z1-2 or 1-3 to Cambridge).

 

[jfollows]

This site's ticketing suggests via Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park (when using Brondesbury as origin), presumably to avoid Zone 1.

I think the cheapest way for me to travel is to use this fare https://www.brfares.com/!fares?orig=0797&dest=CBG&rlc=YNG&period=20230703 (Thanks @Watershed for posting this in an earlier thread of mine). My understanding is that this should be valid on the fast trains between kings cross and cambridge as they go through Finsbury Park and should only cost GBP 27.50.

However I can't for the life of me figure out how to book it. I'd appreciate if someone could direct me to where I can book it.

Also, is there another route or ticket that I can use to save even more? Thanks in advance.

Do you mean a train which doesn't call at Finsbury Park, or one that does? In the former case the U23 to Cambridge ticket would not be valid.

 

[MrJeeves]

The forum's site will happily sell you a ticket from Zones 1-2 to Cambridge "Not via London" for £29.20 if you are fine with the stopping service:

London Underground and DLR Zones 1-2 > Cambridge - Search Results | RailUK Tickets

The Split Ticketing Champions - Compare Fares and Get the Best Value For Money Through Split Tickets and Booking Cheap Train Tickets Online And On Our Mobile App, Etickets To Your Phone, No Booking Fee, Save Up To 90%

tickets.railforums.co.uk

Despite the "Not via London Terminals", the fact it's from LU Zones 1-2 removes this requirement if you're performing the LU part of the journey, hence why it's offered. You could join later at Finsbury Park, or make the journey to King's Cross instead, and join it there.

To see the ticket, I had to go to the timeline view instead of the grid view as most were showing as £33.65 otherwise as they were fast GN services without a stop in Zone 2.

 

[Kzk]

This site's ticketing suggests via Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park (when using Brondesbury as origin), presumably to avoid Zone 1.


Do you mean a train which doesn't call at Finsbury Park, or one that does? In the former case the U23 to Cambridge ticket would not be valid.

That route is a bit slower, and most faster trains don't call at finsbury park. I think it's fine if it just passes through it?

From https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/railuk-fares-ticketing-guide-section-3-routeing.70716/

Where the route is VIA a station(s) your journey must pass through this station although the train doesn't need to stop there. Where multiple stations are separated with a hyphen, you must pass through all of them. Where they are separated by a slash, you need only pass through one of them. In addition, see Tickets routed via stations that are not on a permitted route.

 

[Kzk]

You could split, depending on which trains you get.

I'd recommend using the forum's ticketing site as it offers me a saving for some services, especially if you put in an origin of Brondesbury and use Overground.

What's your proposed route on the Underground/Overground to Finsbury Park with the Zones 2-3 ticket? The routes I can see all go via Zone 1, which isn't covered by your ticket (you'd need Z1-2 or 1-3 to Cambridge).

I clearly misunderstood. I thought 2-3 to Cambridge meant that I could go from underground zones 2-3 to Cambridge through Zone 1 (using the fast train from kings cross). I'm guessing this isn't the case?

 

[MrJeeves]

I clearly misunderstood. I thought 2-3 to Cambridge meant that I could go from underground zones 2-3 to Cambridge through Zone 1. I'm guessing this isn't the case?

Unfortunately not. The ticket only covers you for a Tube/Overground/NR journey through Zones 2 and 3 to where you meet the service(s) that will take you to Cambridge.

 

[Haywain]

I thought 2-3 to Cambridge meant that I could go from underground zones 2-3 to Cambridge through Zone 1 (using the fast train from kings cross). I'm guessing this isn't the case?

It is not the case. The ticket has no validity in zone 1.

 

[fandroid]

It looks as if you are paying over the odds, even for travelling via Kings Cross (KGX) I can get an Anytime Return via KGX, Brondesbury to Cambridge for £29.70 with the Railcard discount.

That was from the Forum's site with split ticketing turned off and with via KGX and "fastest" selected.

 

[gpmartin]

If you are looking for the cheapest and can plan ahead, you'll find plenty of advance tickets from Tottenham Hale to Cambridge and back for as little as £7.50 each way (or slightly more from Liverpool Street) on the contra-peak flow. There are plenty of them 6-8 weeks in advance but the cheapest tiers are withdrawn from sale as the date of travel approaches. Less convenient from your part of town but very cheap!

 

[Kzk]

It looks as if you are paying over the odds, even for travelling via Kings Cross (KGX) I can get an Anytime Return via KGX, Brondesbury to Cambridge for £29.70 with the Railcard discount.

My issue is getting from Brondesbury (vs kilburn underground) requires an extra change unless i time the transfer right from brondesbury to thameslink (change at west hampstead, both the overground and thameslink run rather infrequently).

It looks like I can get a boundary zone 2 to cambridge ticket for 24.50. Can I combined that with a weekly travelcard zones 1-2? (I take the tube a lot in London anyway so it might make sense financially).

 

[MrJeeves]

I can drop it down to £24.60 for Brondesbury to Royston, Royston to Cambridge split.

This lets you do:

1. Overground from Brondesbury to Highbury & Islington
2. Underground Highbury & Islington to King's Cross
3. Semi-fast (only stop in Royston) KGX to Cambridge service

Brondesbury > Cambridge - Search Results | TrainSplit

TrainSplit compares routes & fares to get the best value through split ticketing with no booking fee & saving up to 90%

trainsplit.com

It looks like I can get a boundary zone 2 to cambridge ticket for 24.50. Can I combined that with a weekly travelcard zones 1-2?

Yes, that's also perfectly acceptable! Only a few retailers sell these online (c2c do, I think?) and GTR makes these available at their ticket machines (not an issue if you're at Finsbury Park or King's Cross, I imagine), otherwise you might struggle to buy them.

 

[Haywain]

It looks like I can get a boundary zone 2 to cambridge ticket for 24.50. Can I combined that with a weekly travelcard (I take the tube a lot in London anyway so it might make sense financially).

Yes, you can combine tickets in that way. And, as a bonus, you get plenty of flexibility in how you get to King's Cross.

 

[CyrusWuff]

The forum's site will happily sell you a ticket from Zones 1-2 to Cambridge "Not via London" for £29.20 if you are fine with the stopping service:

London Underground and DLR Zones 1-2 > Cambridge - Search Results | RailUK Tickets

The Split Ticketing Champions - Compare Fares and Get the Best Value For Money Through Split Tickets and Booking Cheap Train Tickets Online And On Our Mobile App, Etickets To Your Phone, No Booking Fee, Save Up To 90%

tickets.railforums.co.uk

Despite the "Not via London Terminals", the fact it's from LU Zones 1-2 removes this requirement if you're performing the LU part of the journey, hence why it's offered. You could join later at Finsbury Park, or make the journey to King's Cross instead, and join it there.

Such a ticket would not, however, be valid for travel from Brondesbury as normal NR ticketing applies on the Overground.

The cheapest option it can come up with for the through journey is Brondesbury - Foxton route "via Camden Road" and Foxton - Cambridge, totalling £34.30 instead of £45.00. Obviously that would need you to catch a train that calls at Foxton, however, so Royston may be a better splitting point.

 

[fandroid]

Could a paper ticket from Brondesbury be used to enter the Tube at Kilburn? An out of station interchange is permitted, but that doesn't, of course, imply that Kilburn accepts cross-London transfers on paper tickets.

 

[jfollows]

Could a paper ticket from Brondesbury be used to enter the Tube at Kilburn? An out of station interchange is permitted, but that doesn't, of course, imply that Kilburn accepts cross-London transfers on paper tickets.

West Hampstead does; Kilburn doesn’t.
For example, see https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/maltese-cross-at-kentish-town.252095/#post-6330217 for a complete list.

 

[fandroid]

If you are thinking of a weekly Travelcard plus a boundary zone ticket, have a look at a zones 1-3 Travelcard plus a boundary zone 3 ticket. The weekly Travelcard is only around £7 more expensive when you add the extra zone on.

 

[greatkingrat]

Such a ticket would not, however, be valid for travel from Brondesbury as normal NR ticketing applies on the Overground.

The cheapest option it can come up with for the through journey is Brondesbury - Foxton route "via Camden Road" and Foxton - Cambridge, totalling £34.30 instead of £45.00. Obviously that would need you to catch a train that calls at Foxton, however, so Royston may be a better splitting point.

Aren't Underground and NR fares interavailable on the Overground?

 

[Haywain]

If you are thinking of a weekly Travelcard plus a boundary zone ticket, have a look at a zones 1-3 Travelcard plus a boundary zone 3 ticket. The weekly Travelcard is only around £7 more expensive when you add the extra zone on.

And look at whether a monthly or longer ticket will actually provide better value than a weekly.

 

[Kzk]

And look at whether a monthly or longer ticket will actually provide better value than a weekly.

I travel a lot out of town on relatively short notice so I don't think it makes sense for me but will keep in mind.

West Hampstead does; Kilburn doesn’t.
For example, see https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/maltese-cross-at-kentish-town.252095/#post-6330217 for a complete list.

If I enter and exit the barriers at Brondesbury before I go to kilburn does it still count as a cross-london transfer? (or is it just an out of station interchange which is permitted).

 

[fandroid]

West Hampstead does; Kilburn doesn’t.
For example, see https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/maltese-cross-at-kentish-town.252095/#post-6330217 for a complete list.

That presumably means that an any permitted Brondesbury to Cambridge ticket would be valid for changing from the Overground at West Hampstead either to the Jubilee line or to Thameslink for St. Pancras. A search on the via Thameslink route shows a total journey time of around 30 mins (including the West Hampstead interchange) with a reasonable frequency. To which must be added the walking time between St Pancras and Kings Cross. That shouldn't be a big challenge for a 16-25 Railcard holder!

 

[CyrusWuff]

Aren't Underground and NR fares interavailable on the Overground?

My mistake. Forgot that had been added to the interavailable routes list.

 

[Kzk]

If I enter and exit the barriers at Brondesbury before I go to kilburn does it still count as a cross-london transfer? (or is it just an out of station interchange which is permitted).

If anyone is curious about this, pretty sure it won't work. Reason being that the Kilburn-Brondesbury OSI is only valid with PAYG (contactless/oystercard), not a paper ticket. Details here https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/out-of-station-interchanges