Reading-London 2 return trips in one day

[takethat12]

Hi all, my first post on here, I’ve searched for an answer on the internet but I’m really struggling to find one!

I’m making two return journeys from Reading to London on a Saturday and I’m not too sure what the cheapest way to do it is.

My journey would be
Reading > London
(tube journeys)
London > reading
Reading > london
(tube journeys)
London > Reading

I understand how capping works in the core London zones but does capping allow unlimited travel back and forth all the way out to Reading once I’ve hit the contactless £35.40 off peak cap?

Or, could I use 1 off peak day travelcard and 1x return boundary extension? Using my 16-25 railcard this would be £23.55 + £10.75 =£34.30. Am I allowed to keep using the London zones part of the day travelcard even once the return journey is used up? Reading station has always let me keep my ticket when I’ve asked them in the past.

I’m not really bothered about the £1 price difference I’d just rather have a hassle free journey (and not get a massive contactless bill of £70).

Thanks in advance

 

[drueberflug]

I understand how capping works in the core London zones but does capping allow unlimited travel back and forth all the way out to Reading once I’ve hit the contactless £35.40 off peak cap?

Or, could I use 1 off peak day travelcard and 1x return boundary extension? Using my 16-25 railcard this would be £23.55 + £10.75 =£34.30. Am I allowed to keep using the London zones part of the day travelcard even once the return journey is used up? Reading station has always let me keep my ticket when I’ve asked them in the past.

The daily peak cap for Reading-London Zones 1-8 is £71.30, with the off-peak cap being £35.40 as you've stated, as far as I can tell, that should allow you unlimited travel on that day.

If you were to use paper fares, you'd need 2 return boundary extensions and 1 inboundary Travelcard, because the first return would be considered used after the first return journey.

 

[Benjwri]

If you were to use paper fares, you'd need 2 return boundary extensions and inboundary Travelcard, because the first return would be considered used after the first return journey.

The OP was asking about using an outboundary travelcard and a boundary zone fare, and was correct that for this they would only need one boundary zone return.

Am I allowed to keep using the London zones part of the day travelcard even once the return journey is used up?

I believe the consensus when this was asked before was yes, but to be save you could just buy a Boundary Zones to Reading return. Then you use the travelcard for your first ticket Reading to London, the boundary zone return from London to Reading and back again, and the travelcard again for your final trip back to Reading.

 

[lnerazuma]

You could also consider the Thames Branches Day Ranger, cost £27.50, Railcard discount applicable

 

[Hadders]

If you were to use paper fares, you'd need 2 return boundary extensions and inboundary Travelcard, because the first return would be considered used after the first return journey.

The Travelcard retains validity within Zones 1-6 even after arrival at Reading. This is because in places like Potters Bar or Watford Junction you might wantto continue your journey by London Bus.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

You could also consider the Thames Branches Day Ranger, cost £27.50, Railcard discount applicable

With railcard, this comes out at £18.30, but there would of course be the tube fares on top. So whether it's the right answer rather depends on how many tube journeys they're planning to make.

 

[drueberflug]

The Travelcard retains validity within Zones 1-6 even after arrival at Reading. This is because in places like Potters Bar or Watford Junction you might wantto continue your journey by London Bus.

Sorry for not making this clear, I seem to have forgotten to add a "1" in font of the term "inboundary Travelcard".

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Thursday at 14:31 ==

The OP was asking about using an outboundary travelcard and a boundary zone fare, and was correct that for this they would only need one boundary zone return.

Right, no wonder the travelcard price given was £23.55 (with a 26-30 Railcard).

 

[MikeWh]

I have done some testing today involving Sevenoaks. Four journeys so far as follows:

Crayford to Sevenoaks £7.20
Sevenoaks to Orpington £3.80
Orpington to Sevenoaks £3.80
Sevenoaks to London Bridge £7.00

Thus it has capped at £21.80 even though there have been two separate returns from the zones to Sevenoaks and back.