What's the cheapest way I can travel between Hook and Waterloo

[Tr345ury]

My company are suggesting 3 days in the office (up from 2) and I'm wondering what the cheapest price is to commute to work from Hook, Hampshire to London Waterloo.

- I can be flexible for peak and off peak

- I am 35 and do not have a railcard

- I am unsure whether I can book advance tickets

- I am unsure of whether to obtain a flexi ticket as for now it's just a suggestion and not mandatory - therefore some days I will go in once or twice a week.

- I usually book on trainline but have been told that purchasing direct from SW Trains may be cheaper (if that's the case, why do people use trainline)

I'm wondering what the cheapest tickets to purchase would be for returns on that route and don't know enough about all of the options to reduce the fares as much as possible.

Thanks

 

[Watershed]

Welcome to the forum.

The Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) would be my default suggestion. It's valid to arrive into London from 10am and costs £32.50. The first valid train would be the 09:01 from Hook, arriving into Waterloo at 10:02.

You aren't eligible for an age-based Railcard but you could get a Network Railcard (£35 per year) or Annual Gold Card. The latter can't be bought directly, but is a benefit you get if you buy an annual season ticket for travel in the Gold Card area. You can indirectly buy it relatively cheaply by getting the cheapest eligible annual season ticket - Hatton to Lapworth - which is £212 per year. Both Railcards add time restrictions on top of the restrictions associated with any tickets you buy.

The Network Railcard is valid from 10am on weekdays, so it would allow you to get a discount on the CDR if taking the 10:02 from Hook, due into Waterloo at 11:04, would be acceptable. I'm guessing perhaps that's too late, but it would be good to clarify. This would offer the cheapest possible fare with a cheap Railcard, at £21.60 per day and £35 per year.

If you need to arrive earlier, the Annual Gold Card may be better for you. It would allow you to get a discount on the CDR from 09:30 on weekdays, so you could instead get the 09:31 from Hook arriving into Waterloo at 10:36. This would offer a compromise between the arrival time of the undiscounted CDR and the Network Railcard discounted CDR, still costing £21.60 per day but at a higher yearly cost of £212.

There are no Advance tickets available for Hook to London, so I don't think that's an option worth pursuing.

A Flexi Season would cost you £380.10 and is valid for 8 days' travel within 28 days, i.e. you have to travel at least 2 days a week (on average) to use up all the days. This would cost you the equivalent of £47.51 per day, which is more than the cost of the CDR (even when not discounted). It's a good option if you have to be in the office earlier, as it's valid at any time of day and is cheaper than the £54.30 cost of an Anytime Day Return, but otherwise not really worth considering.

Trainline charges you booking fees if you buy tickets before the day of travel, whereas train companies and most other third party retailers don't charge such fees. People mostly use it because they like the interface and convenience of the app; some also (wrongly) think along the lines that the SWR app will only sell tickets for SWR trains, so they have to use the Trainline app to be able to buy tickets for all operators.

Hope that helps!

 

[Hadders]

If you can vary the days you work in the office eg Wednesday, Thursday, Friday followed by Monday and Tuesday the following week then a 7-day season ticket is worth considering. Costs £135.10 for 7-days.