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Post by Deleted on Sept 4, 2014 14:01:29 GMT
My mother (Adult) and I (child, 14) are travelling to London Gatwick by plane in December, and this year we want to ensure we get the cheapest avaliable train tickets in order to save money. As I have to pick up my Oyster ZIP we'd like to go directly to a Travel Information Centre, and that'll probably be either the Victoria one or King's Cross/St. Pancras one as those two (as far as I know) are the only Travel Information Centres to where you can travel directly from Gatwick by train. I've searched for tickets in November as those for December are not yet for sale, and it seems like... - London Victoria is a cheap destination over all. My mother and I could get a ticket for both of us for £12.00, but
- London King's Cross/St. Pancras is a little cheaper. My mother and I could get a ticket for both of us for £11.10
So now I have to questions that I hope you can and will answer: - Is there anything cheaper than £11 that we'll be able to buy and use?
- One can choose ticket provider oneself. Which ticket provider should one/we use?
Thanks in advance! |
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Post by domh245 on Sept 4, 2014 15:25:23 GMT
I suspect that the £11 fare is going to be the cheapest. That would be on a Thameslink service (currently FCC but that franchise is changing over to thaneslink before December) so it'll either by a 377 in purple, a 319, or quite possibly a new class 387. As for the option to select who to buy tickets from, that makes no difference at all unless it is TOC specific (eg an FCC only ticket) so if it is an advance ticket (judging bu the fare it probably is) so you could pick any TOC as they all go onto the same system and can be picked up at most stations - I personally would go for southern unless you already have an account with another TOC
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Post by metrailway on Sept 4, 2014 20:22:12 GMT
My mother (Adult) and I (child, 14) are travelling to London Gatwick by plane in December, and this year we want to ensure we get the cheapest avaliable train tickets in order to save money. As I have to pick up my Oyster ZIP we'd like to go directly to a Travel Information Centre, and that'll probably be either the Victoria one or King's Cross/St. Pancras one as those two (as far as I know) are the only Travel Information Centres to where you can travel directly from Gatwick by train. I've searched for tickets in November as those for December are not yet for sale, and it seems like... - London Victoria is a cheap destination over all. My mother and I could get a ticket for both of us for £12.00, but
- London King's Cross/St. Pancras is a little cheaper. My mother and I could get a ticket for both of us for £11.10
So now I have to questions that I hope you can and will answer: - Is there anything cheaper than £11 that we'll be able to buy and use?
- One can choose ticket provider oneself. Which ticket provider should one/we use?
Thanks in advance! Unless I'm mistaken , from the prices quoted above, it seems that you intend to buy what National Rail call ' Advance' tickets. They may be the cheapest tickets around but I advise you NOT to buy these type of tickets. Why? Because 'Advance' tickets are valid on only one train. If your flight arrives into Gatwick late and you miss your train, you will need to buy a new ticket. Advance ticket prices vary depending on factors such as the date of travel, time of train, demand for that particular train etc, so the above prices may not be the same for your particular date in December. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 5, 2014 14:02:04 GMT
I know it may be riskful to choose an "Advance" ticket, but I've compared some fares below.
| Advance | Off-peak | | National Rail ticket to Victoria | £12.00 | £17.10 | | LU Oyster/ticket from East Croydon | £12.80 | £13.45 | | National Rail ticket to St Pancras |
| £11.10
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So, if we choose to travel to Victoria, we can get Off-peak for just £1.45 extra if we get off at East Croydon to buy a ticket for me and to touch my mother's Oyster in. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 6, 2014 11:14:49 GMT
As we'd like to arrive at our hotel (Custom House) as early as possible it'll be possibly be fastest to go around Victoria rather than King's X/St. Pancras - even through we'd have to get off at East Croydon to touch in/buy new tickets. Without having the prices in mind, we could catch any train after 12:45. - Gatwick Airport 12:47 - East Croydon 13:02 & East Croydon 13:10 - Victoria 13:27 (& Victoria - Westminster - Canning Town - Custom House 28 minutes) Total journey time 40+28 minutes = 1 hour and 8 minutes
- Gatwick Airport 12:47 - St. Pancras International 13:32 (& King's Cross St. Pancras - London Bridge - Canning Town - Custom House 32 minutes) Total journey time 45+32 minutes = 1 hour and 17 minutes
So I guess it's easiest to go directly to St. Pancras and pick up there. But have any of you guys got any clue how long we should expect to wait at the Travel Information Centre?
Thanks for your help in Advance. |
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Post by causton on Sept 6, 2014 20:21:51 GMT
The waiting time could vary a lot. When I picked mine up, which was a few years ago now(!), it took about 20 minutes of waiting. Could be more, could be less, as the queue at the Victoria one seems to come and go! (I chose Victoria as I could get a direct coach from home to there)
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Post by norbitonflyer on Sept 9, 2014 9:24:44 GMT
According to the Journrey Planner websites, (using Dec 1st as the lastest dtae for which data are available) Anytime fares are as follows:
Gatwick to EC £4.50 on Thameslink, £5.10 on Southern - whether this differential will be maintained after they come into conmmon ownership later this month remains to be seen)
EC to Victoria £5.80, £3 Oyster (off peak)
EC to St Pancras £5.90, £3 Oyster
Gatwick to Victoria £15 (£19.90 Gat Ex)
Gatwick to St Pancras £10
(Children under 16 half price except for the Oyster fare)
So it looks as if breaking the journey at EC is cheapest for mum (total £7.50, whether you go to Vic or St P) whilst for you a child rate through ticket Gatwick to St Pancras is cheapest at £5. (as the cheapest fare is only available on Thameslink's trains you would have to use them for both legs, which means a 15 minute wait: plenty of time for mum to nip up to the barrier to touch in, and you with your through ticket can wait on the platform with the luggage whilst she does it. (Although it seems an awful palaver just to save £2.50!)
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Post by Deleted on Sept 9, 2014 21:11:15 GMT
According to the Journrey Planner websites, (using Dec 1st as the lastest dtae for which data are available) Anytime fares are as follows: Gatwick to EC £4.50 on Thameslink, £5.10 on Southern - whether this differential will be maintained after they come into conmmon ownership later this month remains to be seen) EC to Victoria £5.80, £3 Oyster (off peak) EC to St Pancras £5.90, £3 Oyster Gatwick to Victoria £15 (£19.90 Gat Ex) Gatwick to St Pancras £10 (Children under 16 half price except for the Oyster fare) So it looks as if breaking the journey at EC is cheapest for mum (total £7.50, whether you go to Vic or St P) whilst for you a child rate through ticket Gatwick to St Pancras is cheapest at £5. (as the cheapest fare is only available on Thameslink's trains you would have to use them for both legs, which means a 15 minute wait: plenty of time for mum to nip up to the barrier to touch in, and you with your through ticket can wait on the platform with the luggage whilst she does it. (Although it seems an awful palaver just to save £2.50!) We will arrive on a Sunday which'll allow us to travel Super Off-peak. Ticket for my mom GW-EC will therefore cost £4.50 (when you search for this fare using "Cheapest Fare Finder" they'll suggest you to run all the way to Central London with Thameslink and then back again to EC - but I suppose it won't be a problem to exit at EC through a more expensive ticket is suggested when asking for direct trains only - that is also for using the excact same Thameslink service) plus £3.00 for the part with her Oyster. Total price for my mom £7.50. For me, it'll be super cheap - only £3.70 for a Super Off Peak Single Child! Total: £11.20. But a normal single ticket for the both of us will cost £11.10. Or am I wrong? |
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Post by norbitonflyer on Sept 10, 2014 9:36:13 GMT
Yes, if it's a Sunday the picture is different.
On most Sundays in December Thameslink services are diverted via Elephant & Castle instead of London Bridge, so will be slower and on some Sundays also less frequent.
According to the national Rail site, the chepest fare from Gatwick to St Pancras is £7.40 on Sunday Nov 30th (the latest Sunday on the fares website). This is indeed less than £4.50 + £3.
Half fare is £3.70, hence the total of £11.10.
Gatwick to EC on Sunday Nov 30th is shown as £5.10, whether you use Southern or Thameslink with no £4.50 fare shown - the fares finder throws a wobbly if you limit services to FCC, possibly because as I type, FCC will only be operating the service for another 85-and-a-bit hours. From Sunday morning (Sept 14th) Govia will be operating all services through Gatwick except the Reading line, so the fares differential may disappear.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2014 14:50:04 GMT
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Post by domh245 on Sept 10, 2014 15:45:23 GMT
Govia currently operate Southern (including Gatwick Express) and in 2015 it will continue to operate them, although the logos might change a bit.
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Post by norbitonflyer on Sept 10, 2014 16:16:11 GMT
Govia currently operate Southern (including Gatwick Express) and in 2015 it will continue to operate them, although the logos might change a bit. Govia has operated Southern since 2001, and Gatwick Express since 2007. At the end of this week they are to take back the Thameslink franchise which they lost in 2006 , but the two franchises do not formally merge until next July |
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