Hi all,

I'm trying to find a way of reducing my monthly commuting cost from Reading to Victoria station. With the 5% discount I'm currently paying GBP467 for a Reading-London Z1-6 ticket. I only need to be in London 3-4 days a week and have a 16-25 railcard so am exploring alternatives whilst trying to balance a monetary saving with an increased commute length.

I can think of the following alternatives:
1) A day return on the Reading-Waterloo services, changing at Clapham Junction (GBP21ish a day). Train journey looks to be 1h40m ish.
2) The Railair bus to Heathrow T5 and then the tube up from there (GBP12.50 + GBP7ish for the tube). It'll be at least 1h50m I would have thought.
3) Driving to a tube/rail station somewhere in South-West London and getting a train in (any ideas for stations/parking would be appreciated on this one!).

I'm struggling financially at the moment and reducing my outlay on trains per month would help massively; if that means a longer trip each day then so be it for the time being :-(.

I'm presuming there aren't any advance fares that could help from Reading.

If anyone has any suggestions/knows people who travel into London from the West via more unorthodox routes I'd be very grateful if you wouldn't mind sharing!

Many thanks :-)

Hi All,

I forgot I posted this and just came across it in my bookmarks.

It all sounds about what I expected so thanks for everyone's input. The Basingstoke - London ticket is interesting but I've already purchased my first couple of RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context)-Z1-6 tickets so I wouldn't now want to lose the 5% renewal discount.

I think the split at Slough sounds like too much hassle if I was to be challenged every time I travelled, and yes, despite the crazy ticket price, I would feel a bit guilty using the discount card like that. Although after Wednesday's and Thursday's trouble at PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) perhaps I wouldn't feel so bad!

The one positive I've found is that by extending my monthly tickets to always end on a Friday, and always end before a take any long holidays, I reckon over the course of 12 months my monthly tickets will work out on par with an annual ticket. I wasn't aware you could buy a 1month and x day ticket before so it's definitely something to consider.

If anyone knows what the e-mail to book a seat on trains is I would be very grateful.

All the best,

Hi all,

I’m new to the forum but have lurked for a while. I registered as I have a few questions regarding my new commute from Reading to London:

As you all know I’m sure, Reading-London is rather busy and rather expensive. My old commute was only to Slough so I never had an issue with getting a seat, but have more of an issue nowadays. Is it possible to reserve seats on Reading-London services if I have a season ticket?
Paying all the money that I am, I’m keen to make use of my ticket for other journeys as much as possible. I’m a bit lost as to what routes I could use my ticket on apart from the main-line. For example I know it’s valid on the Reading-Waterloo SWT^▸ (South West Trains) trains, but could I get a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) train to say Wokingham? If so, how far along this line can I use it? (Crowthorne? Guildford? Redhill?  ) How about alternative routes to Waterloo e.g. via Basingstoke? Could I get off at Basingstoke?
I have also heard that it is now allowed to split a season ticket (although the Reading ticket staff said I cannot do this without the train stopping). I have a “Slough trading estate discount card” which gives me 10% off any ticket to Slough. I’m tempted to split the ticket to Slough to save the money but I don’t want the hassle of being challenged every time my ticket is checked on a train to or from London. Can anyone clear this up?
Thanks for your help, it is much appreciated!