Ahh,

Just trying to book tickets over the next 2-3 months, can only find only 2 weeks in that horizon with advance tickets at the times I want to travel. Otherwise full price. Even at the maximum horizon, no advance tickets. I wonder how many they release?

Thanks for the help / opinions.

Hi,

I hope someone can help.

I am currently in the process of trying to move in with my partner who lives down in Bristol, while keeping my job where I live. I've been talking to my employer and they have provisionally agreed to allow me to work two days a week at another site near where she lives. I'll need to commute to my normal office for the rest of the week. It should be 3 continuous days, let's say Tues->Thurs. One option I have is to drive up (to High Wycombe) on Tuesday morning and drive back to Bristol on Thursday evening. To save me driving hell for the remainder of the time I can catch the train from Bristol to Didcot and drive to/from work from there. This would mean I leave the car overnight on Tues & Wed at Didcot and catch the train. This would be a mid week commute on the train, but would be regular, say:

Tue PM: Didcot -> Bristol TM^‡(resolve)
Wed AM: Bristol TM -> Didcot
Wed PM: Didcot -> Bristol TM
Thurs AM: Bristol TM -> Didcot

What's the best way of reducing the cost of this commute? A season ticket is way too expensive - approx ^450 a month - considering I'll only be doing the equivalent of 2 days on the train a week. Is my only remaining option to book advance tickets - i.e. there are no such things as a part-week season ticket or repeat journey ticket?

If we are talking advance tickets, I have yet to figure out when these are released. There appears to be no pattern as to when I can get one or not. Is there any info on how FGW^▸ (First Great Western) do this or will I have to use a web site to track when they are released? The potential savings over a normal ticket are considerable, but trying to sort our the best time to nab one is impossible.

The pain in all this is that the train saves me neither time nor money, but would make the commute more bearable.

Finally, don't get me started on the recent parking charge hikes at Didcot. My weekend parking costs rose 65%!

Thanks,

Max