Newton Abbot <-> Paddington fortnightly

[whole diary]

[sssofff]

Hi there,

I am moving to Newton Abbot in the new year and planning to travel into London 2 or 3 times per month, travelling out early on a Thursday and coming back late on a Friday. I had thought that a flexible season ticket might be the way to go for that frequency, but the prices seem super high to me at ~£1400 per month (probably a consequence of my naivity). Is there a more economical way to do that route than a flexible season ticket given that I won't know in advance which specific weeks in the month I'll want to travel.

Thanks for your help, and merry Christmas.

[ChrisB]

Probably find going up latish on the Wednesday & staying somewhere cheap overnight (same place as the Thursday?) would be cheaper than the early Thursday dash

[PhilWakely]

Probably find going up latish on the Wednesday & staying somewhere cheap overnight (same place as the Thursday?) would be cheaper than the early Thursday dash

I tend to agree with ChrisB. However, what time do you need to be in London and do you qualify for a railcard? 

[eXPassenger]

It will be cheaper to buy a single up and another single back since up will be peak and down will be offpeak or super offpeak.  Depending on how long in advance you know the dates there may be advance tickets available.
Note that at the moment GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will allow advance tickets to be changed to a different train or type.

At the moment if you travelled on 14/15 Januaey the cost would be:

Up:
06:25 Standard return      £281.80
06:25 Advance single         £62.10
06:25 Anytime single       £140.90

Down:
17:36 Advance single          £62.10
18:04 Advance single          £74:50
18:04 Off peak single          £82.40
19:04 Advance single          £36:40
19:04 Super offpeak single  £59:70


It will also be cheaper if you split the ticket and their are specialists on this site who can advise you.

[TaplowGreen]

Hi there,

I am moving to Newton Abbot in the new year and planning to travel into London 2 or 3 times per month, travelling out early on a Thursday and coming back late on a Friday. I had thought that a flexible season ticket might be the way to go for that frequency, but the prices seem super high to me at ~£1400 per month (probably a consequence of my naivity). Is there a more economical way to do that route than a flexible season ticket given that I won't know in advance which specific weeks in the month I'll want to travel.

Thanks for your help, and merry Christmas.

Driving to Tiverton Parkway and picking up the train from there is an option I know a lot of people take - saves time and probably money too.

[eXPassenger]

Hi there,

I am moving to Newton Abbot in the new year and planning to travel into London 2 or 3 times per month, travelling out early on a Thursday and coming back late on a Friday. I had thought that a flexible season ticket might be the way to go for that frequency, but the prices seem super high to me at ~£1400 per month (probably a consequence of my naivity). Is there a more economical way to do that route than a flexible season ticket given that I won't know in advance which specific weeks in the month I'll want to travel.

Thanks for your help, and merry Christmas.

Driving to Tiverton Parkway and picking up the train from there is an option I know a lot of people take - saves time and probably money too.

The other advantage of Tiverton is that you can use the Plymouth / Cornwall trains as well as the Paignton trains.

[sssofff]

It will be cheaper to buy a single up and another single back since up will be peak and down will be offpeak or super offpeak.  Depending on how long in advance you know the dates there may be advance tickets available.
Note that at the moment GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will allow advance tickets to be changed to a different train or type.

At the moment if you travelled on 14/15 Januaey the cost would be:

Up:
06:25 Standard return      £281.80
06:25 Advance single         £62.10
06:25 Anytime single       £140.90

Down:
17:36 Advance single          £62.10
18:04 Advance single          £74:50
18:04 Off peak single          £82.40
19:04 Advance single          £36:40
19:04 Super offpeak single  £59:70


It will also be cheaper if you split the ticket and their are specialists on this site who can advise you.

This is fantastic. Thank you. I will use this as the basis for some more searching. I am pretty flexible on the time of day I travel so it’s good to know that there is a good spread of options and price points.

[sssofff]

Driving to Tiverton Parkway and picking up the train from there is an option I know a lot of people take - saves time and probably money too.

I don’t drive and it looks a bit far to cycle, but I’ll take a look at routes via Tiverton to see if that opens up some options too. Thank you.