Fao Buenchico Or Anyone Else Who Knows

[bednobs]

am going to london thurs by train. Two stations i could go from either get into paddington or waterloo. How come the paddington line charges you extra for coming back at 4pm whereas te waterloo line doesnt seem to?

[Buenchico]

I'm struggling to make much sense of your question, as I can't think of anywhere that you could be starting from that offers nearby routes into both Waterloo or Paddington. (I thought that you're in the Portsmouth area, which would offer you plenty of South Western trains into Waterloo, plus a smaller number of Southern services into Victoria. I'm unaware of any routes into Paddington from that part of the world).

Peak time restrictions do vary greatly between different routes though, so I'm not unsurprised that there might be some differences. (They usually only cut in from around 1630 onwards but there might be some variations).

If you tell me which stations are accessible from where you live, together with a rough indication of the times that you want to travel at, I'll try to provide you with your best travel options.

[bednobs]

the 2 stations i could use re basingstoke or newbury. Leave at 10, return at 5. newbury-padington is twice as much as basing-waterloo. F+F railcard

[bednobs]

2 adults, 1 child btw

newbs is over 100 quid, basing is 45 ish. But why?

[bednobs]

sorr i wasnt clearer BTW - the 2 stations i mention at the non-london end are stations i could reasonable easily get public transport to

[puzzled54]

Sometimes the slower trains are cheaper

[douglas9401]

I can't help with the logistics but thank you for the heads-up on rail pricing.

I'll keep driving.

[Zacs-Master]

And ones from more popular, central stations, dearer.

[bednobs]

neither of them are slower really, they both take just under an hour

[Atheist]

It's the rail companies who decide the pricing, not the station you arrive at. Lovely, isn't it, all this privatisation and competition in search of efficiency and benefit to the general public!

[Buenchico]

That's odd! I'm seeing cheaper deals from Newbury than from Basingstoke!

The best deal I can find is to buy Advance tickets from Newbury into Paddington at 0925 (arriving 1029) for £44.50 (one way) for all three people.

Pair that with Advance tickets for £26.00 (for all three people) for the return journey, leaving at 1707, 1736 or 1804. That gives you £70.50 in total.

Those tickets make use of regular 'Advance Single' fares outbound but a 'Fixed Family Single' fare for the return journey. If you can get out of bed earlier, allowing you to have much more time in London, you could take advantage of the 'Fixed Family Single' £26.00 fare outbound by travelling on 0753 service from Newbury (arriving into Paddington at 0854), giving you a total return fare (for all three people) of just £52.00.