On 15 Jan, 23:22, Will wrote:

In article ,
says...

"Will" wrote:

Thanks for the replies so far. The friends are leaving from Polegate
('twixt
Hasting and Eastbourne) area. Looking at the map, there's a station at
Sanderstead (which would take them to Victoria) that looks a
possibility --
anyone know that area? Any idea too of the taxi fare from Victoria
station to
Queen's Gate (2.5 miles, apparently)? TIA

So why don't they just catch the train from Polegate to Victoria (every
30 mins). I don't see the point of driving to some random station on the
outskirts of London and then getting the train from there.

Peter Smyth

Thanks for further replies. Perhaps I should have pointed out that
there's four of them and that they're travelling at peak time (to arrive
at Queen's Gate at 9-9.30am for a visa application) so part-drive seemed
to them to be the cheaper option. Perhaps, though, I should look up
rail advance booking for them instead.


OK, so travelling during peak time, ouch! A somewhat less than ideal
situation but there you go, the real world is all about less than
ideal situations!

We'll get one thing out of the way to begin with - there aren't any
Advance fares available on the line from Polegate ("Advance fares/
tickets" are what all advance purchase tickets are now called
regardless of train company). Firstly, generally in the south east the
railways don't go in for cheapo Advance fares for specific trains,
though Southern have just made them available on a few routes - see:
http://www.southernrailway.com/main.php?page_id=499

Secondly cheapo Advance fares elsewhere on the railways (e.g. on
intercity routes) are generally available for off-peak journeys as
opposed to those during peak times, i.e. at times when the train
company wants to get bums on seats and has spare capacity. That said
there are sometimes Advance fares for peak time(-ish) journeys so it's
worth checking anyway.

So looking at normal fares - the 'Anytime' (valid morning peak hours)
adult return fare from Polegate to London is £42.60, child fare is
£21.30. If one gets an inclusive Anytime Day Travelcard then it is
£46.30 for an adult, £23.15 for a child.

If they were to be travelling on the Tube *or* on the bus and none of
them was in possession of an Oyster card then the Anytime Day
Travelcard *from* Polegate is the ticket they'd want (it is combined
return ticket to Polegate plus unlimited travel in London that day on
buses, Tubes and trains - and as it is the 'Anytime' version then,
you'll never guess, it is valid any time including the morning peak).

If one were to get closer to London then the price of the fare will
come down. If they were to get on a train within the London zones then
again they'd still want an Anytime Day Travelcard as opposed to buying
separate rail and Tube or bus. The price of a zones 1-6 Anytime Day
Travelcard would be £14.30 for an adult, £7.40 for a child - though if
the child was under 11 then they can travel free on the Tube or the
bus, in which case they'd just need an Anytime return rail ticket for
£4.90.

You can see what stations fall within the London zones on this map -
all the stations that are within the coloured shaded bands are within
zones 1-6 (PDF):
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system...onnections.pdf

Of course there's the issue of where to park, and furthermore the
issue of actually getting into London, even the outskirts, during the
morning rush hour when a whole lot of other people are attempting to
do the same. It's not impossible of course, and obviously the earlier
one travels on the roads the better, but it's not something I'd be
over joyous about! I suppose that looking to park at a station car
park would be one option, though these will generally cost (especially
the closer one gets to London) and can fill up pretty early with
commuters too.

Information on car parking can be found on Southern's website he
http://www.southernrailway.com/car_parking.php

If they were travelling off-peak (basically after 0930 though
sometimes earlier on some routes) then things would be rather cheaper
as one could buy Off-Peak fares (both from Polegate and within
London), and also benefit from Railcard discounts (if anyone in the
party held a Railcard) and possibly benefit from GroupSave discounts
as well.

Hope that is of some help.


P.S. I forgot to mention earlier about the free bus travel for those
60+, anyone who holds a concessionary National Bus Pass for England
can get free bus travel in London as they can anywhere else in England
so this might change the calculations a little on whether to buy
Travelcards or not if there were enough members of the party who had
such a pass and were willing to travel by bus.