Trying to work out the cheapest way to visit London from Martins Heron (MAO)

[aaronjb]

Hello all.. I thought I'd stop in here and see if anyone knows the answer to this, and if not I suspect I'll have to go and ask someone in a station somewhere

I live a nice 10 minute walk from Martins Heron (MAO) station on the Reading->Waterloo line run by South West Trains, and this summer some friends of mine are coming to visit and spend a couple of weeks exploring London (having lived here for 10 years, I suppose it's about time I did the tourist thing! )

I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way of doing this.. I think it's going to be to buy 7 day travel cards (which you can't do at MAO, sadly) for the national rail part of the journey and for some London Underground zones.

But I was also wondering about the Oyster card; however having read the Oyster website and downloaded the Oyster Map I'll be darned if I can work out whether Oyster works out as far as Martins Heron, because it's off the edge of the map..


Does anyone know?


Thanks! And apologies if I'm totally misusing this forum I figured I might be in the right place, since a google search for "Martins Heron Oyster Card" turned up a thread here


Aaron

 

[yorkie]

You may be best off with GroupSave to Surbiton (7 or 8 people for the price of 4), then All Zones Travelcards... or if you only want to go round central London then maybe Group Save all the way to London then just a Zone 1/2 Travelcard.

A Super Off Peak Day Return (assuming you are travelling at a weekend? it's a bit useless for a day out on a weekday due to peak restrictions though) to Surbiton is £17.60 for a group of 3 or 4 people, and to London the price is £21.00 for a group of 3 or 4 people.

A Zone 1-2 Travelcard is £5.60 per person, and an all Zones travelcard is £7.50 per person.

If you are travelling on a weekday and leaving MAO between 0930 and 1200 and/or coming back from London between 1600 & 1900 then you need Off Peak Day tickets instead, these are priced at £22.40 for a group of 3/4 people to Surbiton, or £30.40 for a group of 3/4 people to London.

 

[aaronjb]

Thanks for the response yorkie Much appreciated.

I should have said; there'll be two of us (myself included) for the first week - mostly travelling during the week rather than the weekend, and three or four of us for the second week (again, travelling in during the week rather than the weekend). I suspect we'll end up heading into London around 10am and back late at night, most days.

Having travelled around Taiwan and Tokyo a little with these folks, I suspect we'll be doing mostly walking and very little underground/bus travel in London; so perhaps it'll be cheaper to get Oyster/Visitor Oyster cards for in London and a Friends & Family Network Railcard for a discount on single fares into Waterloo/Surbiton?

 

[thefab444]

Bear in mind that if you are going to use a Family & Friends railcard you'll need to have at least one person with you eligible for child fares.

A Network Railcard would do the job but this has a minimum fare of £13 on weekdays and can only be used by the holder not as a group (AFAIK).

 

[aaronjb]

Damn! Didn't spot that about the Family & Friends railcard.. I thought it was a suspiciously good deal, somehow..

[edit] Aha, but the Network Railcard does also say;

The added benefit is that up to three adults can travel with you and they will also get 1/3 off their rail fare. Plus, you can take up to four children (aged 5 to 15 years) with you and save 60% on each child fare.

So it looks like that'll do the job, and since I doubt we'll make it in to London every day of the week (I'll be cream crackered if we do! ) that'll be the cheapest way I reckon.

 

[yorkie]

You can use a Network Railcard to buy a Travelcard from Martins Heron to London Zones 1-6 for £13.00* per person. You'll need 2 of these for 7 people (maximum would be 4 on each card. The grand total is £91.00 for 7 people per trip. It is valid on the 0905 from Martins Heron to Waterloo, so should suit your needs. Obviously you have to budget for the cost of the railcard too.

Depending on where in London you are going, you may wish to pay an additional £2.50 for a Route Any Permitted ticket, this allows travel via Reading on the 0906 from Martins Heron, this connects with High Speed Trains from Reading to London, for example the 0937 from Reading to Paddington, due in at 1009.

* The price reduces to £12.75 at weekends.

 

[thefab444]

Ah, so the Network Card does have a group discount.

 

[Matt Taylor]

Surbiton is of no use in this instance, the first station in Z6 if travelling from MAO is Feltham.

 

[yorkie]

Surbiton is of no use in this instance, the first station in Z6 if travelling from MAO is Feltham.

Ah yes, I should have checked a map!

I think Group Save is better, as it's only £20 for a group of 4 people for an Off Peak Day Return from Martins Heron to Feltham - that's only £5 each. Then add £7.50 each for Travelcards, that's £12.50 each, cheaper than a Network Railcard discounted ticket and with no requirement to buy a railcard.