Gatwick Express Tickets
 

Hello
My wife and I are going to the olympics next week and staying at the Gatwick Hilton for 6 nights . I was thinking of buying weekly season pass tickets online from the Gatwick express for 67.10 pounds per person . Does anyone know is that a round trip ticket and is this cheapest way to travel between Gatwick and Victoria ?

If it's a season ticket, it will cover as many journeys as you like for the period it lasts, but you may well get things cheaper from the companies which run the regular commuter trains, rather than the Gatwick Express.

Then there is the question, which commuter service - trains go from Gatwick not only to Victoria but also to London Bridge (Southern do both of those), and through London Bridge to the other side of London (First Capital Connect). If you want to go out to Olympic Park (I'm not entirely clear if it's possible for people to get into Olympic Park without a ticket), then it would save you some time to go via London Bridge.

Check out rates, timings, etc., at www.nationalrail.co.uk

Thanks for your advice , I do have tickets to different events in the Olympic Park . My plan is to go to London Olympic Park every day around 8:30am and come back late at night . I will check the Southern Trains and their prices . Regardless I should buy them in advance online ?

For a season ticket, I don't think there's much saving to buying in advance online, but the National Rail website should advise.

On the other hand, if the main focus is to get to Olympic Park, is there really no alternative accommodation closer? You're in for a long commute time at peak hours (allow an hour in total).

If you have to stay all that way out of London, then I'd suggest you make sure you try to get a season ticket that's valid for both Southern and FCC, to maximise your choice of trains. I believe it may be easier to get that sorted online.

agarwal, if you have already purchased to an olympic event you would have received a complimentary travel card that covers zones 1 to 9 on the day of the event. So you may not need to purchase tickets after all. So its best that you check this out.

>>So you may not need to purchase tickets after all.<<

There isn't a travelcard that covers travel from outside London (as Gatwick is - another argument for checking to see if there is any accommodation within a more reasonable travelling distance).

"My wife and I are going to the olympics next week and staying at the Gatwick Hilton for 6 nights"

Why are you staying all the way out there?

Gatwick is 30+ miles south of London and miles farther from any Olympics venue. It is a VERY inconvenient base for daily trips in to the city.

I wouldn't - even if it was free.

The cheapest way I know of is easybus, as low as below 3 pounds per person each way.... but it takes about an hour and is a LONG way. I would also try to stay closer.

I'm not sure it's true that, in your case, "you may well get things cheaper from the companies which run the regular commuter trains" . You may also not need a season ticket to Victoria.

For days you've got tickets for, you've got a free ticket for the whole TfL system. All trains from Gatwick, except the Gatwick Express, call at East Croydon, which is also a TfL station. So you need only buy a train ticket to there (assuming you're not getting the Gatwick Express).

If you've not got tickets for every day you're here, and you want to go into London on your "days off", it might well be cheaper to buy a weekly season into London, or it might be cheaper to buy a season to East Croydon and use an Oystercard, or individual daily Travelcards, for the days off. That depends on the days you're "off", what you want to do and the time of day you intend travelling.

You certainly SHOULDN'T buy online - nor accept advice on this forum. You should explain EXACTLY what you want to do to the ticket seller at Gatwick (not "a season ticket", but "I've got zone 1-9 travelcards for x days, but want to go into London on y days: what should I get?") and follow their advice.

As a near-general rule, the complexities of London suburban travel fares are so great, and the expertise and objectivity of ticket sellers so outstanding, amateur advisors on this forum simply aren't able to compete with the people who are paid to answer your question.