London Bridge to Gatwick train
 

Hi All,

Once again, I need your help. I want to travel on 10/31 around 11 PM from London Bridge to Gatwick. Should I buy my ticket in advance? If so, what type of ticket should I buy so I am not locked in to a specific train time? Is London Bridge Station safe?

Thanks to all who are shaping my trip.

Buy your ticket when you walk into the station. London Bridge is no more or less safe than anywhere else in London.

Breathe.

These trains do not have reserved seats, so tickets are not linked to a specific train and do not need to be bought in advance. There seem to be some cheaper fares if you change trains, but the one-way fare for the direct trains at 2241 and 2311 is £9.80. See www.nationalrail.co.uk for details. It might be better to buy the tickets earlier in the day as there may not be many staff on duty late at night. The station is a big one used by many commuters, but take the usual precautions.

I guess I'm a bit confused. If I buy a ticket ahead of time, will I be able to use it on any train the evening of 10/31?

Tickets for journeys like these are not for a train at a specific time. They are like tickets for the subway, metro or underground: the ticket is not for a departure at a specific time and, if you miss one train, you can catch the next one or the one after that. The ticket will carry a date and you must travel on that date so, if you bought it in advance, you would need to specify the date, but there is no reason to buy in advance.

There's no point buying in advance. You can just get one from a ticket machine.

I think I would prefer to buy in advance. I don't want to be fumbling by a ticket machine late at night in a foreign country. So just to confirm, if I purchased the "standard day single" would I be able to travel on any of the trains gong direct from London Bridge Station to Gatwick on the evening of Oct. 31?

London Bridge is one of the main train and tube stations/hubs, so it's a huge station and is well-lit with lots of shops; even though most of the shops will be closed at 11pm, there will still be lots of people around.

The only way to confirm the validity of a ticket is to look at www.nationalrail.co.uk or any of the train companies' web sites. Nobody on this forum will know all the schedules and ticket validity rules without consulting such a web site. The tickets are definitely not tied to trains at specific times. You won't need to go to London Bridge to buy the ticket: you could buy it at any other station with a ticket office.

How involved is getting from the tube at London Bridge to the train platform to Gatwick? Stairs? Much distance? All escalators?

From the Northern Line there are (if memory serves) about a dozen stairs, but from there, there are escalators.

From the Jubilee Line there are escalators all the way.

From the surface station entrance to the platforms for Gatwick, you might have to walk up a long-ish slope, depending on which train leaves next.