David wrote:

After a few weeks of getting back to work after the Christmas break,
and with the closure of the ELL for over 2 years - what alternatives
are found to be the best ? I need to get from Green Park to SE4 1UY,
previously Jubilee to Canada Water, ELL to NewX Gate and bus to
SE4. I could take the 436 us from Hyde Park Corner - door to door,
but journey over an hour most times.


So the destination is somewhere on or just off Lewisham Way, between
Tanners Hill and Friendly Street...


I've tried Jubilee to Canary Wharf, walk to Heron Quays, DLR to
Deptford Bridge, and walk.


The above sounds like quite a good route to me.

An alternative would be to take the Jubilee to Canada Water, then the
ELC replacement bus to New Cross, and get off the bus on New Cross Rd
opposite New Cross station and walk up via Alpha Road and Florence
Road to Lewisham Way. The ELC buses go every 5 minutes during peak
times, and every 8-10 minutes at other times, and from what I gather
they are reliable, though of course they are at the mercy of traffic
conditions. You can but try it.

Or you could take the Victoria line from Green Park to Vauxhall then
the 436 from there, which would cut out a bit of the bus journey (but
not that much).


The Tfl Journey Planner site seems to always advise, Jubilee from
Green Park to London Bridge, then a Southern service to New X Gate, or
Southeastern to New Cross - - but Pay as You Go OYSTERS are invalid
for this . Any thoughts ?


Oyster Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) is indeed not valid on southbound rail
services from London Bridge - so if you want to go by mainline rail
you'll need to buy a paper ticket. How often do you make this journey,
and when do you travel?

If it is just occasionally, and is before 0930, then you can buy a
Peak Day Travelcard for zones 1&2 from Green Park (if that is indeed
your starting point) - it costs £6.80. If you are travelling after
0930, an off-peak Day Travelcard for zones 1&2 will do - that costs
£5.30.

If you make this return journey four or more times a week then a
weekly, monthly or longer season Travelcard would be worthwhile.

The alternative of buying separate tickets for the rail journey is not
worthwhile - a single costs £2.30, a return £4 and a cheap-day return
(available if you departed from London Bridge after 0930) is £3.20
(the fares to New Cross, New Cross Gate or St Johns are the same,
though the tickets are not interchangeable).

Alternatively if you wish to keep the expense down then either going
via the Jubilee and then DLR to Deptford Bridge, or via the Jubilee
then the replacement bus, will cost you £2 (weekdays 7am-7pm) or £1.50
(at other times) for a single journey using Oyster PAYG.

By the way, if you don't want the TfL Journey Planner to show you
routes that involve travelling by mainline rail (aka National Rail)
then you can select this under "Advanced options".

Lastly, there's one other completely different route you could try -
though again you'd need a separate ticket or Travelcard. You could
take the Victoria line to Victoria, then the half-hourly Southeastern
service to Lewisham (final destination Dartford), then take one of
many buses (136, 436, 21 or 321) up Loampit Vale, Loampit Hill and
Lewisham Way.