Paul Scott wrote:

Thanks for your reply - I looked into it. Its pretty grim reading and
would cost me over double and take longer to tube from Wimbledon rather
than SWT from CLJ to RMD so its not worth it...


That's odd - I looked at an Effingham Junction to Surbiton weeekly season
(£30ish) + and an all zones travelcard season(£40 odd) - [1], it certainly
wasn't twice what you are paying now (£60odd?), and don't forget an all
zones travelcard season is usable on SWT from Surbiton - CJ - Richmond, it
is only PAYG that isn't available.

[1] because I couldn't look up the price of an EJ - 'all zones' 7 day
travelcard on the net.


Thanks both Pauls for looking. Its made me look again.

I do need to be able to have the flexibility to go via Epsom sometimes
because of the train times home its always nice to be able to get off a
Dorking train at Leatherhead or a Guildford via Epsom train at Bookham.
I also quite often return from Farringdon on FCC to Wimbledon, instead
of using the bus from Waterloo. (Try it sometime - if you're at
Farringdon it can be often be quicker on FCC to Wimbledon than getting
to Waterloo to get to Wimbledon).

So I *think* the optimum tickets would be :-

An EFF to WIM weekly at 40.20 (valid via Surbiton or Epsom according to
journey planner)
A Z1-Z4 TravelCard at 34.60 (valid WIM-CLJ-RMD on SWT cos its not payg,
valid WIM-ZFD on FCC, Valid WIM-London Termnals, Valid Wim DistrictLine
Z1-4)
Total 74.80 per week

Compared to now which is usually:

EFF-London Terminals Peak 12.90 x 2 = 25.80
EFF-RMD Not Via London Peak 11.60 x 2 23.20
4 buses (521 and 38 :-)) 3.00cap x2 = 6.00
Total 55

So the question is whether the extra twenty quid is worth the benefits
of being able to ride at will on my free day and the weekend and take as
many bus and tube rides as I can travelcard my way to....

Id be interested if theres a better way and I really appreciate anyone
whos replied. I didnt understand that non payg could use SWT for example
- thats a huge misunderstanding on my part and Ive been using these
trains for 30 years....

On balance I think it *is* worth it for me to have all that flexibility.

mf