Travelling from Gatwick to Wembley - via train and subway..

[garjobo123]

Hello,

Im not sure this forum is alive and kicking or not, some messages appear July!

Im coming from Ireland, so Londonium and all its tubes etc a bit of a brainache - although there are plenty of sites etc re advice.

Just asking, the best way to get from Gatwick to Wembely ( i think there are 2 train stations/ subways? in Wembely..looking not at the one to the actual football grounds but the other one )

Easy to literally walk out of Gatwick? , pay as you go?, onto a 'train' bound for....Pidicilly? and then get that to Wembley?  Simply or could go wrong?

Costly?   I will be going London, theatres, a couple times, so not sure best price/card/zones???  

Thoughts welcome.

( obviously keen to ensure i get back from Wembley to Gatwick in time for plane ..so again, looking at best options...and hoping to avoid all these pesky strikes malarky!  )

[Nortube]

This is a long comment, and may be a bit disorganised because I’ve been adding to it as I’m going along. Also, spellchecker’s not working .  I’ve included some links that may be useful, sorry they’re not embedded – just copy and paste.

Getting the train from Gatwick is easy, the station is right outside the terminal. All trains are main line (NR).
The best site to look for train times is Realtime Trains:
www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:GTW

All fares should be paid before you get on the train / tube, either via by swiping an Oyster / Contactless card, or buying a ticket. Buses only accept Oyster / Contactless – no cash. Or non-contactless bank cards.

The NR site gives fares and times, plus disruption status (known strike dates should be on here) The Journey planner will let you see the times and ticket price options:
www.nationalrail.co.uk/service_disruptions/today.aspx

London Victoria is the best destination – just look for Victoria on the platform describer
There are frequent trains to Victoria from Gatwick, the fastest (and most expensive) is the Gatwick Express service (GX). Only tickets bought for Gatwick Express are valid on Gatwick Express. If you get on a GX train with the wrong ticket, you will probably be charged the full GX fare.
If using an Oyster / Contactless on GX, you will be charged the higher GX fare when you pass through the barrier – see the Gatwick Oyster link below. There is no GX discount when using Oyster, the full £20.xx(?) fare will be taken from Oyster.

Although they might be cheaper, I’d advise against booking an Advanced ticket in advance. These limit you to a specific train trip and will not be valid if you miss the train.

You can buy the NR ticket to Victoria from Gatwick booking office. Not sure if you can include the underground fare from Victoria to Wembley, or if you will have to buy a separate ticket at Victoria underground station.

Underground PayAsYouGo fares are very expensive, and an Oyster will work out cheaper. However, it depends on what travelling you will be doing. An Oyster card costs £7 (this is no longer a refundable deposit) and you then top that up with whatever amount you want. It may well be that if you are only making 2 tube journeys (Victoria to Wembley, Wembley to Victoria), then paying PAYG for those 2 trips will be cheaper than paying £7 for the Oyster card and the top-up you will need to cover those 2 journeys at the cheaper Oyster price.

If you are looking at making any bus trips, then an Oyster is really the only way as buses do not accept payments. A contactless bank card can be used in the same way as an Oyster card, and at the same fare as an Oyster, but I don’t know if all contactless cards are valid (e.g. an Irish bank card).

You don’t need to register the Oyster / Contactless (although an account may be useful).
The balance on an Oyster always remains there for use at any time in the future – there is no time limit.

Just been looking into this more:
Oyster cards and contactless cards are valid at Gatwick, and it appears that the saving using one of these could be about £9 (£9 Oyster fare compared to £18.xx PAYG fare) see link:
ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/GTW/VIC/today/1130/dep#jp-get-oyster-contactless

As long as you can buy an Oyster card at Gatwick then, even with the £7 cost for the card, then this would be the cheapest and simplest way because you can then top it up with the cost of the fare to Victoria and Victoria to Wembley (double the top-up amount to include the return journeys). This would mean that you wouldn’t have to mess around getting tickets at Victoria / Wembley.

One important thing to remember with Oyster / Contactless is to always touch out at the other end. Always touch out, even if the barrier is open. Otherwise you may be liable to a maximum fare for an uncompleted journey, which will be expensive.

Oyster cards can be topped up at any underground statiion, most NR stations (via the ticket machines) and many shops.


You will need to get an NR train to London, then the tube from there. I’m assuming that you will go to Victoria and then to Wembley Central.
There are two options:
Victoria line to Oxford Circus, then Bakerloo line to Wembley Central, OR
Victoria line to Euston, then Overground to Wembley Central

If you want Wembley Park, then:

Victoria line to Green Park, then Jubilrr line Wembley Park

Victoria line to Oxford Circus, then Bakerloo line to Baker Street, then Metropolitan line to Wembley Park

One other option, is getting off the NR at Clapham Junction (before it reaches Victoria), then getting a NR train from ClJ to Wembley Central (it terminates at Watford Junction). This will be quicker (and probably cheaper). HOWEVER, they are only one per hour and totally unreliable, being cancelled for the slightest thing.

Just re-read you post and I see that you’ll be going to other places as well. In that case, an Oster is probably the best bet.
When using Oyster / contactless, there is a cap (maximum that you will pay for that day) depending on the zones you’ve gone through. The anytime zone 1 - 2 cap is £7.70. Zone 1 - 4 is £11.
The fare system is a little complicated and because I get free travel, I’ve never paid much attention to it.
Fares can vary depending on whether it is peak time (morning and evening), I don’t think these caps include bus fares (there is a separate bus cap), unless using a travel card. See the different fares sections in thelink below.
Note – the NR Oyster fare from Gatwick is not included in the zones.



TfL (Tube and Overground) status link:
tfl.gov.uk/tube-dlr-overground/status/?cid=pp028

CartoMetro London map:
cartometro.com/metro-tram-london/

TfL tube / zone maps etc.
tfl.gov.uk/maps/track/tube

TfL fares:
tfl.gov.uk/fares/

Oyster and Gatwick / Gatwick Express:
www.gatwickexpress.com/tickets/buy-tickets/oyster-and-contactless/oyster

Apparently you can buy an Oyster card at Gatwick:
www.visitlondon.com/traveller-information/getting-around-london/oyster-faqs/which-card-to-buy

[garjobo123]

THANK YOU for taking the time and trouble with this reply. I will be reading it, and printing as clearly goes into a lot of details.

I think i may of 'just assumed' travel was going to be ok - and not properly thought about it, as booking to see a few shows ( for daughter ) and literally, 'rushing' from one show in Wemberly to London WestEnd. I see Wemberly tubes seem to stop around 5pm!!!! , i was hoping be running till late evening..getting back from London 10.30pm..bit worring prospect.

But, i will fully read your reply / links and hopefully sort out any issues, avoiding cost of taxis etc, buses might have to be.

Thank you again.

[garjobo123]

Sorry just to add..i see your saying Oyster...and i will be looking at that. Thanks for looking re Oyster at Gatwick, so appears then that do save a little perhaps.  I think, see as might have to get buses ..Oyster be the way to go.

Do tubes from/to Wemberly really stop around 6ish!  


If staying, Wemberley for 4 days, Gatwick there and back, and heading into London twice and back.

Seeing as unsure of tubes/times as mentioned ( i think we are missing the 'strikes' and 'bad weather' but aware knockon effects. To keep it simple as possible ( daughter particular is a nervous traveller and less hanging around the better ), worth just getting 2 Oyster cards ( able to use on buses, tubes,trains ), so that way..none of this messing about with 'zone 1 and zone 2 etc...

Going into London only to WestEnd part i imagine, a couple of theatres.

( having now read/links..Oyster is a little confusing..i am coming from the Sticks so to speak, Ireland, so althogh London not new, with kids in tow , really keen to ensure little issues as possible let alone budget. )

So, you can buy Oyster from Gatwick ( but also says, although advertised, gatwick express is not included) ..im sure read this wrong. Also the topup..surely £7.50 etc isnt going to get my very far...i would like to just stick £40 on it, for the 4days, each, and then just forget about it. 

Finally, Oyster, mentioned about 'posting out to you'  ..i will read more/but assuming you can just turnup and buy on..just aware, with possible delays..getting lost/where to go etc

[Nortube]

Train finish times at Wembley Central / Wembley Park should be normal, like any other station (unless there is engineering work etc. going on, and that would rarely occur on weekdays)
e.g., entering from Oxford Circus to Wembley Park on 20 December at 23:45 shows trains.

Oyster is definitely the way to go – cheaper and convenient. Just remember to ALWAYS touch IN at the start and then OUT at the end of the journey. (buses and trams are touch IN only).

The £7 is the cost of the Oyster card (or ‘fee’ as TfL put it!). The top-up is on top of that. Therefore, if you’re buying a new Oyster card and want £40 top-up, the total cost will be £47.

£40 top-up should be fine, you can always add more if you find that you might need it.

The card balance is usually shown on the display as you pass through the barrier. The card balance can be checked by tapping on the card reader on any TfL ticket machine (or a machine at NR stations that allow you to top up). Unless passing through a barrier, DO NOT tap the card to check the balance. That will be treated as the start of a new journey.

On buses and trams, you can make as many journeys as you want in an hour for one single fare. The last journey must start within the hour, but can end any time after that. A bus fare is £1.65. 

Gatwick and Oyster
When you go through the station entry ticket barriers using Oyster, it will be registered that you started the journey at Gatwick. There are no separate Gatwick Express barriers at Gatwick, so check with the train indicator that the train is the normal service to Victoria (unless you want to go via GX which, personally, I don’t think is worth it for the sake of arriving a few minutes earlier!)

When you go through the exit barriers at Victoria NR station, it is then registered that your trip has ended and deduct the fare accordingly. Gatwick Express have separate GX ticket barriers at Victoria and passing through them will deduct the higher (around £20?) GX fare.
This arrangement means that Oyster is accepted as a payment for using GX, but it relates to that journey only.
Exiting through the usual NR barriers at Victoria, then going through Victoria Underground station barriers, appears to be counted as a continuation of the same journey from Gatwick.

Off-peak single journey fares using Oyster from Gatwick to Wembley Park:
The NR journey planner shows Gatwick to Victoria £9
TfL fare finder shows Victoria underground to Wembley Park £3.10
Total cost £12.10
However, the TfL fare finder shows £11.50 for the complete journey, thus saving 60p :-)

I’ve used Victoria as the main line destination from Gatwick because of the convenience, but there is another option which is via London Bridge as shown in the link below

tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/results?InputFrom=London+Gatwick+Airport&FromId=1000932&InputTo=Wembley+Park+Underground+Station&ToId=1000257


Personally, I wouldn’t get an Oyster by post, far too unreliable.
They can be bought from Gatwick
from Visit London.com:
“Gatwick London Airport – exit through Customs and buy an Oyster card at the Concierge outlets in Gatwick North Terminal or Gatwick South Terminal, at the Skybreak Service Centre in both terminals or at the Gatwick Airport train station. “



TfL Oyster card info:
tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/pay-as-you-go/oyster-pay-as-you-go?intcmp=55536

TfL Journey planner
- gives an indication, but not always reliable as some options are sometimes missed out, and not always logical
E.g., in the journey planner link above to Wembley Park via London Bridge, it states changing from the Jubilee line at Finchley Road and getting the Metropolitan line. However, the Jubilee train also stops at Wembley Park, so why change trains and hand around?
tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/