Travel to London - Questions, Questions

I'm interviewing for a position in NW London next week and I'm a bit nervous about transportation.  A season ticket from Reading to London, inclusive of zones 1-6, is  £324. This is an enormous amount of money and certainly more than the London Allowance of, what? £2500? Is there any cheaper way? Driving isn't an option, but is ~£3800/yr really the best deal? I'm stupefied. Any suggestions on how others get into London w/o having to sell their firstborn would be greatly appreciated!!

~Michelle

Er, I don't think there's much you can do.

It depends how much you value your sanity. Depending where in NW London, you could reduce the cost by taking the teeth-rattling slow train to Waterloo, change at Clapham junction and then get onto the Watford train, thus missing out zone 1 and this'll knock the price down a bit.

Either than that, I do know somebody that goes on the bus (www.nationalexpress.co.uk) every day, but he's almost zen-like in his calm.

Or, you could get an annual ticket. Which works out cheaper, but you need to remorgage to afford the upfront cost.

They've put up barriers at Reading now, so the suggestion I couldn't possible make about not paying and just dealing with the fine when you get hit once a month, doesn't work anymore......

I travel Reading to London as well, but haven't found a way to get around the cost 

I have a colleague who travels in from Reading, she has been driving in to the edge of London, parking the car and then tubing it, which she says works out a bit cheaper than the train but the whole journey takes her about 2 hours each way, whereas train+tube would probably take about an hour.  I used to commute in from Maidenhead and hated it but hundreds must do it judging by how packed the rush hour trains are. Try and negotiate yourself a higher salary to take account of it maybe?

A lot of companies will give their members of staff an interest free annual season ticket loan...  it gets deducted from your salary monthly.   You're still paying for it, obviously, but always i feel it doesnt hurt as badly when they deduct it from your wages from the very start. 

Cheers, guys. I think the cost of travel will definitely be a factor in whether or not I actually want the job. I did wonder about company subsidies but as the job is within the NHS, I have my doubts. The idea of upping the salary a bit is a good idea as well but I wonder if it's a set band (I think it may be, unfortunately). I'm really dismayed . . . this could be a really wonderful job but if I can't manage the transportation, forget it.
Thanks for the replies!