Cheapest way of traveling to London from Kent?

Hi guys,

Long story short here:

I'm transfering over to a uni in London and DH has been accepted for a master's at Uni. of kent (canterbury campus) and we're looking for an inbetween place to live. DH has a car so problem solved for that but I've got to take public transport. Rent is generally cheaper in Kent from what I've seen so we'll probably try living somewhere closer to his uni.

So my question is, are there any semester passes I can buy to take the train from Kent to London everyday? I've checked daily fares and they are 20 bucks a pop! Just wondering if there's a cheaper option that I'm missing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

What about buses? For example: http://www.thetravellink.co.uk/

I'm not familiar with London or anything, but do you already have a 16-25 Railcard?  They save a ton of money.  I'm not sure if it would help with a monthly pass or anything like that, but they're just generally really handy and pay for themselves in no time.

You can get  train "season tickets" which offer a saving compared with buying daily tickets. This is what commuters do. For example the Southeastern Trains website says that a 7 day season ticket costs less than 5 daily return tickets and allows you to use the ticket on Saturday and Sunday in effect for free.

A monthly ticket costs around 11% less than four 7 day tickets, and 6-month and 12-month season tickets offer even more savings. You can also buy a season ticket for any period between 1 month and 1 year.

Canterbury Stations to London Terminals

7 Days      £108.20
1 Month     £415.50
3 Months  £1,246.50
6 Months  £2,493.00
12 Months £4,328.00


If you add Underground zones it costs a bit more

Ouch these are all soooo expensive. Yes I'll be sticking to buses! :p thanks for all your help guys.

National Express bus between Canterbury Bus Station is around £15-£20 for daily tickets depending on time and availability (the cheaper tickets can sell out). There may be discount cards for students/under 25s.

Gibby I would SERIOUSLY cost this out, you may be better of living in London and have your DH commute out to Kent.

There's a lot of weird balancing factors with travel and reduction in rent. Trains and transport into London are so pricey that you may not save any money. Also what uni are you at? You'll need an oyster card as well, and that seriously racks up.

It may be cheaper to live in East London and take the tube in whilst your DH drives out, for instance, maybe Lewisham? That's an hour drive into Canterbury but you're technically only in zone 2 so your commute in is only £27 a week into central London, you can rent a studio in Lewisham for £100ish a week.

Yeah, this just seems like a really expensive way of doing things.  Particularly if your DH is doing a graduate program and perhaps doesn't need to be at uni every day.

I agree with the others that say living closer to London would get you the cheapest option. Your Kent option is Bromley. Super fast trains into Victoria (17mins) and he can even take the train in just over an hour to Canterbury instead of driving.

My uni campus is located in Avery Hill. You guys are totally right, it's cheaper living in London. Who woulda thunk it!  Sure glad I have you to tell me like it is.

My uni campus is located in Avery Hill. You guys are totally right, it's cheaper living in London. Who woulda thunk it!  Sure glad I have you to tell me like it is.

zomg, Avery Hill is not in London You should totally live around Lewisham, Sidcup, Eltham or something Will be affordable and your DH should have an easy drive out to Cantebury, I have friends who live in Hither Green and really love it, easy trip into town and really cheap, shops and restaurants and pubs.

zomg, Avery Hill is not in London You should totally live around Lewisham, Sidcup, Eltham or something Will be affordable and your DH should have an easy drive out to Cantebury, I have friends who live in Hither Green and really love it, easy trip into town and really cheap, shops and restaurants and pubs.

Totally agree. I lived in Verdant Lane, Catford, for a while.

zomg, Avery Hill is not in London You should totally live around Lewisham, Sidcup, Eltham or something Will be affordable and your DH should have an easy drive out to Cantebury, I have friends who live in Hither Green and really love it, easy trip into town and really cheap, shops and restaurants and pubs.

Lol, I'm dumb! Ok so it's Greenwich uni and I googled that area and it was inside the london circle on the map? I just assumed avery hill was around there since I thought for sure we'd live in kent so didn't look too deeply into it. Thanks for the ideas on where to live. Looking into it now!

Ok just checked the map again and boy am I embarassed . Note to self: do more research next time.

Avery Hill is not in London

Really? The Avery Hill campus of the University Of Greenwich consists of two sites, Mansion Site and Southwood Site, both of which are located in the 86-acre Avery Hill Park in Eltham, south-east London. The postcode is an inner-London one, SE9, and it is located in the London Borough Of Greenwich. That's London enough for anyone, surely? I know it's not central, but it's still "London".

Really? The Avery Hill campus of the University Of Greenwich consists of two sites, Mansion Site and Southwood Site, both of which are located in the 86-acre Avery Hill Park in Eltham, south-east London. The postcode is an inner-London one, SE9, and it is located in the London Borough Of Greenwich. That's London enough for anyone, surely? I know it's not central, but it's still "London".

Note the smiley faces, it was tongue in cheek

But no, I don't consider it to be "In London"  in the context of taking trains "into London", in that context I'd consider the OP to mean to one of the major London terminals, as you yourself did in your first post, upon the clarification that the OP wanted to travel to Avery Hill, much of the advice given is redundant as Avery Hill is not in central London, nor located near a major London terminus.

Also SE9 is covered by the Local Authorities of Greenwich, Lewisham, Bexley and Bromley. Two of which are outer boroughs of London, so I wouldn't classify SE9 as a wholly  inner London postcode either.