Hi ... a brief "hello" from me - I'm the "Graham" referred to in the first post in this thread, and I get fairly heavily involved in fares issues from the passenger's viewpoint as well as being concerned with the "TransWilts" service.
Swindon to London by train - if you simply walk up and buy a ticket - is just about the most expensive journey per mile anywhere in Europe. But here are some thoughts which may help you if you happen to fit into any of these marketing groups:
a) If you can book ahead and know what train you'll be travelling on in both directions, advanced fares are available and even if you can't save in one direction you may be able to save in the other. And if you're peak one way, buy singles, but if you're peak both ways, then a return is cheaper
b) If you travel from Swindon to Didcot ... then you travel from Didcot to London with a separate ticket, it can be much cheaper. That sounds crazy, I know ... but look up some trains on the national rail site and you'll see what I mean. The best bit is that you can buy Swindon to Didcot and Didcot to London tickets at Swindon station (they are obliged to sell them to you), so you don't need to get off the train at Didcot at all.
The rules state, however, that you must use a train which calls at Didcot if you're going to do this.c) There are some special fares called "GroupSave" which are available on offpeak fares ... if there are 3 or 4 of you going, then if you're tarvelling together you can get "3 for the price of 2" or even "4 for the price of 2". Children are a pound each, as I recall.
There are times I feel that the system is overcomplex ... but that does mean there are a lot of opportunities if you look carefully.
