Oyster to Hertford East

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Another extension of the Oyster system has come onstream today with the stations between Broxbourne and Hertford East added into the same zone as Broxbourne.  This time the fares have been added to the single fare finder and the National Rail fares pages on the TfL site, although at the time of writing the adult fares page seems to have been replaced by the railcard fares version.As with the Grays area, there is a flat fare for travel between any of the stations on the branch.  This seems to be a compromise in that it is more expensive for the shorter single station hops than the paper equivalent but cheaper over longer distances, particularly over the whole length of the branch.

26 thoughts on “Oyster to Hertford East”

  1. If I travel from Dartford to Hertford East using my Oyster PAYG can you tell me how this journey affects the Off Peak Cap

    • Hi Suzy,

      That’s quite a site there. One small point: I don’t think you’ve quite got the correct meaning of NR Through fares. You use plain National Rail fares if any of your journey is on the late adopting TOCs (SWT, GTR, SET) as long as all of it is on National Rail (including LO, TfL Rail, C2C, AGA, LM, Chiltern and GWR). The Through fares only apply if some of your journey is on LU or DLR.

  4. Do you know what the daily and weekly caps are from Ware to zone 1? Also I have noticed that you are charged a peak fare before 6.30am from Ware to Zone 1. Do you know if this is correct?

    • Hi Rog,

      Anytime cap from Ware is £24.30, off-peak is £17.30, weekly cap is £87.40 including zone 1. You shouldn’t be charged a peak fare when touching in before 0630. It won’t count towards the off-peak cap, but it will be an off-peak fare. You will need an anytime paper ticket to travel before 0630.

  5. Hi Mike, I am interested by a fare anomaly I have discovered regarding travelling from Hertford East to Zone 1. The off-peak price is £7.60, but a Hertford East to Tottenham Hale and then Tottenham Hale to Zone 1 (I was looking at Warren St but assume it applies generally) is £3.40 + £2.80 = £6.20! However, the only way I can see to take advantage of this is either to use separate cards for each leg, or to wait for 21+ minutes outside Tottenham Hale. Is it possible to get the cheaper fare while using the same card and not hanging around pointlessly?

    • Hi David,

      Yes it is. I call it the hokey-cokey. When you arrive at Tottenham Hale NR from Hertford you touch out as normal. Then at Tottenham Hale LU gateline you touch in, touch out, and touch in again. This will break the OSI and start a new journey at Tottenham Hale LU. In the other direction you do the in-out-in at the NR gateline.

  6. Hello,

    Any reason why the Oyster/contactless tickets cost more than a day peak return (£22.50) whereas Oyster/contactless is £24.30? The peak single fair is over half that of a peak return to! Basically meaning that contactless is more expensive for day trips! I noticed the 7days and longer is the same!

    • Hi Tobs,

      I’m not quite sure what is happening there. £22.50 is the price of a Hertford stations to zones 1-6 day travelcard whereas £24.30 is the price of a Hertford East to zones 1-6 day travelcard (and also the anytime daily cap). Depending on how much you travel about using Oyster you may not reach that level. A peak single to any zone 1 Underground station beyond Liverpool Street is £9.70 so a return would only be £19.40. Whether it is worthwhile using Oyster or not depends on how much travel you will make.

  7. Hi Mike,

    Hertford Stns tickets are no longer available, or at least Greater Anglia will not sell the the £22.50 is marked Hertford East and not valid on the Hertford North line. Interesting someone on another forum is saying Hertford East to Liverpool Street using contactless is £7.60 for a peak single and not the flat rate fare stated on the TfL website! I would be shock say travelling from Hertford East to Chesthunt on Oyster and be charged the flat peak fair of £9.60. It’s seems TfL have failed to clearly state all there charges and prices!

    • Hi Tobs,

      I’m not quite sure what point you are trying to make, but you are certainly demonstrating that ticketing options from Hertford stations are a mess and difficult to understand. I’ll try and explain the basic anytime options available for use in the peak.

      £24.30 – Hertford East to Zones 1-6 day travelcard and anytime Oyster cap. This is an overcharge*.
      £22.50 – Hertford Stations to Zones 1-6 day travelcard. Generally available and perfectly valid from Hertford East.
      £16.70 – Hertford Stations to London Terminals return.
      £15.70 – Hertford East to Liverpool Street return.
      £10.90 – Hertford Stations to London Terminals single.
      £10.10 – Hertford East to Liverpool Street single.
      £9.70 – Oyster peak single to any Zone 1 Underground station.
      £7.60 – Oyster peak single to Liverpool Street NR only.
      £2.70 – Oyster peak single to Cheshunt.

      * This cap will only be charged on Oyster if sufficient travel is made. A return trip to zone 1 and two extra tube journeys would still charge less. Furthermore, the way contactless capping works it is unlikely that more than £19.90 would be charged in any one day unless multiple trips between zone 6 and Hertford were made.

    • Hi Malcolm,

      I’m aware of this extension, but it has to be said that I’m not looking forward to it. The whole thing stinks of a fudge and I can only hope that it doesn’t damage the concept. There will be many more cases where Oyster is more expensive than paper tickets and that is a bad thing.

  9. Hi mike. I use pay as you go oyseter to ware everyday return but noticed it charges the payg fair out but return in to Tottenham hale is always full fair

    • Hi Andy,

      I’m not sure what you are saying here. Is you travel to Ware made either before 0630 or after 0930? If that is the case you will be charged the off-peak single fare. If your return starts between 1600-1900 then you will be charged the peak single fare which is more.

  10. Hi Mike. Is the 60+ Oyster card valid on journeys, from say Liverpool Street or Stratford, to Hertford East? The current TfL 60+ route map indicates it is not but that map is dated 31 May 2015. As Hertford East was added to the Oyster network in Oct 15 I’m wondering if the map is now outdated?

    • Hi Steve,

      No, the validity of the 60+ Oyster (and Freedom passes as well) has not changed. Although they both utilise Oyster technology, their validity areas are not linked to general Oyster acceptance.

  11. Many thanks Mike for your reply and for the excellent advice you provide through this website. Thanks again.

  12. Hi there. The through fare from Ware to Oxford Circus is £7.70 off peak. However the fare from Ware to Tottenham Hale NR is 3.50 and from Tottenham Hale to Oxford Circus on LU is 2.80. Is there any way I can make Oyster think this is two journeys and thus charge me the cheaper fare?
    Regards

    • Hi JW,

      Yes you can. Almost this exact scenario was covered by our good friends at Londonist a while back. Here is the link to the video. Your question starts at about 1.00min.

    • Hi Bob,

      It should do, yes. However, JW did encounter problems earlier this week when the out touch at Tottenham Hale LU came up with seek assistance. This may have been a simple read error, but JW didn’t follow it up and just carried on with the journey.

  14. I notice there is an super off peak fare for day return and day travel card from Hertford East to London.
    The day travel card costs 13.6, just 9 with network rail card. Is this cheaper than the daily cap of oyster?
    Similar for a day return, it cost 8.5 , and 5.6 with network rail card. Is It this a fairer deal than the oyster?
    Many thanks!

    • Hi Iris,

      Oyster only has a concept of anytime and off-peak fares/caps. Where super off-peak fares exist they will probably be cheaper than Oyster. Likewise, the Network Railcard cannot be added to an Oyster, so you are likely to be better off buying paper tickets at the weekend with the railcard.

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