Well, not so much a revision (to actual fares), but there will be hundreds of new journeys available to and from Heathrow NR from Sunday 20th May 2018. That is when the Heathrow Connect operation is transferred to TfL-Rail. As already mentioned, Heathrow NR will be in zone 6, but single fares to and from the airport will carry a premium. Oyster and Contactless will NOT be available on Heathrow Express until later in the year.
The premium fares mean that I’ll be adding another column to the fares guide pages. Although the new fares were publicised in a press release in March, there was no mention of fares to West London destinations in zones 3-6 via Ealing Broadway. Watch this space in the early part of next week.
There will also be a number of new journey opportunities using the Thameslink line between St Pancras and Finsbury Park. And early analysis of the routeing changes suggest that there will be new options avoiding zone 1 using the Overground through Peckham Rye.
Are paper tickets to Zone U1256* valid?
If so, now that Heathrow Rail is now in Zone 6, it could mean cheaper prices, e.g. a £3.95 railcard single from Limehouse to Heathrow NR, as opposed to £8.30 to the named destination.
No, that wouldn’t be valid. The U Zone tickets are valid for use on LU and DLR once the National Rail journey has ended. TfL Rail is a National Rail operator so you couldn’t use the U Zone part of the ticket on that.
Not directly relevant to the fares revision, but I can’t see another place to comment: the (very useful) farescales map at https://www.oysterfares.com/fares-guide/guide-to-fare-scales/ doesn’t seem to include the Blackfriars-London Bridge Thameslink line. Is that on the TfL-LU farescale too? (The new St Pancras-Finsbury Park direct link isn’t shown either.)
Hi Betterbee,
Good spots! Yes, they are both TfL-LU farescale. I’ve added them both in now. Interestingly the TfL website map that I originally used as a basis for this one hasn’t restored Blackfriars to London Bridge yet either.
Thanks – and it looks as if “TL (West Hampstead-London Bridge/Elephant & Castle only)” entry in the table below the map needs Finsbury Park adding, too.
The lack of ticket barriers between LU/Thameslink at Farringdon has created opportunities to only pay the TFL fare, and not the NR addition.
For example I did Greenwich – Farringdon (on SE and TL), then Farringdon – Paddington (on LU) last weekend.
I was charged £2.40 (the TFL services only fare), when I should have been charged £3.90.
There’s no way for TFL to know whether I used the DLR or NR from Greenwich, so I don’t see this changing any time soon. Is there anything they can do about this?
Hi Dan,
There’s not a lot they can do, no. It only matters for stations with both NR and TfL services so they’ll probably take the hit.
I tried TfL Rail from Heathrow to Paddington yesterday and was pleasantly surprised.
I have a zone 1&2 annual travelcard on oyster, so also have the annual goldcard railcard discount loaded as well.
Took a journey from Heathrow T2/3 to Paddington, at 05:50 in the morning, and I was only charged £1.00. I was expecting it to be somewhere between £3.95 (off-peak railcard fare to Ealing Broadway) and £6.65 (corresponding fare to Paddington).
Hi Al,
Interesting. Thanks for pointing that out.
Today I notice that the TfL website says London Underground tickets are being accepted on TfL Rail because of severe delays on the Piccadilly Line at Hounslow. (It must be the Heathrow section as the Shenfield section is closed for engineering work today). When this happens, do they also adjust Oyster fares on TfL Rail?
Hi Stuart,
It won’t be adjusted at the time of the journey, though the Oyster system may be set to automatically refund afterwards.
The Brentwood off-peak fare anomaly (as described on this website back in January) seems to have vanished, the off-peak fare in question having risen by 10p. Presumably, this change is part of these in-year fare adjustments, and another exemplification of TfL’s contempt for the people of Brentwood (TfL is not democratically accountable to Brentwood, since it is not in Greater London; given that TfL now controls many routes that extend significantly beyond London itself, this deficiency in democratic accountability is a widespread injustice… personally, I would prefer to see a syndicate involving the borough councils of each borough involved, thus allowing outer-London boroughs to ally with extra-London boroughs at times when their interests align).
Thanks for spotting this. I would discuss your points, but I don’t like doing so anonymously.
Offpeak fare from Stratford to Chingford seems odd:
1) offpeak via highbury/hackney (zone 2-5) is 1.5
2) offpeak via tottenham & walthamstow (zone 3-5) is 1.9
zone2-5 is cheaper than zone3-5?
3) offpeak fare from Stratford to Highams Park & Wood Street via highbury/hackney (zone2-4) is 1.9
so zone2-5 is cheaper than zone2-4?
The oddity persists on all stations on TfL rail line located in zone2 to zone5, if traveling to Chingford
Does anyone have any explanation?
Looking back through my contactless payments I was surprised to find a change in fares took place on my journeys from Bickley to Embankment from the 20 May 2018 onwards. Prior to that date to travel between Bickley and Embankment, by taking the train to Victoria and then the Underground to Embankment, the fare was the same as that for a train from Bickley to Victoria. After the 20 May I’ve found that I’m now being charged for the Underground between Victoria and Embankment on top of what I used to pay from Bickley to Victoria. I’ve asked TFL about this and they’ve informed me that Pay as you go fares charged on a NR only basis have been reverted to a TfL/NR through basis.
Has anyone seen any information regarding this fare change on the 20 May 2018 as the first I was aware of it was when I found what I was paying had gone up. I’ve only needed to do this journey since February so I don’t know how long the fare was charged on a NR only basis for.
Hi Tim,
The fares had been lower throughout the Thameslink works at London Bridge. They reverted in May as the new station at London Bridge was supposedly fully open. If you want to go back to paying the NR only fare then travel to Petts Wood and then to Charing Cross. Finally exit next to platform 1 down the stairs to Villiers Street.
Thanks Mike,
That would explain things. For the previous 5 years I’ve been working in Victoria so never saw the reduction in the original fares and only recently started working in Charing Cross. It would have been helpful if National Rail or TFL had announced it in the 2018 fare changes.
At the moment given the improvements made to the timetable with the 20 May changes my journey is much more reliable by not involving Thameslink by either taking the one of the reduced number of direct trains to Victoria from Bickley, walking to Chistlehurst to take a direct train to Charing Cross or by cycling all the way.
Hi Tim,
To be fair it was announced, but in terms of the end of ticket acceptance. 99% of travellers would know what that meant.