I’ve recently come across a video on Youtube by creator Nick Badley where he attempted to visit every station in zones 7-9 on the rail and tube map, plus a couple of other weird ones. The weird ones are, of course, Cuffley and Epsom, and Nick correctly explains that the reason they’re not shown officially in zone 9 is because it is sometimes cheaper to buy a Cuffley or Epsom to zones 1-6 travelcard than to buy a zones 1-9 travelcard. I thought it was worthwhile revisiting this situation to show the differences.
Firstly, the proof that they are in zone 9. Take a look at the station pages on the TfL website for Cuffley and Epsom. Both clearly indicate that the station is in zone 9 in the same way that any other station in the zones is shown. Now, the normal fares from both stations are set by the relevant train companies; Great Northern in the case of Cuffley and South Western Railway for Epsom, although Southern also set some cheaper fares from there. This means that there is nothing standard about these fares. The following table shows all the different adult travelcard fares along with the respective caps for Oyster and contactless.
| Type of Travelcard | Cuffley to zones 1-6 | Epsom to zones 1-6 | Zones 1-9 Travelcard | Zones 1-9 Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weekly Season | £100.80 | £92.60 | £116.40 | £116.40 |
| Weekly Southern Only | £86.60 | |||
| Anytime Day | £27.00 | £28.60 | £29.80 | £23.30 |
| Off-peak Day | £19.90 | £18.50 | £17.80 | £16.30 |
| Super Off-peak Day | £18.20 |
From this you can clearly see that weekly tickets are much cheaper when including only zones 1-6, the anytime day tickets are slightly cheaper unless you use PAYG, while the off-peak tickets are all more expensive than the zone 1-9 equivalents, and even more so if you use PAYG. Other things to note: the super off-peak travelcard from Cuffley is available at weekends and bank holidays only; the Southern only weekly travelcard is only valid between Epsom and Ewell East, before then acting as any zone 1-6 travelcard; and weekly travelcards can start on any day of the week while the weekly cap only works Monday to Sunday.
Why did they do all this? The government made extending Oyster PAYG to Epsom and Hertford North a franchise commitment for Govia Thameslink Railway (operators of Southern and Great Northern). With Oyster, all stations have to be put into a zone between 1 and 15 and that zone determines what the caps are. Zone 9 was deemed to be the closest fit for both stations, so that is what they got. The lack of publicity about zone 9 is to stop people thinking that they had to buy a zones 1-9 travelcard for weekly and longer seasons, and then complaining that they were being ripped off.
Do TfL have fares to zone 9 boundary from Bayford and Hertford N?
Bayford to Cuffley single fares x2 plus z1-9 off-peak cap is £20.80, a big saving compared to the Bayford cap off-peak cap of £24.50
Hertford is a lower saving (£22.50 vs. £24.50) but still worth having.