The final PAYG extension for the year, covering Welham Green, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City went live on Tuesday. As with Luton Airport Parkway, only contactless payment cards and devices are accepted, not Oyster cards of any variety. The full range of paper tickets are also still available and may well work out cheaper at times, especially at weekends. At this time there is also no capping, so if travelling a lot in London you could well be better off with a normal travelcard.
6 thoughts on “Contactless to Welwyn Garden City”
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If planning a journey from WGC, towards London, people would be strongly advised to check both TfL’s Single Fare Finder AND National Rail Enquires (or a train company ticket engine).
Whether Contactless or a traditional paper ticket is the cheapest option depends on several factors, including
* time/day of travel
* whether a Railcard is held
* whether a single, return or multiple journeys are being made
To give but one example…
If I’m making a single journey from WGC to East Croydon, in peak times the fares are
Anytime Single £15.10
Contactless £9.10
(saving nearly 40%)
For the same single journey, Off-Peak, Monday-Friday, the difference is massive:
Anytime Single £15.10
Anytime Single with Network Railcard £13.00
Other Railcards (with no minimum fare restrictions) £9.95
Contactless £6.50
(a saving of almost 57%, and cheaper than the best Railcard fare)
On weekends and Bank Holidays, the single fares are
Anytime Single £10.70
Anytime Single with Network or other Railcards £7.05
Contactless £6.50
(a saving of almost 40% and STILL cheaper than the best Railcard fare)
If making a return journey, however, Contactless may not be the cheapest way to do things…
Peak-time journeys:
Anytime Return £21.90
Contactless £18.20 (two £9.10 journeys)
a saving of nearly 17%
Off-Peak journeys, Monday-Friday:
Off-Peak Return £16.00
With a Network Railcard £13.00
with other railcards £10.55
Contactless £13.00 (two £6.50 journeys)
Off-Peak journeys, Weekends and Bank Holidays:
Off-Peak Return £10.80
with all railcards £7.15
Contactless £13.00 (two £6.50 journeys)
So you’d pay more than 20% extra using Contactless instead of a paper ticket !
If going to London for the day, and making multiple tube, bus, overground or tram journeys, then there are big differences between the fares. This is because the two Contactless fares from WGC to London (and the one coming back) do NOT count towards the ‘daily Cap’
Peak Anytime Day Travelcard (paper ticket)
£27.80
Using Contactless
£9.10+£9.10+£7 Cap
= £25.20 or
£9.10+£9.10+£4.80 if making only two Zone1 tube journeys = £23.00
Off-Peak, a paper Travelcard may be cheaper:
Off-Peak Day Travelcard
£19.50
With Network Railcard £13.00
With other Railcards £12.85
Using Contactless
£6.50 + £7 Cap + £6.50
+ £20
Weekends and Bank Holidays:
Super Off-Peak Travelcard £14.60
With any Railcard £9.65
Using Contactless and just one tube journey
£6.50+£6.50+£2.40 = £15.40
or £20.00 if £7 Cap is reached !
Thanks for the research, Simon. Singles should always be competitive, but returns do need to be checked.
Similar analysis and outcome applies for contactless travel on stations from Radlett (I think) through Harpenden. (Not contactless yet on St Albans Abbey to Watford line, which would also benefit for localised travel to Watford and the few destinations beyond Watford where this would be the quickest route
Hi Miles,
I think it highly unlikely that the investment in infrastructure for the Abbey branch could be justified at this time.
Hi, I was wondering how much would it be if I tapped in at hatfield and tapped out at West Silvertown on East London?
Hi Josh,
Have you tried the fare finder? Click the yellow box at the top of any page on this site.