In my earlier post I looked briefly at some of the single fares and caps for the new Oyster extension to Hertford North. This time I’m going to explore the number of options for travelcard season tickets from the town of Hertford itself.
There are three origins for travelcards from Hertford: Hertford East for journeys towards Liverpool Street; Hertford North for journeys towards Moorgate and Kings Cross; and Hertford Stations for either line. The weekly paper seasons to zones 1-6 cost £95.90 (East), £97.70 (North) and £98.80 (Stations). If you only need to zones 2-6 then they are £75.30 (East, but Oyster only), £75.70 (North) and £76.00 (Stations). There are also cheaper options from North or Stations to zones 3-6, 4-6 and 5-6.
When Hertford East joined the Oyster system, Greater Anglia and TfL made travelcard seasons available on Oyster for the zones 1-6 and 2-6 variants at the Hertford East price. In fact they also allow travel throughout zones 7-9 as well, and because of the way Oyster works you get Watford Junction and the Grays group of stations thrown in for good measure. That’s because internally Watford and Grays are treated as zone 10 and Hertford East is zone 11. At the same time Greater Anglia changed the paper travelcards from the Hertford East to Broxbourne branch to have validity in zones 7-9, but note that the paper versions are NOT valid to Watford Junction or Grays.
So now Hertford North has also joined the Oyster system, but both TfL and Thameslink/Great Northern say that you can’t purchase travelcard seasons for Hertford North, Bayford or Cuffley. There is good reason for Bayford and Cuffley because the paper seasons are considerably cheaper than the Oyster equivalents. But internally Bayford and Hertford North are both classed as zone 11 and have the same daily caps as Hertford East. [Cuffley is zone 9].
I’ve asked for clarification from TfL and Thameslink/Great Northern, but the way the Oyster system works I cannot see why an Oyster travelcard for Hertford East wouldn’t work the barriers at Hertford North too. Indeed the TfL table does say that a weekly contactless cap is applied at Hertford North (and Bayford) which is the same price as the weekly travelcard from Hertford East. Until I get clarification I’d suggest that anyone wanting to use the Hertford East travelcard on Oyster at Hertford North should ensure that they have £3.40 PAYG credit to cover the fare to Crews Hill. I don’t expect it will be used, but it will ensure there are no problems if checked by a Revenue Inspector.
Is Cuffley in Zone 9 Just for Oyster/Contactless
and Dartford is that in Zone 8 just for Oyster/Contactless.
You cannot purchase a Zone 8 paper travel card at the station.
Yet you can a Swanley it is slightly more expensive AAA LDN 7-9. Would the Swanley ticket be available to travel to Dartford and Cuffley and anywhere else in Zone 7-9
Hi Len,
Both Cuffley and Epsom are in zone 9 properly. The problem is that the price of the zone 1-9 travelcard season is significantly more than the price of the outboundary zone 1-6 travelcard season. Thus 99.9% of commuters should still buy the travelcard season on paper or the TOCs own smartcard.
Dartford and Swanley have different problems. At Dartford the route field is used to describe whether or not the travelcard is valid via HS1. This precludes using it to give the additional validity in zones 7-9 or 7-8. The ticket office should still be able to sell it by specifying an alternative origin of Amersham for zones 7-9 and Bushey for zones 7-8.
At Swanley the problem is that the zones 1-8 travelcard season is cheaper than the old Swanley to zones 1-6 travelcard season. There are problems removing that fare given it is regulated, and it also affects reducing the price. You should not be sold the old ticket if buying from a ticket office.
The bottom line is that any travelcard including zone 8 is valid at both Dartford and Swanley, and any travelcard including zone 9 is valid at both Cuffley and Epsom.
The Zones are a bit of a joke really. Cuffley should no way be Zone 9 when Crews Hill is Zone 6. It’s on me stop. Where else on the line does one stop = 3 extra zones?
Hi Jon,
Epsom to Ewell East or West. Harold Wood to Brentwood. Also, by not having zones beyond zone 6 you can include Coulsdon South to Merstham, Upminster to Chafford Hundred and Purfleet to Grays.