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My friend lives near Wandsworth Common station and commutes to Turnham Green for work. She used to travel directly on Southern from Wandsworth Common to Turnham Green, changing to the District line at Victoria costing her £6.60 one way in the peak. Recently she asked me if I knew of a cheaper way to complete this journey and I suggested going via West Brompton and Earl’s Court to avoid Zone 1. Doing this from Wandsworth Common costs £3.60 one way in the peak.
However, I was intrigued to see if there was a cheaper routeing and as she is in walking distance of Tooting Bec I thought I’d check the price from that station. According to the Single Fare Finder, a one way peak journey costs £2.10 if she changes at Balham, takes Southern to Clapham Junction (changing onto the Mildmay line) or West Brompton directly, changing to the District line at West Brompton and then again at Earl’s Court.
Could someone please explain why it is £1.50 cheaper to travel from Tooting Bec, changing at Balham for a Southern service that will stop or at least pass through Wandsworth Common on its way to Clapham Junction? And why it costs £3 if she were to walk directly to Balham and touch in on the national rail gate line there? I have a rudimentary understanding of the different fare structures, TfL only vs NR+TfL etc. but I didn’t think it would apply to this journey as it is mixed mode regardless of starting at Wandsworth Common, Balham, or Tooting Bec.
I’m very interested in finding out the answer to this and passing on this information to her. Thank you!
Hi Hugo,
I’m afraid you’ve got a little confused by the options for getting from Balham to Clapham Junction. The expensive routes all use the Southern line from Balham (NR) via Wandsworth Common, whereas the cheaper ones take the Northern line from Balham (LU) to Clapham North and change onto the Windrush line at Clapham High Street. Travelling via Clapham North/High Street is solely using TfL services, even if you end up on the Southern service between Clapham Junction and West Brompton only. The decider for the fares depends on which station you use at Balham.
I hope that helps, but do come back if you’re still not sure.
Hi Mike,
Thanks for this response! I’m going based off the single fare finder. For this journey it says the £2.30 fare applies if “Avoiding Zone 1 via Clapham North/Clapham High Street (or Balham), Clapham Junction, West Brompton and Earl’s Court”, which is what my friend did.
Do you think this is a mistake on the SFF? I’ll ask my friend how much her journey cost to get confirmation. She’s confirmed it cost her £2.30 for each journey, going from Tooting Bec via Balham, Clapham Junction, West Brompton and Earl’s Court to Turnham Green.
Cheers!
My apologies, I’d looked at so many different variations I missed that. I think it is an error, but it may well work. Let me know what the charge was if you can.
No worries at all! She was charged £2.30 each way, changing at Balham both times.
I wonder if it’s something to do with the fact that the first touch in is at an LU station and is therefore set at the lower rate by default? Might explain why it’s more expensive from Balham or Wandsworth Common. Only speculation though.
Thanks!
Hi Hugo,
No, it’s got nothing to do with where you start. Tell her to make the most of it, but expect it to be corrected at some point.
Good Morning.
Just found this website recently and others seem a bit unhelpful so.
I am trying to complete the TFL Labyrinth trail.
I have almost completed it; just need the Metropolitan line bit towards Amersham.
So, i intended to drive to Potters Bar, park up then travel to Kings Cross and then continue on the Metropolitan line to all my missing stations/labyrinths.
I intend to use an Oyster Card which has my Senior Railcard linked to it.
Is this
1. The cheapest way?
2. Possible?
3. Any advice?
This may be the wrong place to ask this, so i apologize.
Thanks in advancesteve
Hi Steve,
Sorry for the delay, but I’m glad you asked. A different (new) topic would have been better, and I’ll split it if I can work out how, but don’t worry.
- Almost certainly not. The Oyster implimentation at Potters Bar was a bit of a bodge so the caps are higher than the equivalent one day travelcard prices. If you use contactless then appropriate caps are in place, but you can’t apply a railcard discount to contactless PAYG, so it’s of no use to you.
- Technically yes, but this sounds like the kind of activity where you’d be spending a lot of time in the system. If you aren’t touching out and in regularly you run the risk of getting incomplete journey charges which would not be restricted by the cap. My normal advice in this situation is to get a paper travelcard. However, travelcards from Potters Bar do not include zones 7-9 which are needed by the Metropolitain line stations beyond Moor Park, so you actually need two tickets. One is a travelcard from Amersham to zones 1-6 which is also vaild in zones 7-9, and the other a return from Potters Bar to Hadley Wood (or boundary of zone 6). Your train to/from Potters Bar does not need to call at Hadley Wood.
- If you were using PAYG, make sure you don’t exceed the maximum journey time by ensuring that you regularly touch out and back in again.
You can get both tickets at the ticket office at Potters Bar, but make sure they start the travelcard at Amersham as that is one of very few stations which will give you the zone 7-9 validity. The prices for Hadley Wood or Boundary of zone 6 appear to be the same, so either will do.
Have fun ticking of the labyrinths.
Thank you for getting back to me. Sorry I used the wrong topic for my inquiry. I am not used to doing this 🙁
I have had no trouble inside zones 1-6 using a Travel Card, its just a TFL employee at Farringdon station suggested that since i could link my Senior Rail Card to my Oyster Card, it would be cheaper using that rather than a 1-9 Travel Card. From what you say it appears that ‘saying’ seems to be a lot easier than ‘doing’.This may need a bit of thinking about.
BTW Great forum. Lots of really useful stuff which TFL seem to unaware of.steve
Hi Steve,
The daily caps within zones 1-9 are cheaper than the relevant day travelcards, but you need to be careful if you are spending a lot of time within the system without touching out. I’m not sure where the labyrinth plaques are within each station, but if they are within the paid area and you get off a train, take a picture (selfie?), and get back on the next train, you could quite easily exceed the time allowed for a journey to where you eventually touch out. If you feel that this isn’t a problem then you will save a little (off-peak zone 1-9 cap is £10.85 versus £11.80 for the off-peak zone 1-9 travelcard). However, you would need to step back a train at Hadley Wood to be able to touch in there (and out on the way home). If you pay for a ticket to Kings Cross then that will wipe out any saving using the cap.
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