Vauxhall to Putney Bridge Avoiding Zone 1

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  • 11/09/2023 at 12:07 #5099
    Dan Townsend
    Participant

    I wonder if anyone can explain why no fare avoiding Zone 1 seems to exist between Vauxhall LU (Zone 1/2) and Putney Bridge (Zone 2). None is listed on the Single Fare Finder, and I tried to do it myself via

    Vauxhall -> Stockwell
    Stockwell -> Clapham North, tap out
    Out of Station Interchange to Clapham High Street, tap in 2 minutes later
    Clapham High Street -> Clapham Junction, touch pink Oyster reader
    Clapham Junction -> West Brompton, touched pink Oyster reader again, maybe unnecessarily
    West Brompton -> Putney Bridge

    This was in the Evening Peak (17:10-18:02) and I was charged £3.40 for this single journey.

    What particularly confuses me is that, for Stockwell to Putney Bridge, the Single Fare Finder does offer an avoiding Zone 1 fare. Though even there, they suggest going via Vauxhall (!) (presumably by National Rail) and suggest a price of £2.80, rather than what I expected my journey to cost, the Zone 2 peak fare of £1.90.

    11/09/2023 at 15:11 #5100
    Feathers
    Participant

    If no zone 1 avoiding fare is listed by the fare finder then one won’t be charged no matter what you do.

    The fares listed are the ones that available. If only a single fare is listed between two stations then that’s the one that will always be charged.

    It’s a common misunderstanding that the traveller will be charged depending on the zones they actually use. They won’t. They’ll be charged one of the listed fares if their tapping pattern matches the requirements of that fare otherwise they’ll be charged the default fare for the journey.

    As to why no fare is listed – that’s on TfL to explain. If I had to guess then I’d suggest that the journey to avoid zone 1 was deemed unreasonably complex for the normal traveller so not worth pricing differently (or used so much rail capacity through all the extra connections etc that it justified the price charged). I’m not wholly serious about the second suggestion, but a case could be made to support it.

    Certainly, if such a journey existed in the database, it surely wouldn’t be the one you used as the SWR direct connection from Vauxhall to Clapham Junction is much simpler.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 3 months ago by Feathers.
    11/09/2023 at 17:10 #5102
    Dan Townsend
    Participant

    Thanks very much for your comments, that makes sense.

    11/09/2023 at 21:32 #5103
    Mike (admin)
    Keymaster

    Adding to what Feathers said, I think most people in Vauxhall wanting Putney would use National Rail as it’s one train and reasonably frequent. As to your comment about £2.80 vs £1.90, that is indeed the consequence of using National Rail as part of the journey.

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