How much is the off peak rail ticket to London?

What is the effect of the London Travelcard Zone on National Rail train fares?

• I'm really wrestling with a letter of complaint at the moment and I hope that someone on Quora might be able to assist with their wisdom! The question is really this: For overland train journeys which venture into the London Travelcard Zone, or which terminate at a destination within it, what is the effect on the price of the ticket? I am - if I'm honest - utterly confused, even though I understand all the minutiae and irregularities of the UK train ticketing system. I get 'split ticketing' and know that train pricing is a mess, but this is something else. To give you an illustration: I commute on a regular basis from Hurst Green station to Bromley South. I cycle most days, but sometimes will need to get a train if I have a meeting or if the weather isn't very good. For that reason, I can't get a season ticket (not good value) but instead by day-return tickets as and when I need them. Hurst Green is outside of the London Travelcard Zone and is on a train line operated by Southern. Bromley South is within the London Travelcard Zond (zone 5) and is on a line operated by Southeastern. The distance between the two stations is 14.1 miles and the train journey is around 18 miles. If I make a similiar distance journey in the South-East between any two stations NOT in the London Travelcard Zone then the cost is usually less than £10 for a peak 'anytime' return: Hurst Green >> Ashurst (Kent): £6.40 Woldingham >> East Grinstead: £9.90 Three Bridges >> Burgess Hill: £8.60 But when I make the journey from Hurst Green to Bromley South I am told I MUST buy a Z1-6 Travelcard, which costs £24.60. There is no other way of gettting from A to B. A similiar pattern emerges for other trips hovering around the Zone 6 border. So, why does this happen? What is the effect of train journeys starting, ending or passing through the London Travelcard Zone? And why does it inflate ticket prices so much? In other words, why do I pay over twice as much for my daily commute as other passengers using the same train company for the same length journeys, just because my journey takes me to a National Rail station just within the London Travelcard Zone?

• Answer:

  I believe the specific problem here is that you need to use Tramlink as part of your journey. For journeys starting at one National Rail station and ending at another, a single ticket is always available regardless of London zones. The ticket will include a cross-London Tube journey if that is the most sensible route. There may also be a choice of "via London" or "not (via) London", the latter being cheaper, if such a route is available. In your case (Hurst Green to Bromley South), there are two such single fares available - a "via London" (using "Any Permitted" Route) for £13.30 in the peak, or an £8.30 "not via London" fare. The former would allow you to travel into Victoria and out from there to Bromley (or even to use the Tube to transfer to e.g. Blackfriars). The latter is intended to allow you to transfer at Penge, between Penge West and Penge East stations, which is an official interchange route. Alas, this is a very convoluted route from Hurst Green because you would need to change (probably) twice just to get to Penge West. So I'm guessing you prefer (sensibly) to use Tramlink between East Croydon and Beckenham Junction. Unfortunately, neither of these single, through fares cover Tramlink because Tramlink uses the bus fare system which is not integrated with Rail/Tube (other than as part of a Travelcard). So, the only integrated ticket that would allow you to use Trams is the Travelcard, and double-unfortunately, you must buy a Z1-6 travelcard because non-Zone 1 Travelcards are only available as season tickets. This is all very stupid and worth a complaint (about Tramlink not being integrated with rail fares). In the meantime, the cheapest option which allows you to use Tramlink is to buy a normal paper ticket from Hurst Green to East Croydon, and then use an Oyster card for the rest of the journey via Tramlink. This would cost £5.50 for the rail ticket, then £1.40 on Oyster for the Tram and another £1.60 (peak) on the train from Beckenham Junction to Bromley South, totalling £8.50 single. If you needed to come back the same way then you'd be best off buying a return to East Croydon for £8.70, and then the total return fare would be £14.70 - more expensive than your comparators but significantly cheaper than a Travelcard. Hope this helps!