Fare zones 7–9 are ancillary zones of the Travelcard and Oyster card fares scheme managed by Transport for London, used for calculating fares from some stations outside Greater London that are not in zones 4, 5 and 6.[note a] Travelcards are available on Oyster with validity in these zones. They are not included in the validity of National Rail out-boundary Travelcards unless mentioned in the Route section as "AAA LDN ZONE 7-9". Fare zones 10–15 (or A–F by their hexadecimal number) have fares set by National Rail train operating companies and the zones themselves are not publicised. The fare zones are outside Greater London, typically more than 16 miles (26 km) from Piccadilly Circus.
Scope
The zones extend in segments from the boundary of Greater London to the north and west into Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire, to the east into Essex and Kent and to the south into Surrey and West Sussex.
Unlike zones 1–6, they do not form complete rings around London but rather patches.[1] They include eight London Underground stations on the Metropolitan line and London Overground stations. Also, Travelcards season tickets for these zones are only sold in limited combinations, unlike in Zones 1-6 where all combinations covering at least two consecutive zones are sold, and outboundary Travelcards (one which includes travel between a station outside the zonal system and some numbered zones) do not include travel in Zones 7-9 unless specifically stated.
Zone 7
Zone 7 consists of the Hertfordshire stations on the Metropolitan Line and the first London Overground and West Anglia Main Line stations outside zone 6.
Zone 8
Zone 8 consists of Chalfont & Latimer, the remaining London Overground stations where TfL set fares, and stations in Kent where Oyster is valid.
Zone 9
Zone 9 consists of Amersham, Brentwood and Chesham. Cuffley and Epsom are technically in this zone (for capping purposes only), but not publicised as such due to cheaper paper fares on weekly, monthly and annual tickets.
The following stations are within zone 9:
Special Zones
These zones have their fares set by National Rail companies. Zones are referred to by their decimal or hexadecimal number. Zones are allocated corridors extending out from London, rather than the roughly concentric circles that the non-special zones have.
Zone 10, or Zone A consists of Watford Junction (sometimes called Zone W), and c2c stations out to Grays (sometimes called Zone G)
Zone 11, or Zone B, consists of the stations out to Hertford not covered by numbered zones, as well as Potters Bar and Radlett
Zone 12, or Zone C, is Shenfield station
Zone 13, or Zone D, consists of the stations between zone 6 and Gatwick Airport
Zone 14, or Zone E, is Gatwick Airport station
Zone 15, or Zone F, was reserved for Elizabeth line stations out to Reading,[2] although it hasn't been used.
The following stations are inside the Oyster zonal system, but special fares apply:
Contactless-only
The London pay-as-you-go system continues beyond the zones. Due to technical limitations with Oyster cards, they are not valid and only contactless payment cards may be used. Contactless-only PAYG is valid out to Luton Airport Parkway, Welwyn Garden City, and Reading.
The following stations are contactless only:
The following stations will be accepting Contactless payment cards:
Changes
- January 1997: Debden and Theydon Bois moved from Zone A to Zone 6, Epping moved from Zone B to zone 6 and Moor Park moved from zone A to zones 6 and A
- January 1998: Amersham and Chesham moved from zone C to zone D
- January 2004: Watford moved from zone B to zone A
- January 2008: Zones A (Croxley, Rickmansworth and Watford) and B (Chorleywood) merged and renamed zone 7. Zone C (Chalfont & Latimer) renamed zone 8. Zone D (Amersham and Chesham) renamed zone 9.
- January 2010: Chafford Hundred, Grays, Purfleet and Ockendon added to system in new zone 'G'. Watford Junction added to system in new zone 'W'.[4]
- January 2013: Theobalds Grove and Waltham Cross added to system in zone 7. Cheshunt added to system in zone 8. Brentwood and Broxbourne added to system in new zone 11. Shenfield added to system in new zone 12[5]
- May 2015: Brentwood moved from zone 11 to Zone 9
- September 2015: Dartford added to system in zone 8
- October 2015: Rye House, St Margarets (Hertfordshire), Ware and Hertford East added to system in zone 11
- January 2016: Merstham, Redhill, Earlswood, Salfords and Horley added to the system in new zone 13. Gatwick Airport added to system in new zone 14[6]
- March 2016: Swanley added to system in zone 8[7]
- February 2019: Epsom added to system in zone 9 (although the zone isn't publicised)[8]
- April 2019: Cuffley (zone 9 but not publicised), Bayford (zone 11) and Hertford North (zone 11) added to system[9]
- August 2019: Potters Bar and Radlett added to system in zone 11 - the last stations to get Oyster
- August 2019: Brookmans Park added to system (contactless only)
- October 2019: St Albans, Harpenden and Luton Airport Parkway added to system (contactless only)
- November 2019: Welham Green, Hatfield and Welwyn Garden City added to system (contactless only)[9]
- January 2020: Burnham, Iver, Langley, Maidenhead, Reading, Slough, Taplow and Twyford added to the system (contactless only)
- March 2022: Henley-on-Thames, Shiplake, Wargrave and Windsor & Eton Central added to the system (contactless only)[10]
- May 2022: Furze Platt, Cookham, Bourne End and Marlow added to the system (contactless only)
- June 2024: Denham, Denham Golf Club, Gerrards Cross, Seer Green & Jordans, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe added to the system (contactless only) [11]
See also
Notes
- Note a: ^ The following stations outside Greater London are in zones 4–6:
References
- ^ Transport for London - London Connections Map Archived 30 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Ticketing + Revenue Update Issue No 112" (PDF). Transport for London. September–October 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f by (11 June 2024). "TfL-style contactless payments expanding on Chiltern Railways: More stations go live this month". ianVisits. Retrieved 13 July 2024.
- ^ Transport for London. "Media Briefing Note – Oyster on National Rail" (PDF). Greater London Authority.
- ^ "London Rail and Tube Services Map" (PDF). TfL. Retrieved 10 December 2012.
- ^ "Contactless payments and Oyster to make travel to and from Gatwick Airport seamless". Southern. 10 November 2015. Archived from the original on 21 November 2015. Retrieved 25 December 2015.
- ^ "Pay as you go travel with contactless and Oyster extends to Swanley". Transport for London. 10 November 2015. Retrieved 7 March 2016.
- ^ "Oyster at Epsom". oyster-rail.org.uk. 22 February 2019. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Oyster card scheme extension agreed". BBC. 30 November 2018. Retrieved 5 February 2019.
- ^ "Pay as you go with contactless extended to GWR branch lines". Great Western Railway. 28 March 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
- ^ "Pay as you go expansion". Chiltern Railways. Retrieved 23 June 2024.
