Single fares in a zonal system ought to be straightforward. In London they aren’t. It’s not just the zones you travel through that matter, but also which lines you use. Yes, there really are five different scales for journeys within zones 1-9. And on top of that there are also some special cases where different fares apply for some journeys. For this reason the best way to find a specific fare is to use the Fare Finder.
However, some people like to understand where different fares apply, so at the bottom of this page is a tool allowing you to see normal fares for each type of passenger, and also historically back to 2017. The coloured lines in the key below correspond to the routes on the map (click for a full size version). The first set of lines indicate sections which must be used for the fare scale to apply (where orange, blue, green and purple can be in any combination). The second set of lines indicate sections which may be used while still allowing the fare scale to apply. Note: Significant changes were made to the map in 2022 (reducing the number of columns). The old map and key can be found on this page.
As an example, Sidcup is on the red lines so only scales starting NR can apply. If the destination is Whitechapel and the route is via New Cross then NR is the scale because orange lines are ok to go with NR. If the route is via Cannon Street and the Underground (or Abbey Wood and the Elizabeth line) then NR-T is required because blue/purple lines are needed.
| TfL-Eus | Journeys solely on the Euston to Watford Junction line with Euston at one end. | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| TfL-LU | All Underground and DLR journeys plus National Rail services operated by: C2C, CH, GWR, LNW, AGA (except services from Liverpool Street beyond Seven Sisters/Tottenham Hale/Stratford), LO (except services from Liverpool Street beyond Seven Sisters/Tottenham Hale/Walthamstow Central and Romford-Upminster), GN (Kings Cross/Moorgate – Finsbury Park only), TL (Finsbury Park/West Hampstead-London Bridge/Elephant & Castle only), SN (Clapham Junction-Watford Junction, Queens Road Peckham-Peckham Rye, New Cross Gate-Crystal Palace/West Croydon only), SE (Peckham Rye-Denmark Hill only), EL (Heathrow/West Drayton-Abbey Wood and Liverpool Street-Stratford only). |
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| TfL-Ang | All other journeys involving AGA, LO and EL on the lines from Liverpool Street (and Romford-Upminster) potentially combined with anything covered by TfL-LU. | ||
| NR | Journeys solely on National Rail (including AGA, C2C, CH, GWR, LNW, LO and EL*) where part of the journey is on GN, SE, SN, SWR, TL. *Not including Paddington to Abbey Wood | ||
| NR-T | Journeys covered by NR combined with Underground and/or DLR and/or EL between Paddington and Abbey Wood. |
Train Operating Companies: AGA – Abellio Greater Anglia, C2C – C2C Rail, CH – Chiltern, EL – Elizabeth Line, GN – Great Northern, GWR – Great Western Railway, LNW – London Northwestern, LO – London Overground, SE – Southeastern, SN – Southern, TL – Thameslink, SWR – South Western Railway.