Harlow Town to Clapham Junction commute

[blimmo]

Planning tickets for a friend starting a new commute. They need to get from harlow town to clapham junction at peak times both directions (arriving 9am on the outbound and returning after 5pm on the return). They have a 16-25 railcard. They would prefer to get the route changing to the victoria line at tottenham hale and then to an SWR train at victoria.

I've found this fare on brfares that I think is slightly cheaper than getting the anytime day return from harlow town to tottenham hale and then using contactless to clapham junction.
When I tried to find this on the forum's ticketing site all I could find was this which is quite a bit cheaper. I guess this is only valid for one trip across london rather than being a travelcard but I can't find this fare on brfares.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 10 Sep 2025 ==

Hmm I think London Zones tickets aren't valid to clapham junction because it's not an underground station? Perhaps tapping in at victoria would fix this? Although then I suspect this fare would be cheapest.

 

[JonathanH]

Hmm I think London Zones tickets aren't valid to clapham junction because it's not an underground station? Perhaps tapping in at victoria would fix this? Although then I suspect this fare would be cheapest.

An Anytime Day Travelcard issued to Zones 1 to 6 is valid to all stations in London, regardless of whether that station is reached by underground, National Rail, Docklands Light Railway or by bus.

Did you mean to send a link to the Zone 123 London fare, which as you say, couldn't be used to Clapham Junction - https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=HWN&dest=0791&rlc=YNG&rte=1000&tkt=SDR

You can reach Vauxhall on such a ticket, https://tickets.railforums.co.uk/re...=17:15&Adults=1&Railcard=YNG&OpenReturn=false, but Contactless fares on the National Rail scale are such that it is cheaper to buy an anytime day return to Clapham Junction.

 

[Class800]

An Anytime Day Travelcard issued to Zones 1 to 6 is valid to all stations in London, regardless of whether that station is reached by underground, National Rail, Docklands Light Railway or by bus.

Did you mean to send a link to the Zone 123 London fare, which as you say, couldn't be used to Clapham Junction - https://www.brfares.com/!faredetail?orig=HWN&dest=0791&rlc=YNG&rte=1000&tkt=SDR

You can reach Vauxhall on such a ticket, https://tickets.railforums.co.uk/re...=17:15&Adults=1&Railcard=YNG&OpenReturn=false, but Contactless fares on the National Rail scale are such that it is cheaper to buy an anytime day return to Clapham Junction.

Yes, but be prepared for issues using it sometimes, I've had a number of gateline issues over the year when it wasn;'t underground, including having to change my route

 

[fandroid]

Is there a Smartcard version of that Harlow Anytime Travelcard? My experiences with an outbound art Off-Peak Zones 1-6 Day Travelcard on a Smartcard have all been positive. Much better than a credit card paper one, which miserably frequently failed to open gates at some point.

 

[Hadders]

Yes, but be prepared for issues using it sometimes, I've had a number of gateline issues over the year when it wasn;'t underground, including having to change my route

Are you saying that the Travelcard didn't operate the ticket barriers at some stations, or that the Travelcard was flatly refused by staff?

I've had valid tickets of all different types rejected by barriers but never, ever had a Travelcard rejected by station staff in Zones 1-6.

 

[jon81uk]

Is there a Smartcard version of that Harlow Anytime Travelcard? My experiences with an outbound art Off-Peak Zones 1-6 Day Travelcard on a Smartcard have all been positive. Much better than a credit card paper one, which miserably frequently failed to open gates at some point.

Yes greater anglia can issue it on a smartcard via their app.

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Planning tickets for a friend starting a new commute. They need to get from harlow town to clapham junction at peak times both directions (arriving 9am on the outbound and returning after 5pm on the return).

If it's a regular daily trip, should a season ticket be considered? As there's likely a choice of routes across Londo, that would give additional validity in London at any station on the routes.

 

[JonathanH]

If it's a regular daily trip, should a season ticket be considered? As there's likely a choice of routes across Londo, that would give additional validity in London at any station on the routes.

Point to point season tickets for Harlow Town to Clapham Junction don't exist, with passengers required to buy a Travelcard Season. Moreover, the Season Ticket doesn't attract a railcard discount. Therefore it may not be cheaper in all cases to buy a season ticket rather than daily fares.

In this instance, daily tickets are cheaper than weekly for a 16-25 railcard holder, even if travelling five days a week. Even on an annual basis, a passenger needs to make about 250 journeys for the annual season to ve cheaper.

 

[blimmo]

They are planning two trips per week which is more expensive even with a Flexi season I believe.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 11 Sep 2025 ==

Did you mean to send a link to the Zone 123 London fare, which as you say, couldn't be used to Clapham Junction

Ah I did include a Zones 1-6 fare on the forum's ticketing site, I didn't realise that's listed as Zone U123* LONDN on brfares.

Looks like all of the complicated options are worse and the best option is just a through ticket from Harlow Town to Clapham Junction. At least here the British fares system isn't penalising someone who doesn't understand it too much!

 

[JonathanH]

They are planning two trips per week which is more expensive even with a Flexi season I believe.

A flexi season is available only for National Rail services so there isn't one available for crossing central London by underground.

 

[Class800]

Are you saying that the Travelcard didn't operate the ticket barriers at some stations, or that the Travelcard was flatly refused by staff?

I've had valid tickets of all different types rejected by barriers but never, ever had a Travelcard rejected by station staff in Zones 1-6.

Flatly refused. It was one of the outboundary travelcards. They said only for tube use once arrived in London

 

[Hadders]

Flatly refused. It was one of the outboundary travelcards. They said only for tube use once arrived in London

Then the member of staff is completely wrong and you should complain to the train company operating that gate line.

 

[blimmo]

Yes greater anglia can issue it on a smartcard via their app.

Is the Harlow to Clapham junction through ticket also available on smartcard (via the app)?

 

[jon81uk]

Is the Harlow to Clapham junction through ticket also available on smartcard (via the app)?

Not sure, I've only used the smart card for travelcards or flexi season tickets.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Is the Harlow to Clapham junction through ticket also available on smartcard (via the app)?

Cross-London tickets (other than Travelcards) aren't yet available on Smartcard as LU gates aren't setup to accept them.

 

[blimmo]

That is unfortunate, so it is only possible to get these tickets on paper? I suspect they will not be a fan of buying 2 paper returns a week...

LU gates aren't setup to accept them.

But they are set up to accept travelcards? I suppose travelcards are a little easier to implement at the gateline since they just need to open gates in a given zone whereas point to point tickets would need to open the gate lines only at stations on the appropriate routes across London.

 

[MikeWh]

Left-field suggestion if price is very important and time less so. Epping Central line station is in zone 6. I believe there are buses between Harlow and Epping, or if driving to Harlow it's not much further to Epping, especially if you're in the south of Harlow.

 

[Adam Williams]

I believe there are buses between Harlow and Epping

There are, and they're reasonably pleasant to travel on. Just be careful if trying to get back to Harlow in the late evening