Why does it cost £7 for a train between Amersham and Chesham?

[epislinki]

Just been on holiday and felt like stopping at Amersham to tick a couple stations off; and for some ungodly reason the ticketing machines charge £7 for a single and £14 for a return. Can someone please explain why?

 

[Benjwri]

This is the minimum fare for paper tickets on the Underground, it is meant to discourage the use of paper tickets. In future I would either tap or use an Oyster card. The single fare for that is £2.10 in the off peak.

 

[yorkie]

See also:

Why is Amersham to Chalfont & Latimer so ridiculously expensive?

A two mile return journey from Amersham to Chalfont & Latimer is £14 without railcard, £9.30 with Railcard. Great Missenden (one stop further back and eight miles from Chalfont) to Chalfont & Latimer is a bit more reasonably priced at £9.10 without Railcard, £6.05 with Railcard. Why are the...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[PeterC]

You will have the same issue between ANY station pair on the Underground.

 

[CyrusWuff]

You will have the same issue between ANY station pair on the Underground.

With the most expensive per mile being Covent Garden to Leicester Square at 260 metres (0.16 miles), which works out to £43.75 per mile.

 

[PeterC]

Even travelling in the peak the Underground contactless fare works out as 10p less than a return ticket on the bus if bought from the driver.

 

[jon81uk]

This is the minimum fare for paper tickets on the Underground, it is meant to discourage the use of paper tickets. In future I would either tap or use an Oyster card. The single fare for that is £2.10 in the off peak.

Also to add its been this way for about 20 years where paper tickets on the Underground are priced to encourage use of Oyster and now contactless cards. This is not a new thing and I would have thought it is widely known to just use contactless on the tube.

 

[mq90]

Also to add its been this way for about 20 years where paper tickets on the Underground are priced to encourage use of Oyster and now contactless cards. This is not a new thing and I would have thought it is widely known to just use contactless on the tube.

I had people over from the continent for a work thing and they both paid for paper tickets from Kings Cross St Pancras to the office in zone 1 and were shocked at the price.

I was shocked they didn't think of just tapping and had to explain the fare cap and contactless.

I find that some international visitors are wary of being charged a transaction fee for every "tap" and see paper tickets as a safe option. Wrongly so. I think TFL is one of the easiest systems to use, maybe that's bred from familiarity, but when you see big cities like Paris only catching up now it does make you wonder.

 

[Joe Paxton]

[...]
I find that some international visitors are wary of being charged a transaction fee for every "tap" and see paper tickets as a safe option. Wrongly so. I think TFL is one of the easiest systems to use, maybe that's bred from familiarity, but when you see big cities like Paris only catching up now it does make you wonder.

Foreign transaction fees are a potential issue for people using non-UK (non-sterling) cards - all depends on their card issuer and whether they levy a ForEx fee.

However it's worth noting that all TfL contactless usage for one day is rolled together and charged as one transaction (normally on the following day), so even if they did have to pay a ForEx fee, it'd just be the one fee for a whole day's contactless travel.

 

[Blaine]

I think TFL is one of the easiest systems to use, maybe that's bred from familiarity, but when you see big cities like Paris only catching up now it does make you wonder.

It's a very British thing to criticise and look down at scammers in foreign countries praying on tourists with outright lies (telling you in Thailand this temples is closed for example, let me sell you a ticket to an alternative) whilst simultaneously making the obvious payment method high for those people who aren't in the know (i.e. tourists landing at Heathrow, going to a ticket machine to buy a ticket to zone 1).

 

[rmHawk765]

i.e. tourists landing at Heathrow, going to a ticket machine to buy a ticket to zone 1

It's an absolute money grab and nothing else. Areas that want to get rid of paper tickets just get rid of paper tickets, e.g Sydney to name one off the top of my head. Paris also discontinued the 'box' of paper tickets they used to sell but single paper tickets still cost the same at ticket machines (though Eurostar loves to put a hefty surplus on them if I remember correctly!).

 

[mq90]

Foreign transaction fees are a potential issue for people using non-UK (non-sterling) cards - all depends on their card issuer and whether they levy a ForEx fee.

However it's worth noting that all TfL contactless usage for one day is rolled together and charged as one transaction (normally on the following day), so even if they did have to pay a ForEx fee, it'd just be the one fee for a whole day's contactless travel.

Oh yes, and I wasn't suggesting for one second these are non-valid concerns (my "wrongly so" was about the paper ticket being the safe option). It's just something I noticed happen a lot with work colleagues and relatives visiting from overseas.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's a very British thing to criticise and look down at scammers in foreign countries praying on tourists with outright lies (telling you in Thailand this temples is closed for example, let me sell you a ticket to an alternative) whilst simultaneously making the obvious payment method high for those people who aren't in the know (i.e. tourists landing at Heathrow, going to a ticket machine to buy a ticket to zone 1).

In 2026, the obvious method of payment for a tourist is not cash. And in any case the "scam" there is Heathrow Express.

 

[Falcon1200]

those people who aren't in the know (i.e. tourists landing at Heathrow, going to a ticket machine to buy a ticket to zone 1).

Surely anyone with the resources to fly to the UK for a holiday also has the nous to pre-check onward travel from the airport? That's certainly what I do!

 

[flitwickbeds]

Surely anyone with the resources to fly to the UK for a holiday also has the nous to pre-check onward travel from the airport? That's certainly what I do!

The first sponsored, and the first non-sponsored, result in Google for "Heathrow to London train", and variations of, are all for Heathrow Express.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The first sponsored, and the first non-sponsored, result in Google for "Heathrow to London train", and variations of, are all for Heathrow Express.

If you book in advance, HEx at £10 is an excellent option.

 

[flitwickbeds]

If you book in advance, HEx at £10 is an excellent option.

Well, yes and no: it's (at least) £10 to be dumped in Paddington where you then potentially need to figure out even more onward travel and wheel your luggage to the other platforms.

Plus - although you (I assume) and I know that "booking in advance" means - on Heathrow Express (uniquely?) - you can travel on any train, this is not the case for any other UK rail network advance tickets, which are tied to a specific train - not something I would want to do when arriving in a foreign country in case there are flight/baggage/immigration delays which would cause me to miss the train. Or having to hang around for ages because the leeway I built in wasn't needed.

 

[Djgr]

The HEx, its future and its chuggers (tiggers?) at the airport rolls around the forum every month it seems!

 

[Benjwri]

Worth noting standard TfL ticket machines do also have a popup telling you contactless is cheaper. If people are buying paper tickets from those after that it's really on them.

 

[drueberflug]

In 2026, the obvious method of payment for a tourist is not cash. And in any case the "scam" there is Heathrow Express.

Though I'd love to agree, with FX fees being present not just in remote parts of the world, but even Germany, where that fee can even exceed your original purchase amount, lots of tourists will consider cash a superior option (unfortunately)

 

[sprunt]

To be fair, although it's not the cheapest fare a tourist arriving at Heathrow and paying a £7 cash fare isn't being massively ripped off, it's £5.90 for the contactless fare.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Though I'd love to agree, with FX fees being present not just in remote parts of the world, but even Germany, where that fee can even exceed your original purchase amount, lots of tourists will consider cash a superior option (unfortunately)

My UK bank- First Direct- doesn’t charge me FX fees and doesn’t charge me a fee for using my debit card abroad. They also apply the Mastercard exchange rate to any foreign currency transactions. Using my debit card abroad is now the obvious choice. My Halifax credit card is the same.

The likes of Revolut, available in a lot of countries now, are the same.

I think the days of banks rinsing people on FX and foreign currency transaction fees for debit cards are dying out.

 

[Flying Snail]

My UK bank- First Direct- doesn’t charge me FX fees and doesn’t charge me a fee for using my debit card abroad. They also apply the Mastercard exchange rate to any foreign currency transactions. Using my debit card abroad is now the obvious choice. My Halifax credit card is the same.

The likes of Revolut, available in a lot of countries now, are the same.

I think the days of banks rinsing people on FX and foreign currency transaction fees for debit cards are dying out.

UK still has a very competitive consumer bank market, be thankful for that as it is not the case everywhere.

 

[Belperpete]

My UK bank- First Direct- doesn’t charge me FX fees and doesn’t charge me a fee for using my debit card abroad. They also apply the Mastercard exchange rate to any foreign currency transactions. Using my debit card abroad is now the obvious choice. My Halifax credit card is the same.

The likes of Revolut, available in a lot of countries now, are the same.

That may be true in the UK and some other countries, but is certainly not the case everywhere. We are relatively lucky in having "free" banking in the UK. Many visitors from overseas will be from places where they are charged for each bank transaction, not just foreign transactions. And from countries where cash payments are much more usual.

I think it is mainly because of the sheer number of competing banks that we have in the UK, compared to elsewhere. I can remember when one of the big banks announced that they were going to start charging customers of other banks to use their ATMs. They soon had to roll back when the other banks announced that they would then all charge that bank's customers to use their machines. Likewise any bank that tried to charge you to bank with them would soon lose all its customers to its competitors.

(NB: I am aware that many UK banks do now offer accounts with a nominal monthly charge as their headline account, but they usually come with some incentive such as cashback that offsets the charge. Effectively the bank is paying you to make extra transactions, rather than charging you as is the norm in some other countries).

 

[BazingaTribe]

It's a very British thing to criticise and look down at scammers in foreign countries praying on tourists with outright lies (telling you in Thailand this temples is closed for example, let me sell you a ticket to an alternative) whilst simultaneously making the obvious payment method high for those people who aren't in the know (i.e. tourists landing at Heathrow, going to a ticket machine to buy a ticket to zone 1).

Well, having arrived at Arlanda in Stockholm and spent 45 minutes in an immigration queue with a gammy ankle and then being confronted by a £30 one way ticket into the city centre on the equivalent of Heathrow Express when the other version would have cost far less, and being too tired and sore, as well as dealing with an unfamiliar language, to look around for a cheaper alternative...

I don't think it's just the UK that rips people off. On the way back I was familiar enough with the system and with Swedish itself to get the public transport option (I pick up languages quickly when immersed in them and written Swedish is actually not dissimilar to English if you squint a bit), but it's not only the British who seem to do it that way. Also UK prices aren't that expensive compared with continental equivalents at least.

Regarding Forex charges, my bank rolls it all together and charges a percentage at the end of the year for foreign card transactions. It used to be a pound per transaction, but as cards became more of a default option, they changed it. Sweden in particular is pretty much a cashless society these days so it was pretty good that they changed!

 

[Joe Paxton]

My UK bank- First Direct- doesn’t charge me FX fees and doesn’t charge me a fee for using my debit card abroad. They also apply the Mastercard exchange rate to any foreign currency transactions. Using my debit card abroad is now the obvious choice. My Halifax credit card is the same.

The likes of Revolut, available in a lot of countries now, are the same.

I think the days of banks rinsing people on FX and foreign currency transaction fees for debit cards are dying out.

That's an incredibly UK-centric view. As others have stated, it's best not to assume the banking market in other countries is the same (coz it's not!).

Banks within the Eurozone by default cater for pan-Eurozone payment card usage without extra fees, so there'll be less of a demand for the removal of ForEx fees for non-Eurozone usage.

I suspect many visitors with ForEx fee charging cards would still be better off using contactless and paying said ForEx fee compared to buying a (more expensive) ticket with cash, but they won't necessarily know that all travel charges for a day are rolled together and charged as one transaction (leading to the worry about a ForEx fee being charged for each individual journey).

Plus culturally many places remain as being more cash-oriented societies than we are nowadays.

 

[Tetchytyke]

That's an incredibly UK-centric view. As others have stated, it's best not to assume the banking market in other countries is the same (coz it's not!).

To an extent, although the various Electronic Money Institutions (EMIs) are increasingly popular across the world. Revolut, for example, doesn't charge fees and is present in most of Europe and in a good selection of countries further afield. The likes of AliPay and WeChatPay charges a fee regardless of whether you're paying in RMB or in GBP. Even in rural Africa you increasingly see the use of, for instance, the M-Pesa system.

People who are travelling to the UK from these countries are, by their nature, more likely to be switched on to these sorts of products.

 

[Djgr]

It's a very British thing to criticise and look down at scammers in foreign countries praying on tourists with outright lies (telling you in Thailand this temples is closed for example, let me sell you a ticket to an alternative) whilst simultaneously making the obvious payment method high for those people who aren't in the know (i.e. tourists landing at Heathrow, going to a ticket machine to buy a ticket to zone 1).

I think it is also a British thing to criticise and look down on the HEx, because (despite the breaking of Britain over the past forty years-since 1979) we like to think we are better than that.

Seriously, if HEx didn't exist in 2026, would we invent it?

 

[TUC]

Foreign transaction fees are a potential issue for people using non-UK (non-sterling) cards - all depends on their card issuer and whether they levy a ForEx fee.

However it's worth noting that all TfL contactless usage for one day is rolled together and charged as one transaction (normally on the following day), so even if they did have to pay a ForEx fee, it'd just be the one fee for a whole day's contactless travel.

I suspect our bank isn't the only one where transaction fees for using our cards abroad are now very low-a tiny percentage as compared to fees a decade ago. This is not just when visiting Europe but also, for example, when paying by card in New York where the subway is now contactless. Is the same not generally true for banks in other countries where their customers visit the UK?

 

[jon81uk]

I suspect many visitors with ForEx fee charging cards would still be better off using contactless and paying said ForEx fee compared to buying a (more expensive) ticket with cash, but they won't necessarily know that all travel charges for a day are rolled together and charged as one transaction (leading to the worry about a ForEx fee being charged for each individual journey).

I can't quickly find any clear information on TfLs website that explains this, you'd think it would be a simple thing to state that all your journeys are added up and charged overnight, but I couldn't find it.