Capping - Amersham, London Bridge, Basildon & Rayleigh

[RussWWFC]

On Saturday, I am planning the following trips. No railcard, either contactless or split tickets.

Amersham - Basildon
(local bus to Rayleigh)
Rayleigh - London Bridge
London Bridge - Amersham

I wondered how capping would work since the stations are close together - is there a zone system of some sort.

I am happy to use buses if it makes things significantly cheaper on the way, but speed is more important on my return from Essex.
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[JonathanH]

I wondered how capping would work since the stations are close together - is there a zone system of some sort.

The Contactless system will charge a zonal cap, plus separate single extension fares from the relevant boundary to each of Basildon and Rayleigh. There is no concept of zone for stations outside the Oyster area.

Given Amersham is outside Zone 6 and Basildon and Rayleigh are on different lines to Southend it doesn't look likely that the 'outboundary' caps from Southend have a role here either.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I wondered how capping would work since the stations are close together - is there a zone system of some sort.

No, there's no zonal system once you're outside of zones 1-9.

The system will determine the cheapest combination of fares based on your exact journeys for the day.

My best guess would be that they would charge at most a Z1-9 cap plus roughly the equivalent of a single from Upminster to Basildon and a single from Rayleigh to Brentwood. As you can imagine there are lots of other combinations so you won't actually know for certain until TfL apply the charge to your card.

 

[JonathanH]

My best guess would be that they would charge at most a Z1-9 cap plus roughly the equivalent of a single from Upminster to Basildon and a single from Rayleigh to Brentwood.

The extension fares are often higher than the single from the boundary stations, but in principle, a cap plus boundary fares seems likely.

The information here - https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ess-payment-cards.231684/page-71#post-7601643 - suggests that

Upminster to Basildon is £5.05 single as an extension
Shenfield to Rayleigh is £3.20 single as an extension

The Shenfield daily cap is £26.80.

It may charge a cheaper combination of zones and extensions. Not all of the relevant information is in the public domain.

 

[Gareth1990]

The extension fares are often higher than the single from the boundary stations, but in principle, a cap plus boundary fares seems likely.

The information here - https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ess-payment-cards.231684/page-71#post-7601643 - suggests that

Upminster to Basildon is £5.05 single as an extension
Shenfield to Rayleigh is £3.20 single as an extension

The Shenfield daily cap is £26.80.

It may charge a cheaper combination of zones and extensions. Not all of the relevant information is in the public domain.

How is that legal? If I purchase a product or service I have a right to know how much that will cost before I part with my money

 

[Watershed]

How is that legal? If I purchase a product or service I have a right to know how much that will cost before I part with my money

You don't necessarily have a right to know what the price is upfront. But if a price isn't stated or agreed upfront, it can only be a 'reasonable price' under the Consumer Rights Act. This means that if TfL charge more than what might be argued as reasonable - for example if the extension fare is substantially more than the single fare to the relevant boundary station - there would be a right to a price reduction (i.e. partial refund) down to what a reasonable price would be.

In practice that would probably require you to make a complaint and escalate it quite a few steps, but that's the legal position.