Child Zip Oyster fare costs wrong on TFL Fare Finder?

[beanwalls]

Hi All,

I'm trying to clarify the fare costs for my 14 year old with a Zip Oyster card that makes sure she gets the cild fares when travelling with her Oyster card across London.

We do a journey from St Pancras to Norwood Junction and TFL Fare finder says it will be £0.95 off peak and £2.65 peak. But what is confusing is that we have done the journey several times and the cost is always £0.90 off peak and £1.90 peak.

TFL Fare Finder makes no reference to a variation of the journey that would cost either £0.90 or £1.90 -- and I was hoping someone might know what is happening here, as I can't figure it out!

 

[Watershed]

I'm not sure why you are being charged £0.90 off-peak. The fare finder does say that it's £0.95 off-peak regardless of which route you take. Could you upload a copy of what it shows in your/her TfL account when you look at the journey history?

However, I can explain the £1.90 cost - assuming you're travelling in the evening peak. As per the cap finder tool, with a 11-15 Zip Oyster card, there is a daily off-peak cap of £1.90. This applies to all daily travel after 09:30, including the evening peak. Therefore, although the fare is nominally £2.65, this fare is only actually charged before 09:30 because the off-peak daily cap limits the cost of a journey in the evening peak.

 

[beanwalls]

This is from last week, but its the same every time - no matter which route we take...



== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jun 2025 ==

I'm not sure why you are being charged £0.90 off-peak. The fare finder does say that it's £0.95 off-peak regardless of which route you take. Could you upload a copy of what it shows in your/her TfL account when you look at the journey history?

However, I can explain the £1.90 cost - assuming you're travelling in the evening peak. As per the cap finder tool, with a 11-15 Zip Oyster card, there is a daily off-peak cap of £1.90. This applies to all daily travel after 09:30, including the evening peak. Therefore, although the fare is nominally £2.65, this fare is only actually charged before 09:30 because the off-peak daily cap limits the cost of a journey in the evening pea

Thanks for explaining the £1.90 cost -- it's weird that Fare Finder doesn't know this and give that as the cost though.

And regarding the £0.90 -- I thought it was going up to £0.95 but it just never has...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Jun 2025 ==

I went back to TFL Fare Finder and noticed there are several version of Kings Cross St Pancras listed. I tried them all and if I use Kings Cross Underground then a £0.90 cost appears. So coming via the tube (which happens when the Thameslink trains aren't running at weekends - ie A LOT) is apparently 5p cheaper for some reason!

 

[MikeWh]

Thanks for explaining the £1.90 cost -- it's weird that Fare Finder doesn't know this and give that as the cost though.

And regarding the £0.90 -- I thought it was going up to £0.95 but it just never has...

The cost of a peak single is £2.65 and you would be charged that when touching in between 0630 and 0930. It is a little confusing that the off-peak cap limits the price of a single fare in the afternoon peak, but that's just the way the system works.

As for the 90p vs 95p, until March 2024 the off-peak single fare on any mode was the same in zones 1-6, then the old National Rail bits introduced a differential of 5p which has been maintained this year. The cap is twice the National Rail single, but if your journey is priced on the TfL scales it's 5p cheaper and you have to make a third journey to hit the cap.

 

[Watershed]

I went back to TFL Fare Finder and noticed there are several version of Kings Cross St Pancras listed. I tried them all and if I use Kings Cross Underground then a £0.90 cost appears. So coming via the tube (which happens when the Thameslink trains aren't running at weekends - ie A LOT) is apparently 5p cheaper for some reason!

There's are different fare scales for journeys using TfL services vs non-TfL services. The former is slightly cheaper at £0.90 off-peak for a Z1-4 journey with the 11-15 Zip card. By touching out at Kings Cross St Pancras Underground station, the system knows you have used TfL services rather than Thameslink.

 

[beanwalls]

Thanks both. This makes sense now. I'd just never had the £0.95 fare and thought it was odd...

But looking back through the journeys, it turns out we've never been able to use the direct Thameslink route on a Sunday. We have been doing this journey since February and there has always been a works issue that forced us to take the longer route.