Hello everyone.
I have a zones 1-3 Travelcard on an Oyster.
I am looking to travel between Ealing Broadway and Shenfield on the Elizabeth line. Do you know what I will be charged if I tap in at Ealing and out at Shenfield?
The single fare finder is slightly confusing me! Thank you in advance.
You'll be charged the fare for the part of the journey beyond your Travelcard, i.e. Zone 4 to Shenfield. This would likely be £4.00/£6.70 off-peak/peak, or £2.65 off-peak if you have a Railcard applied to your Oyster card (e.g. if your Travelcard is an annual one, as this automatically qualifies for a Gold Card).
In most cases, extension fares are the same as the "point to point" fare for the part of the journey not covered by your Travelcard (i.e. Manor Park to Shenfield in this case), which you can look up on the single fare finder.
In a few cases, extension fares are set at a higher rate to avoid perceived 'anomalies', whereby it would otherwise be cheaper to buy a Travelcard for part of the journey and then pay an extension fare for the rest each time you travel. Unfortunately TfL doesn't publish the list of extension fares anywhere, as far as I'm aware.
Since TfL don't publish them, if the extension fare turns out to be materially more expensive than the point to point fare, I think you would have a fair case for claiming back the amount "overcharged" from TfL.
This would be on the basis that no price has been determined before the contract was entered into (when you bought your Travelcard), so
section 51 of the Consumer Rights Act requires that you only be charged a "reasonable price".
I would argue the point to point fare gives a very clear indication of what could be considered "reasonable", especially since Boundary Zone paper fares are generally identical to point to point paper fares. I don't think the TOCs' motivations in trying to prevent perceived anomalies are sufficient to magically render an (unpublished) higher price reasonable.
If this is just a one-off journey you're making, it's unlikely to be worthwhile pursuing a small overcharge, but if it's a journey you'll be doing more regularly or the overcharge is more significant, I'd suggest it could be worthwhile pursuing.
Of course, if TfL published the extension fares, section 51 above wouldn't come into it and they'd be quite entitled to charge prices that were unreasonable. Just as long as they are actually determined before the contract is entered into.
