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London Underground uses Transport For London 's Travelcard zones to calculate fares, including fares for use on the Underground only. Travelcard Zone 1 is the most central, with a boundary just beyond the Circle Line and Travelcard Zone 6 is the most outlying and includes London Heathrow Airport . All of Greater London is covered by zones 1 to 6. A few extra stations in neighbouring areas come under zones 5 and 6. For the rest of the network which is outside Greater London, a group of ancillary zones named A, B, C and D are used. Of these, Zone D is the most remote and consists of Amersham and Chesham in the Chiltern distict. These lettered zones are only used on the Metropolitan Line and do not encircle the capital. In general, the more zones travelled through, the higher the fare. Tickets including zone 1 are usually more expensive than those involving only outer zones. The zone system works well because the most popular destinations and the stations where lines cross are in zone 1, meaning that most journeys over similar distances will cost the same. There are staffed ticket offices open for limited periods and ticket machines usable at any time. While some machines which sell a limited number of tickets accept only coins, other touch-screen ticket machines will accept coins and English Paper Money —though not Northern Irish or Scottish notes—in good condition, and usually give change. These machines also accept major credit and debit cards and some newer machines will accept payment only by card. SUMMARY OF TICKET TYPES The following tickets are available from London Underground and Transport for London ticket agents for use on the Underground: Detailed information on tickets and pricing is available from the Transport for London website . TICKET TYPES Single tickets The fare structure for paper single tickets was simplified in January 2006. All journeys which pass through between one and four zones are now priced at a flat fare of £3 no matter how long or short the journey. Journeys passing through five or six zones are all priced at £4. A journey including zone 1 will be priced at the same rate as a journey in any of the other zones. Fares for single paper tickets have been set deliberately high in order to encourage users to use either Travelcards or Oyster pre-pay fares, which are substantially lower (up to £2 per journey cheaper) than paper tickets. Return tickets are sold at twice the price of a single ticket. A travelcard is often cheaper than a return ticket and will automatically be provided by ticket machines and ticket office staff it is cheaper than the return fare. Travelcard See Also: Travelcard Daily, three-day, seven-day, monthly and annual Travelcards are also available, allowing unlimited rides in two or more zones on the London Underground and most other forms of transport in London, including most National Rail services, Buses , Tramlink and Docklands Light Railway . Travelcards are also available for 'odd periods' of between one month and a year. Most regular travellers use Travelcards, and they are substantially better value for money than single tickets for anyone making more than a couple of journeys a day. Off-peak Travelcards, also known as "Day Travelcards", are sold only after 09:30, although a Peak Day Travelcard is also available at a higher price. Many shops, usually newsagents, sell bus passes and Travelcards; these are identified by a "Ticket Stop" sign, usually in a door panel or front window. A Day Travelcard is valid until 04:30 on the day after the date of issue. The number and combination of zones is restricted depending the type of travelcard. Travelcards for only one zone are not sold. Oyster Card See Also: Oyster Card In 2003, Transport for London launched the Oyster card. It is a Proximity Card , which on buses, trams and on the Underground allows a traveller to touch the card on one of the yellow readers positioned on the automatic entrance and exit gates rather than feeding it through a card ticket reader. Unlike card tickets, the Oyster Card is not disposable, and value - either 'pay as you go' balance or Travelcards - can be added to it at computerised ticket machines and at ticket offices. Where pay as you go credit is used the cost of each journey is deducted from a stored balance. As of October 2005, weekly, monthly and annual Travelcards issued by London Underground or directly by Transport For London are only available on Oyster cards. As of January 2006 Oyster pay as you go single fares are priced between £1 and £3.50 depending on a number of factors. A maximum fare of £2 applies early mornings, evenings and weekends. Significantly the least expensive paper single of £3 is 200% more expensive than the cheapest oyster fare of £1. Daily travelcards are not sold on Oyster Card but a system called 'Capping' ensures that on each day of use no more than the equivalent travelcard price (discounted by 50p) is deducted from the balance. The balance can be automatically topped up with funds from a credit or debit card when the balance becomes low, a feature known as 'auto top-up'. Tickets and pay as you go credit can be purchased via a website or over the telephone. The Oyster Card system is designed to eliminate the need to purchase tickets at the station for most users. Following the implementation of the technology London Underground intends to reduce the number of staff working in ticket offices and redeploy them in other roles. PENALTY FARES AND FARE EVASION In addition to the automatic and staffed ticket gates at stations, the Underground is patrolled by both uniformed and plain-clothes ticket inspectors equipped with hand-held Oyster Card readers. Passengers travelling without a ticket valid for their entire journey are required to pay a £20 penalty fare or face prosecution for fare evasion. Oyster pre-pay users who have failed to 'touch in' at the start of their journey are also considered to be travelling without a valid ticket. Touts at stations can often be seen attempting to illegally resell used Day Travelcards which they have begged from passers-by leaving the station. Transport For London strongly discourage this, and point out that these tickets are not valid as Day Travelcards are non-transferable. Underground staff and inspectors will confiscate tickets which they know to have been resold, and may require the passenger using them to pay a penalty fare. At some stations touts have become a major problem for London Underground, as they can cause an obstruction and harass passengers and staff. In an attempt to reduce this problem, a successful experiment took place at Brixton Station in 2002. A box was provided at the station exit into which passengers were encouraged to deposit Travelcards which were no longer required, and for each ticket deposited London Underground made a donation to local charities for the homeless. |
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