Zonal Coverage for Oyster fares from 5th March 2023
Request ID: FOI-2836-2223 Date published: 16 February 2023
You asked
Dear FOI,
Please provide my usual spreadsheet detailing high and low zones for Oyster journeys with effect from 05/03/2023. The format should be the same as provided on FOI-1197-2223.
I do have one query about an anomaly in the last file which only recently came to light. There are 10 entries with a high zone of 15, covering the fares between Victoria (GatEx) and Redhill, Earlswood, Salfords, Horley and Gatwick Airport. Should those really be zone 14? Especially for the 4 non-airport stations where capping does apply?
Thank you very much for any assistance you can provide.
We answered
Our ref: FOI-2836-2223/GH
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 1 February 2023 asking for information about Zonal Coverage for Oyster fares.
Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.
Please find attached a new version of the requested file.
The journeys referred to between London Victoria (Gatwick Express gates) and Earlswood Surrey/Salfords Surrey/Horley/Gatwick Airport have been configured, in line with the Train Operating Company’s requirements, to be outside capping and Oyster Travelcard acceptance. Any such journeys made will also be charged at the Gatwick Express fare.
Zones 0, 15 and 16 are generally used to indicate journeys where one end or the other, or both, is outside zonal capping and charging arrangements. On the other hand a journey from, say, London Victoria (Southern gates) to Gatwick Airport is classified in data as zones 1 to 14 (zone 14 having zonal caps associated with it).
Journeys between London Victoria (Gatwick Express gates) and Redhill are actually within capping and accordingly have a zonal classification range of zones 1-13) and associated zonal cap values.
As part of the work we are currently undertaking to extend PAYG to a wider range of stations within the South East, we are reviewing how existing journeys are described in data in terms of the zones that are deemed to be passed through. Accordingly, there may well be changes to how we describe the zonality of a given journey within the data; this zonality is also described differently in different systems according to how the data is to be used.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely
Graham Hurt FOI Case Officer FOI Case Management Team General Counsel Transport for London
