London Bus Fare Zones

[[.n]]

Sometime around the late 80s it was also possible to get a bus pass that was only for a certain borough (there definitely was a Croydon one) which was cheaper than the zonal one.

 

[Deerfold]

There were only four zones for buses, zones 1,2,3 and 4 although in reality there were only two zones as you could only get a bus pass for all the zones or the outer 3 zones

However you could get Travelcards for all sorts of combinations of zones.

 

[Deerfold]

I just about remember the bus fare zones, they were split into 4 zones, night buses had there own fares, £2 for journeys from zone 1 & 2, 70p if the journey was in zone 4, most day tickets were not valid on night buses either, plus night buses started a lot earlier than now, some night buses started 10.30-11pm.

I had a girlfriend in London in the late 90s. I had one trip to London where I got a weekend Travel card which didn't cover night buses in between. Getting a late bus, we'd sometimes let an N15 go by to catch the later 15 behind it as the ticket wasn't valid on the N15. On some visits for 3 or 4 days I'd get a week-long travelcard because that was valid on Night routes - I used to get a lot more night buses back then. Back then a night bus from Camden to Trafalgar square was around £2 - more than it is now.

 

[Statto]

I had a girlfriend in London in the late 90s. I had one trip to London where I got a weekend Travel card which didn't cover night buses in between. Getting a late bus, we'd sometimes let an N15 go by to catch the later 15 behind it as the ticket wasn't valid on the N15. On some visits for 3 or 4 days I'd get a week-long travelcard because that was valid on Night routes - I used to get a lot more night buses back then. Back then a night bus from Camden to Trafalgar square was around £2 - more than it is now.

Night buses even then were still pretty cheap even at £2, although the network wasn't as big then as it is now, wasn't one of the first things TFL did was to get rid of the premium fares for night buses & extend day travelcards validity to include night buses.

 

[Deerfold]

Night buses even then were still pretty cheap even at £2, although the network wasn't as big then as it is now, wasn't one of the first things TFL did was to get rid of the premium fares for night buses & extend day travelcards validity to include night buses.

They were even more expensive going out beyond Zone 2.

It was. Along with reducing the fares on routes extending beyond the London border which were more than they are now.

 

[infobleep]

I had a girlfriend in London in the late 90s. I had one trip to London where I got a weekend Travel card which didn't cover night buses in between. Getting a late bus, we'd sometimes let an N15 go by to catch the later 15 behind it as the ticket wasn't valid on the N15. On some visits for 3 or 4 days I'd get a week-long travelcard because that was valid on Night routes - I used to get a lot more night buses back then. Back then a night bus from Camden to Trafalgar square was around £2 - more than it is now.

When did the weekend travelcard go? I remeber that.

 

[Deerfold]

When did the weekend travelcard go? I remeber that.

I think it lasted until the the January 2005 fare change. I think shortly afterwards 2 capped Oyster days became cheaper than the Weekend Travelcard discount over 2 paper Travelcards.

 

[transmanche]

Sometime around the late 80s it was also possible to get a bus pass that was only for a certain borough (there definitely was a Croydon one) which was cheaper than the zonal one.

Gosh, yes. I'd forgotten about them. Were they only available for outer London boroughs? Here's a poster for the Kingston version from 1988:

Image is a poster from 1988, advertising the Kingston Area Bus Pass costing £2.80 a week.
Source: LT Museum

 

[philthetube]

One of the wierd thinfs about travelcards on the busses was the validity outside london.

If travelling to Debden, for example you had to have a travelcard or bus pass with Zone 1 on it to be valid ???????????????

 

[Deerfold]

One of the wierd thinfs about travelcards on the busses was the validity outside london.

If travelling to Debden, for example you had to have a travelcard or bus pass with Zone 1 on it to be valid ???????????????

If you mean that any Travelcard including Zone 1 (or any zone) is valid on all TfL buses, yes. You can happily travel Slough to Bluewater with a Zone 1-2 Travelcard, so long as your happiness isn't decreased by spending most of the day on buses.

 

[Busaholic]

If you mean that any Travelcard including Zone 1 (or any zone) is valid on all TfL buses, yes. You can happily travel Slough to Bluewater with a Zone 1-2 Travelcard, so long as your happiness isn't decreased by spending most of the day on buses.

Your happiness on leaving Slough probably makes up for it - mind you, reaching Bluewater might bring back the angst

 

[[.n]]

Gosh, yes. I'd forgotten about them. Were they only available for outer London boroughs? Here's a poster for the Kingston version from 1988:

Image is a poster from 1988, advertising the Kingston Area Bus Pass costing £2.80 a week.
Source: LT Museum

Wow, I remember thinking that at the time there was a decent saving on the Croydon Borough card compared to the zonal one, I wonder what it really was if the weekly fare was only £2.80

I expect I bought monthlies, so the difference probably felt more to me.

 

[Statto]

Did London buses ever have a 10 trip ticket,although i never bought one i just about remember the GMPTE clippercard, to use this you had to insert the card into the on board canceller machines hoping they were working, sone operators still do 10 trip tickets.

Did TFL introduce the all day one day travelcard[valid before 09.30], i seem to remember you could only get a off peak one day travelcard?

 

[matt_world2004]

Did London buses ever have a 10 trip ticket,although i never bought one i just about remember the GMPTE clippercard, to use this you had to insert the card into the on board canceller machines hoping they were working, sone operators still do 10 trip tickets.

Did TFL introduce the all day one day travelcard[valid before 09.30], i seem to remember you could only get a off peak one day travelcard?

They had saver tickets until quite recently you would pull the cardboard voucher off. Gave it to the driver and then kept the other bit

 

[Wirewiper]

Did London buses ever have a 10 trip ticket,although i never bought one i just about remember the GMPTE clippercard, to use this you had to insert the card into the on board canceller machines hoping they were working, sone operators still do 10 trip tickets.

Did TFL introduce the all day one day travelcard[valid before 09.30], i seem to remember you could only get a off peak one day travelcard?

London Transport did experiment with strip tickets in the Romford area in the mid-1970s to encourage off-bus sales, but the idea was not taken up and the experiment was ended.

 

[transmanche]

Did London buses ever have a 10 trip ticket,although i never bought one i just about remember the GMPTE clippercard, to use this you had to insert the card into the on board canceller machines hoping they were working, sone operators still do 10 trip tickets.

Yes and no.

In some areas, you could get Multi-ride tickets for use on the flat-fare routes; e.g. the W-prefix routes centred on Wood Green or the E-prefix routes centred on Ealing. The number of journeys on the card varied over time, presumably to keep a 'sensible' price for the whole ticket. I remember that the plastic pot the clipped bits of card went into would often fall off the machine, chucking a load of 'confetti' all over the floor.

In the early 1980s, LT trialled a scheme in the London Borough of Havering, changing the fare structure in that area so that (initially) fares were structured in multiples of 10p. So you clipped 1 unit off the card for each 10p.

 

[matt_world2004]

Not for ticketing but I believe bus zones are still used for transport planning services. For example setting mayoral objectives on mileage increases in outer London and mileage decreases in central London.