Why is Amersham to Chalfont & Latimer so ridiculously expensive?

[Mark J]

A two mile return journey from Amersham to Chalfont & Latimer is £14 without railcard, £9.30 with Railcard.

Great Missenden (one stop further back and eight miles from Chalfont) to Chalfont & Latimer is a bit more reasonably priced at £9.10 without Railcard, £6.05 with Railcard.

Why are the fares so ridiculously expensive on the Aylesbury Line generally?

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

I expect because most people will be using Oyster or a contactless card, for which the fare is only £2.00 from Amersham to Chalfont & Latimer.

It seems to be a recurring theme in TfL areas that paper fares are more expensive to dissuade usage.

 

[Hadders]

It's £2.20 peak and £2.00 each way using contactless or Oyster. Off Peak fare is £1.30 if you use Oyster with a railcard attached.

Paper tickets on the Underground are ridiculously expensive, off peak versions were removed years ago. This is to encourange people to use contactless/Oyster. No sensible person would ever use a paper ticket for this journey nowadays.

 

[Mark J]

It's £2.20 peak and £2.00 each way using contactless or Oyster. Off Peak fare is £1.30 if you use Oyster with a railcard attached.

Paper tickets on the Underground are ridiculously expensive, off peak versions were removed years ago. This is to encourange people to use contactless/Oyster. No sensible person would ever use a paper ticket for this journey nowadays.

Although don't Chiltern Railways operate services too?

Surprised that NR fares are subject to the paper ticket price inflation.

 

[Dirty_Mac]

Although don't Chiltern Railways operate services too?

Surprised that NR fares are subject to the paper ticket price inflation.

Because the fare is set by TFL

 

[PeterC]

The contactless fares are lower than the bus fare for singles but Carousel do a return at £3.80.

Nothing special about this line, after looking at a number of Underground Station pairs it seems to be the minimum cash fare.

 

[Fawkes Cat]

Although don't Chiltern Railways operate services too?

My understanding is that the tickets are interavailable - i.e. you can use Oyster/contactless on the Chiltern train

 

[Bletchleyite]

A two mile return journey from Amersham to Chalfont & Latimer is £14 without railcard, £9.30 with Railcard.

Great Missenden (one stop further back and eight miles from Chalfont) to Chalfont & Latimer is a bit more reasonably priced at £9.10 without Railcard, £6.05 with Railcard.

Why are the fares so ridiculously expensive on the Aylesbury Line generally?

Because they are priced by TfL, who set paper singles/returns at punitive levels to encourage the use of Oyster or contactless. This is nothing new.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Monday at 15:01 ==

My understanding is that the tickets are interavailable - i.e. you can use Oyster/contactless on the Chiltern train

You can yes, as far as Amersham.

One thing along those lines I've never been quite clear on (don't know if anyone can confirm?) is if you can, outside disruption, use a London Terminals-Aylesbury ticket from Baker St to Amersham, and if so if that is paper only or also e-ticket? Or if it's just one way inter availability i.e. TfL tickets OK on Chiltern but not the other way round.

 

[Hadders]

My understanding is that the tickets are interavailable - i.e. you can use Oyster/contactless on the Chiltern train

Correct. You can use contactless/oyster all the way to Marylebone.

It’s what everyone travelling from Amersham does, unless they have some sort of pass or Travelcard.

Paper tickets essentially ceased to be ‘a thing’ on this prt of the network about 15 years ago.

 

[Tetchytyke]

One thing along those lines I've never been quite clear on (don't know if anyone can confirm?) is if you can, outside disruption, use a London Terminals-Aylesbury ticket from Baker St to Amersham

Yes, tickets are interavailable between Baker Street/Marylebone and Harrow-on-the-Hill (but not intermediately), and between Harrow-on-the-Hill and Amersham.

It's in the forum ticketing guide:

RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide - Section 7 - Integrated fares

Section 7 - Integrated fares Contents 7.1 PlusBus 7.2 Bus & Tram Links 7.3 London Underground & DLR 7.4 Eurostar through ticketing 7.5 Rail & Sail to Ireland & other British Isles destinations 7.6 Rail & Sail to Continental Europe 7.7 CIV protections 7.8 Preserved Railways 7.9 Other tourist...

www.railforums.co.uk

How this works in practice, I don't know.

 

[CyrusWuff]

One thing along those lines I've never been quite clear on (don't know if anyone can confirm?) is if you can, outside disruption, use a London Terminals-Aylesbury ticket from Baker St to Amersham, and if so if that is paper only or also e-ticket? Or if it's just one way inter availability i.e. TfL tickets OK on Chiltern but not the other way round.

Theoretically yes, given the wording is "National Rail tickets which include validity between Amersham and Harrow-on-the-Hill and intermediately are also valid on LU/DLR services."

How much success you'd have trying to travel to/from Baker Street on an Aylesbury - London Terminals e-ticket I couldn't say, however!

 

[mickey]

How this works in practice, I don't know.

How much success you'd have trying to travel to/from Baker Street on an Aylesbury - London Terminals e-ticket I couldn't say, however!

TfL gateline staff who regularly work Baker Street are well aware of the interavailability rules and will allow a manual pass-through if required.

 

[Flying Snail]

TfL gateline staff who regularly work Baker Street are well aware of the interavailability rules and will allow a manual pass-through if required.

TfL gateline staff who work at stations with National Rail services regularly refuse and hassle people with valid NR tickets so I would be not at all confident about Baker Street being any better.

 

[mickey]

TfL gateline staff who work at stations with National Rail services regularly refuse and hassle people with valid NR tickets so I would be not at all confident about Baker Street being any better.

As I said, regular Baker Street staff are well aware of the specific interavailability that applies to their station.