London Underground ticketing

The London Underground metro system of London, England uses a mix of paper and electronic smart-card ticketing.

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.

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.

A few stations in the north east of the network, on the Central line, are outside Greater London in the Epping Forest district; however, they are included in zones 4, 5 and 6. In the north west of the network, on the Metropolitan line, zones 7, 8 and 9 (formerly A - D) cover stations outside Greater London including Amersham and Chesham in the Chiltern district of Buckinghamshire. Unlike the lower numbered zones, these ancillary areas do not encircle the capital. They only apply to the Metropolitan line and London Overground.

Some stations are located on the boundary of two zones. For example, Vauxhall is in Zones 1 and 2; passengers travelling from a Zone 1 station only need to purchase a ticket covering Zone 1, while passengers travelling from an outer Zone (Zone 2 or beyond) only require a ticket covering Zone 2 and the other zones they are travelling through.

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