All systems Fares explained

How the fares actually work

Every network on this site is priced by one of five mechanisms, or some combination of them. Once you know which one you are dealing with, the right ticket is usually obvious. This page explains each, and lists the networks that use it.

Flat fare

One price per journey, however far you go. The simplest model to budget for and the one where a day ticket is easiest to evaluate: divide the day ticket by the single and you have your break-even exactly.

Zones

The network is carved into areas and the fare depends on how many you cross. Zones usually radiate out from the centre, so a short hop that happens to cross a boundary can cost more than a longer trip that does not. Check which zone your destination sits in before assuming the cheapest fare applies — airports are very often in the outermost one.

Distance and fare stages

The fare is set by how far you actually travel, counted either in miles, in stops, or in old-fashioned fare stages. There is no boundary to be caught out by, but there is also no way to know the price without looking it up for your specific journey.

Daily capping

You tap a contactless card for each journey and the system stops charging once your total reaches the price of a day ticket. It is the closest thing to a guarantee of not overpaying, because you never have to predict your day in advance. The catch is that capping only works if every tap is on the same card — mixing a phone and a plastic card splits your total across two accounts and neither reaches the cap.

Admission rather than transit

Cable cars, cliff railways and heritage tramways mostly sell a return as an attraction ticket rather than a transport fare. Expect no concessions beyond a child rate, no integration with local buses or trains, and seasonal opening. Several of these are cash-only.

Cable cars & lifts

Touching in, and touching out

This is the detail that costs people the most money. On some networks you tap a reader when you start and again when you finish, and the system works out the fare from the pair. Miss the second tap and it cannot tell where you went, so it charges the maximum fare from where you started. On others a single tap is the whole transaction and there is nothing to tap on the way out.

There is no way to reason it out from first principles — it is simply a decision each operator made. Every system page here states which applies, in its own Where you tap section.

Tap Tap in only and out: Tap in and tap out. Forgetting to tap out means the journey is recorded as incomplete and charged at the maximum fare for where you started. Transport for London, Tyne and Wear Metro, Glasgow Subway, Merseyrail, Metrolink, DLR.
Tap in only: Tap in only. One tap at the start of the journey covers it — there is nothing to tap on the way out. West Midlands Metro, NET Tram, Edinburgh Trams, London Trams.
Pay the conductor: There is usually nothing to tap. Board first and buy from the conductor when you are asked. South Wales Metro, Supertram, Blackpool Tramway.

When a day ticket starts winning

The standard advice is that a day ticket pays for itself on the third journey. That is roughly right, but it is worth being precise, because the real figure varies by network. Of the 16 networks here where we can compare a single against a day ticket of the same scope, 7 have a day ticket that is already cheaper on the second journey — meaning a simple return trip is enough to justify it. 8 break even on the third. Only London needs a fourth.

Each system page shows its own arithmetic, worked out from the two prices listed on that page, so the sums can never drift out of step with the fares above them.

Why paper tickets are usually the wrong answer

On almost every network here, a paper single bought from a machine is the most expensive way to make the journey, and on the London Underground it is roughly double the contactless fare. Machines also queue, take cash slowly, and on several systems are not present at every stop. Unless you have no contactless card at all, there is very little reason to buy one.

Concessions are mostly for residents

This catches visitors out repeatedly. Free and discounted travel for older and disabled passengers is generally tied to a pass issued by the local authority where you live, so an English concessionary pass will not get you free travel in Scotland, and a Scottish one will not work in England. Under-fives travel free almost everywhere. Beyond that, each network sets its own child age range and its own rules, and those are listed on each system page.

Now pick your city

Every network, with its fares, its tapping rules and its own break-even worked out.

Browse by city