London Underground ticketing
The most popular destinations and most interchange stations 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, outside Greater London (in the Epping Forest district) are 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 Buckinghamshire.
This creates the situation where two consecutive stations on a radial route are in both zones - West Ham and Bromley by Bow; Stratford and Pudding Mill Lane; Canning Town and East India.
Daily, seven-day, monthly and annual Travelcards are also available, allowing unlimited rides in two or more zones on the London Underground and most other forms of public transport in London, including most National Rail services, buses, Tramlink and Docklands Light Railway, but not the Emirates Air Line (cable car) cross-Thames service.
Day Travelcards are valid at any time on any day, although they are usually only sold Monday-Friday before 9:30am, while cheaper Off-Peak Travelcards are only valid for use on trains & London Underground services after 9:30am on weekdays (excluding Bank Holidays) but any time on weekends & holidays.
The Oyster card system is designed to eliminate the need to purchase tickets at the station for most users.
Following the implementation of the technology London Underground reduced the number of staff working in ticket offices.
Daily travel charges are settled directly against the customer's debit or credit card account; no "topping up" is required.
In addition to the automatic and staffed faregates at stations, the Underground also operates on a proof-of-payment system.
The network is sometimes patrolled by the uniformed staff who mainly stay at the faregates, and very occasionally by plainclothes fare inspectors equipped with hand-held Oyster card readers.
Transport for London strongly discourage this, officially stating that Travelcards are 'non-transferable' and thus invalid if resold.
In an attempt to reduce the numbers of Travelcards being used by more than one person, an experiment took place at Brixton station in 2002.
London Underground ticket machines in all stations support the following 17 languages: English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Greek, Gujarati, Hindi, Polish, Punjabi, Tamil, Turkish and Urdu.
