Tube change: ALL Heathrow trips via Zone 1 priced at peak rates from today

Transport for London has snuck out a low key price rise for travel on London Underground, as part of its pandemic bailout deal with the Government.

From today, all trips to or from Heathrow on the London Underground or Elizabeth Line from Zone 1 will be charged at peak rates.

It doesn’t matter what day you travel or what time of day. You will pay the peak rate fare if your journey starts in Zone 1 or passes through Zone 1.

If you trip starts or ends before Heathrow, such as at Hatton Cross, standard fares will apply. Standard fares will also apply if you avoid Zone 1, although you would need to touch intermediate Oyster readers whenever you changed trains so the system knows your route.

The daily price caps are not changing, so you may not be impacted by this increase if you take multiple other TfL trips on the same day.

The new prices are:

• Piccadilly Line from/to Heathrow – now £5.50 for all trips touching Zone 1 (was £3.50 off peak)

• Elizabeth Line from/to Heathrow – now £12.80 for all trips touching Zone 1 (was £10.80 off peak)

There are no changes to Heathrow Express fares. Interestingly, the Piccadilly Line fare is now the same price as the 90 Day Advanced Purchase Heathrow Express fare.

The change, along with a £2 increase in the cost of a new Oyster card from £5 to £7 (and which is now non-refundable) is expected to raise £27m per year for TfL. By restricting the rise to those passing through Zone 1, it is hoped to minimise the impact on people working at the airport.

You can read more on Bloomberg here.