If the time between touching in at the start and touching out at the end of your journey is more than the maximum journey time limit, you'll be charged two maximum pay as you go fares. A single maximum fare is: up to £9.40 in Zones 1-9. up to £26.00 beyond Zone 9, including on the Heathrow Express.

Excellent question. The TFL maximum fare is also known as the daily or weekly fare cap. It’s a core benefit of using Oyster cards, contactless payment (cards or devices), and Travelcards in London. It’s not a fixed price, but a system that ensures you never pay more than the cost of the relevant Travelcard for the zones you’ve traveled in that day or week.

Here’s a breakdown of how it works:

The Core Principle

The system tracks all your journeys in a single day (from 04:30 to 04:29 the next day) or across a Monday-to-Sunday week. Once the total cost of your pay-as-you-go journeys reaches a certain cap, all further travel for the rest of that day or week is free.

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Types of Caps

1. Daily Cap

• What it is: The maximum you’ll pay for unlimited travel in one day.
• How it works: It varies by the zones you travel through.
• Example (2024 fares):
  • Zones 1-2: Daily cap is £8.50. If you take multiple buses, tubes, trams, etc., and your fares add up to £8.50, any further journeys that day are free.
  • Zones 1-4: Daily cap is £12.00.
  • Zones 1-6: Daily cap is £14.90 (the most common for tourists using Heathrow).
  • Bus & Tram Only Cap: A much lower cap of £5.