please empty your brain below
I once did a loop using the 405 from Croydon to Redhill then train to Dorking Deepdene and 465 back to Kingston. A very pleasant run out even if I was at risk of a missed connection at Redhill due to an unexpected traffic jam at Purley. As it was a Sunday service the prospect of an hour's wait at Dorking didn't appeal! I think Saturday frequencies are probably a safer bet.
I have a strong suspicion that in the case of Surrey anyway the county council subsidises the cross-border element. I cannot believe that TfL would run the 166 to all the way to Epsom Hospital every hour until early evening if they didn't. Similarly the 405 to Redhill would make little sense for TfL to run unsubsidised. When you get to Redhill Bus station there is nothing to indicate it is a TfL service. The stop is not a TfL one and the timetable is not in TfL format. It is treated in the same way as all the other local services. It just happens to be run by TfL and consequently accepts Oyster cards.
Of course in all this there is the flipside too - other areas services entering London. Harder to collate info I guess but Surrey Council run quite a few into Croydon and Kingston. I presume due to the lack of deregulation in London they have to be tendered services rather than commercial ones.
The 267 summer Sunday extension terminates at Hampton Court Palace, not at the railway station across the river, so i doesn't leave Greater London.
The 465 has a long history, sdtarting as the 715 Green Lne.
Indeed, it does appear that one may be able to use Oyster all the way up to Hertford East as of next year.
Interestingly, Hampton Court rail station also lies just outside the boundary of London yet also can be reached using Oyster and Travelcards. Any chance of a companion post on how far you can get by train?
Last time I used it, a few years ago, the driver's old ticket machine had no Oyster facility so from Sevenoaks I only had to pay as far as Knockholt.
There ar several places, notably on the outer reaches of the Underground, where travlecards/Oyster are valid on trains but not local buses. The few buses outside the GLA area that accept Oyster are usually historical accidents. The trains are usually because of local political pressure and the attitude of the local operator to Oyster - note the difference between Caterham and Shepperton for example.
rail services outside the GLA area that accept Oyster/Travelcards:
Riddlesdown to Upper Warlingham
Kenley to Caterham
Reedham to Tattenham Corner
Belmont to Epsom Downs
Cheam to Ewell East
Worcester Park to Ewell West
Surbiton to Hampton Court
Northwood to Watford/Chesham/Amersham
Hatch End to Watford High Street
Mill Hill Bdy to Elsree & Borehamwood
Woodford to Epping/Hainault
(I have named each section as starting at the last station on the route that is within the GLA area, i.e. the GLA boundary is between that station and the next station away from London.
Both Woodford and Hainault are in the GLA area, but the intermediate stations between them are not (although two of them are right on the boundary).
They don't take Oyster, but many Surrey-sponsored services (458,555) etc give a discounted fare to Travelcard holders within Greater London. Here is a list
http://www.notrog.plus.com/busroutes/businformation/greenacceptingpasses.htm
As I understand it, Essex subsidises, or at least used to subsidise, tube fares to keep Theydon Bois and Epping in zone 6. Not sure about the other central line stations in Essex.
Over the last few years (since I've moved to the London/Surrey border) I have on occasions enquired as to why Epsom station is not in Zone 6: it is only 14 miles to London as tje crow flies (Zone 6 is from 12 to 18 miles - wikipedia).
It can often be quicker (and take one less train) to be routed south to Epsom (from Cheam Z5 /Ewell East Z6) to get to points north - and one is directed as such on TfL as well as national rail. Yet you can't use your travelcard.
The preponderous of buses here suggest that this is the biggest anomaly in London and I hope it can get sorted (a few years ago Surbiton campaigned to get into Zone 6 - and I know that distance is the key factor). But it is an important junction for radial travel - part of an outer circle.
DG
As a suggestion, you might like to look at how not late you have to leave London on a suburban line, e.g. the last train to Cheam, Ewell East leaves Vic at 11:26 (only), yet many many stations further out have departures up to and beyond midnight.
Another local curiosity which may be worthy of a post is a list of the worst bus destinations. Some single deckers on the 80 route now have the full name of the southbound destination boards prominently displayed. Older buses were more discreet. I just wouldn't feel good getting on this service...
Epsom isn't in the Zones because SWT opearte it - they drag their heels on anything Oyster-related. Surbiton is in Greater London and has been in Z6 since it was created (by splitting Z5). The recent campaign was to put it, and Kingston, into Z5 which its distance from central London would suggest is appropriate.
Pedantic: Reedham is, as I said, the last station in Greater London on the Tattenham Corner Line.
I didn't mention Coulsdon South or Woodmansterne because, on those lines, you cannot go beyond the GLA boundary on a Travelcard.
Sorry but you are wrong. Even on your rather peculiar argument that identifies the penultimate station your reasoning falls down because on that basis the last station would be Coulsdon Town.
DG: This is a topic close to my heart as my parents live between the B12 and 477 routes, just outside London - the 477's their nearest bus.
The B12 is Bexley borough's only six-days-a-week bus, so if my parents invite us round at the weekend, there's a 50% chance we can't do it by TfL bus alone. Bexley council's Public Transport Sub-Committee's been lobbying TfL to have a Sunday service for a few years, unsuccessfully thus far. TfL aren't prepared to fund it themselves alone, so have been negotiating with Kent County Council, who were prepared to commit enough funding for two years, but TfL need five to go ahead. At the cttee meeting in September, the TfL report seemed for the first time pessimistic about this ever happening now, sadly.
Meanwhile, I've never used the 477 because, to do the four-minute journey to their home from the nearest TfL bus to interchange with (233), Arriva charged a ludicrous £2.40 when I last enquired a couple of years ago. Furthermore, it has a decidedly unLondonlike timetable - poor frequencies, early stopping in evenings, etc. So we just get a lift instead. I wish the 477 were a TfL bus, particularly as both ends of its route are well served by TfL buses. But that's not even being talked about, let alone turned down for lack of funding.
If only we had some sort of mayoral election on the cards at which the candidates wanted the votes of outer Londoners, eh? After all, the people outside London who don't pay for TfL would benefit, sure, but so would those just inside London, who do, and would rather like to be able to travel in more than one-half of all possible directions!
Specifically I'm interested in the 117, 203, 216 and 290 buses that head out to Staines.
Cheers
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