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The section on TfL's website dealing with peak and off-peak times specifies the times but it doesn't specify if those are considered when card holders touch in or when they touch out.

Say, I board a train at 18:45 from Euston and arrive at Watford Junction at 19:07. The journey started during the peak time but ended during the off-peak time. What fare will I be charged - the peak or the off-peak?

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    I believe that it is when you touch in, but I am not completely certain.
    – Michael Hampton
    Nov 1, 2015 at 19:22
  • Probably, as it otherwise might be an incentive for people to travel extra long times just so they can touch in at a peak time and touch out at an off-peak time. But I couldn't find this explicitly clarified on TfL's website.
    – Nobilis
    Nov 1, 2015 at 19:33
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    @Nobilis: That's probably not a relevant consideration. The ticketing system assumes that most people are just interested in getting from point A to point B and have no particular wish to ride around in peak-hour trains just for the fun of it. Someone who is okay with arriving at point B late would have more of an incentive to do something interesting at point A instead and then take a later train, than to take an earlier, fuller, train from A and then hang around waiting on the platform at B, even if both options would cost him the same.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Nov 2, 2015 at 10:34

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I phoned TfL to find the answer to this. It's simple and straightforward:

The rate depends on when you touch in.

Peak fares apply from 06:30 to 09:29 and from 16:00 to 18:59 Monday to Friday (excluding public holidays). Off-peak fares apply at all other times. That is, if you touch in during those two three-hour periods, you will be charged the peak fare.

If your journey starts in off-peak time but strays into the peak period, it's still an off-peak fare.

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  • Right, I guess that's as good as it gets, it would be nice if they were to put it up on their website.
    – Nobilis
    Nov 2, 2015 at 13:56
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    So it is the same as trains with reductions on the OV-chipcard in the Netherlands, but NS puts it loud and clear on the website. Check in after 8:55 and your journey is classed as after 9:00AM and goes as reduction, (so off peak.)
    – Willeke ♦
    Nov 2, 2015 at 20:04
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    Note that the specific journey mentioned, Euston to Watford Junction, benefits from contraflow off peak pricing. As shown in the Single Fare Finder, making this journey (in this direction) in the morning counts as off peak (because you are going against the flow)
    – AakashM
    Nov 3, 2015 at 10:53
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There is a 5 min grace period So Peak is from 635 to 927 And from 1605 to 1857

https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/transparency/freedom-of-information/foi-request-detail?referenceId=FOI-1798-1718

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