Season rail tickets help

I'm pricing out the cost of rail tickets from different locations we may move to and I'm unsure what some of the terminology means.

Example:
Looking at Chelmsford station to Liverpool Street Station in London
https://www.buytickets.greateranglia.co.uk/season/requirements/st_display_matrix.asp?T2ID=5378_201832921510

I see -

STANDARD Weekly
Chelmsford Essex - London Terminals

STANDARD Weekly
Chelmsford Essex - London Zones 1-6


What is the difference between the "London Terminals" on and the "London Zones 1-6"?

London terminals will get you to the train's destination in London.

London zones 1-6 will get you to the train's destination in London PLUS travel within London on the tube, bus, DLR, overground, etc.

If you work within walking distance of the destination station in London, you probably don't need zones 1-6.

Ah gotcha. OK. So one is Point A to Point B only. The other is Point A to Point B plus you can ride the tube and other stuff.

So even though my work is walking distance from the station, if I think I'll be using the tube/bus/etc. other times (like if we are going out in town or doing a lot of site seeing on off time) then maybe getting the London Zones one would be better rather getting the first ticket plus having to buy an Oyster card.

OK good to know and I'll consider that when buying. Thanks for clarifying.

Ah gotcha. OK. So one is Point A to Point B only. The other is Point A to Point B plus you can ride the tube and other stuff.

So even though my work is walking distance from the station, if I think I'll be using the tube/bus/etc. other times (like if we are going out in town or doing a lot of site seeing on off time) then maybe getting the London Zones one would be better rather getting the first ticket plus having to buy an Oyster card.

OK good to know and I'll consider that when buying. Thanks for clarifying.

I'd still try and do the math. If you'd only be using the tube etc occasionally, it might make more sense to just top up and use pay as you go. I live in London and work from home, but go in to the office and other places by tube twice a week - I just use pay as you go because there's no way I'd make a travel card worthwhile.

The difference between your Chelmsford to London ticket and the Chelmsford to London + zone 1-6 is £1,040. That's a lot of money.

The daily cap for zone 1-2 is £6.80. Zone 1-3 is £8. If you were using the tube etc to travel in zone 1-3 more than every 2.8 days (so more than twice a week), it might make sense to get the zone 1-6 travel card. If not (and I'd suspect not), you'll save money by using pay as you go.

If you were ever spending a week in London, you could get a weekly travel card. A zone 1-3 weekly card is £40, so basically 7 days for the price of 5. Zone 1-2 is £34.10, so the same deal.

Apologies if any of my math is wrong.

Wow thats an awesome breakdown. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

Wow thats an awesome breakdown. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

No problem. I love geeking out over numbers.

I realised my calculations above were for the day cap, but you'd usually need to make more than three journeys to meet that cap. If you did a simple there-and-back, the cost of a day trip would be less than the day cap, making pay as you go an even better option.