The Lemon Fool

Last week me and mrs Didds went up to that there London. We had a jolly spiffing time .

One thing we did find almost impossible to understand was the best practise/cost effective means of using busses and tubes in Zone1. There are humungious amounts of web pages saying WHAT variations on tickets are available , but none making it clear as to which is most efficient.

From what I could gather, there are daily/weekly maximum amounts as long as you use the same card/phone to tap in (and out at the tube stations) - between ~£6.50 (all off peak) and ~£8.50 (inc. peak hours). I also found something about a travelcard priced at about £15 ...

My question them would be - why would anybody buy a travelcard for £15 a day when you have a max tap in for £8.50, maybe even £6.50 ?

Or does the travel card cover ALL zones where potentially end to end fares on the tube would be higher ?

In the end we just tapped in and out and rested on the mac daily rate thing...

Tapping in and out with a credit/debit card is the cheapest option. London is divided into 6 concentric zones, and there are different travelcard prices and daily caps for each combination of zones, but they don't want you to use paper travelcards, so they are always more expensive.

The exception is if you have a railcard and are coming from futher away, so you can get 1/3 off a Reading-All Zones London travelcard which might be cheaper than 1/3 off the rail fare and then contactless inside London

They also want you to stop using oyster. The prices are the same as contactless, but there is no advantage to using it, indeed I gave mine back and got a refund of the unused credit.

And whatever you do, NEVER BUY PAPER SINGLE TICKETS.

JohnB wrote:They also want you to stop using oyster. The prices are the same as contactless, but there is no advantage to using it,.

If you have a Railcard, it can be added to the Oyster card, giving one-third off. The numerous railcard offers are not available on contactless.

Alaric wrote:
If you have a Railcard, it can be added to the Oyster card, giving one-third off. The numerous railcard offers are not available on contactless.

Now THAT is interesting and I didnt know that.

So how does an oyster card work compared to tap in/tap out limits?

Particularly my card - disabled - which gives the discount to my carer ie companion on the trip. ... how do you get that onto two oyster cards, or even more given it could be any carer at any given time?

didds wrote:So how does an oyster card work compared to tap in/tap out limits?

Particularly my card - disabled - which gives the discount to my carer ie companion on the trip. ... how do you get that onto two oyster cards, or even more given it could be any carer at any given time?

It's probably the same between Oyster and tap in/out.


To get an Oyster card loaded with a railcard discount, you have to find a member of TfL staff to do it. Whilst Oyster cards are in principle transferable, once loaded with a Railcard they can become personal to the holder of the Railcard. You would have to read the small print of the Disabled Railcard to find out how far it extends to carers. Alternatively ask at https://www.railforums.co.uk/ which is where experts on rail tickeing hang out.

I assume everyone knows that a free bus pass from anywhere in England is valid for free bus travel in London.

JohnB wrote:Tapping in and out with a credit/debit card is the cheapest option. London is divided into 6 concentric zones…

9 zones these days!