London Travel Card question

[Danish viking]

I have helped alot on people travelling to Copenhagen (and the rest of Denmark) but now its my turn to get some help.

 

 

I will be staying at a Marriott hotel that is located in zone 6

 

I will be using national rail (Southeastern) and Tube all days out from Barnehurst

 

Is it right that i just need a 6 zone Day Off Peak travelcard costing 8,90 pounds. for all the travelling all days from after 09:30 am to 04:00 am in order to get from downtown London and Emirates Stadium and back again.

[Kevin's girl]

I may be wrong; I have not ever been to London and I am myself just starting to research our first Europe cruise, but I found this on the Travel Card website and it would seem that unlimited rides are included from zones 1-6 for the duration of you travel card. Whether you buy a 1,2,3, or six day pass.

[Danish viking]

Thats also what I'm guessing (that it covers all zones within zone 1 to 6), but I don't want to get a fine for travelling with to few zones. :D

 

Only difference from what your plan is that I'm only gonna buy the Travelcard and not the London Pass.

[Cotswold Eagle]

To be clear, you need a ticket that covers Zones 1-6, and yes the off-peak Travelcard is £8.90 ("a 6 zone" is ambiguous, because you can also get Travelcards just for that zone, if you see what I mean). But if you get an Oyster card, it will cap at £8.50 per day, so even better value :)

[Globaliser]

I will be staying at a Marriott hotel that is located in zone 6

 

I will be using national rail (Southeastern) and Tube all days out from Barnehurst

 

Is it right that i just need a 6 zone Day Off Peak travelcard costing 8,90 pounds. for all the travelling all days from after 09:30 am to 04:00 am in order to get from downtown London and Emirates Stadium and back again.

That's adventurous! I had to look up where Barnehurst is, although I presume that this is because you're staying at the Bexleyheath Marriott (I didn't know either there was one there) and Barnehurst is closer to the hotel than Bexleyheath?

 

If you buy an £8.90 off-peak zone 1-6 one-day Travelcard, it will cover you for any National Rail, Tube, DLR, London Overground, bus or tram travel taken within zones 1-6 that day, provided that no journey starts before 0930. The card will be valid for any journey started before 0430 the next day.

 

However, an alternative approach is to get a pay-as-you-go Oyster. This requires a refundable £5 deposit. You can top up the credit on this whenever you need to.

 

One advantage of the Oyster is that there is a price cap. You do not need to work out in advance how much travel you are going to do and in which zones, or even whether it will count as peak or off-peak. If all your travel happens to be off-peak in zones 1-6, the cap is now set at £8.50. If you do not spend as much as £8.50 at Oyster prices, you only pay for what you use. If you exceed £8.50, you will not be charged any more than £8.50. But you do need to remember to touch this on the readers at the required points - importantly, this requires touching in before and touching out after every Tube, DLR, National Rail or London Overground journey, otherwise you will be charged a penalty fare.

[Globaliser]

("a 6 zone" is ambiguous, because you can also get Travelcards just for that zone, if you see what I mean)

Indeed. You can also get a "6 zone" Travelcard covering zones 2-7, zones 3-8 or zones 4-9. All of these would be valid for travel in zone 6, but would not allow you to go into central London (zone 1).

[Danish viking]

It was indeed the zone 1-6 ticket I was talking about, thanks for correcting me.

 

So the Oystercard finds out for itselfs if I have used a day card or a single ticket?

 

Do I check in again when I change transportation methods (rail to tube) or is it from starting to finishing point ?

Lets say from Barnehurst to Oxford Circus do I just check in at Barnehurst and out at Oxford or do I check out when I reach London Bridge and check in at the tube station.

 

In Copenhagen our Rejsekort wants you to check in every time you change from train to metro or bus because its 3 different companies.

[Danish viking]

When looking at a map then Barnehurst station looks like its closer to the hotel than Bexleyheath station.

[Cotswold Eagle]

It was indeed the zone 1-6 ticket I was talking about, thanks for correcting me.

 

So the Oystercard finds out for itselfs if I have used a day card or a single ticket?

 

Do I check in again when I change transportation methods (rail to tube) or is it from starting to finishing point ?

Lets say from Barnehurst to Oxford Circus do I just check in at Barnehurst and out at Oxford or do I check out when I reach London Bridge and check in at the tube station.

 

In Copenhagen our Rejsekort wants you to check in every time you change from train to metro or bus because its 3 different companies.

 

Yes, the Oyster pay-as-you go adds up the fares you have used and if you reach the appropriate daily cap for the zones you have travelled in, that's it. Travelling in from Bexleyheath, you will almost inevitably reach the cap, I think. These days it is set slightly lower than the price of the equivalent Travelcard.

 

The only advantage to buying an actual Travelcard each day from the station would be that you would then be eligible for the 2-for1 Days Out offers at various attractions - you also need to print out vouchers from the Internet and show your Travelcard at the places you visit.

 

Very much the same as you are used to on checking in and out - usually you have no choice as there will be gates to pass through (so at London Bridge you would swipe out of the gates in the overland station you have arrived at, go downstairs and swipe in through the gates to the Underground). The thing to watch is if there are no gates (which may be the situation at Barnehurst, often suburban stations are the ones without barriers still) or if they have been locked open to ease congestion. If there are none, there will be a clearly marked reader by the entrance/exit; if they are open you can still swipe on the reader on the gates, looking for a little green light to confirm you have done so.

 

On a bus, you just swipe once, on entry.

[Danish viking]

Thank you all for the help, I think I'm good to go now but I have to wait to the end of may. :D

 

Just one final question (I promise)

 

Can I use the 5£ deposit on travelling or do I just get them back when I fly home again.

[Globaliser]

So the Oystercard finds out for itselfs if I have used a day card or a single ticket?

It's not quite that.

 

What the Oyster card does is to look at all of the travel that you've done that day (zones, fares and times) and to compare the total that you have paid to the appropriate Oyster price cap for your journeys. It does this every time you pay for a journey, and ensures that you are not charged more than the appropriate price cap.

 

So, for example, if you start in central London one day and do a lot of travelling, you might reach the zones 1-2 off-peak price cap of £7.00 quite quickly. However much more travel you do in central London, there will be no more money taken off the card.

 

But suppose at the end of the day you do one last journey from central London to Barnehurst. At that point, the £7.00 price cap no longer covers all of the travel, because Barnehurst is in zone 6 and the cap that's been applied so far has been a zones 1-2 price cap. So for that last journey, the Oyster will charge you £1.50 more to take you up to the zones 1-6 off-peak price cap of £8.50, which is the new price cap level that covers all of your travel that day.

 

Not only is this very sophisticated, but the entire process of reading your card, looking at all the cost of travel, working out the price cap and how much to charge your card, and actually charging it, takes about 30 milliseconds.

Can I use the 5£ deposit on travelling or do I just get them back when I fly home again.

You get the £5 deposit back when you return the card at the end of your trip, together with any unused credit that's still stored on it.

 

Of course, you could always just keep the card and bring it with you next time. The card does not expire, and the credit does not expire either.

[Danish viking]

Thank you.

 

I just knew that I had some good karma waiting for my after all that I had helped with in the 2 Copenhagen threads. :D

[Globaliser]

I just knew that I had some good karma waiting for my after all that I had helped with in the 2 Copenhagen threads. :D

One good turn deserves another! Glad to have been able to help.

[Cotswold Eagle]

We mention them quite often, so I snapped a photo of one at Paddington the other day - this is what you need to look for if there are no gates as you enter/exit a station using an Oyster card :)

 

You touch the card (which can be in a wallet) flat against the big yellow button thing, next to where it says 'Touch in and out'. The amount remaining on the card will flash up on the little screen next to it.

 

[teacherplus]

We mention them quite often, so I snapped a photo of one at Paddington the other day - this is what you need to look for if there are no gates as you enter/exit a station using an Oyster card :)

 

You touch the card (which can be in a wallet) flat against the big yellow button thing, next to where it says 'Touch in and out'. The amount remaining on the card will flash up on the little screen next to it.

 

 

Thank you for the great picture. I'm a little confused about the oyster card so this is a great help.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Thank you for the great picture. I'm a little confused about the oyster card so this is a great help.

 

No problem - it's pretty simple once you have used it, trust me :) Normally you will go through gates, which have a similar reader on top.

 

TfL have an animated video about using Oyster - it's the third one at the bottom of this page:

 

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/27298.aspx

 

But don't worry too much about the stuff about the pink validators - unliley to be using a route that avoids Zone 1 as a tourist.

 

And they have a good tip about keeping your Oyster Card away from contactless debit cards if you are going on a bus, as the reader can read both. I keep mine in a separate little wallet (I think you get one with the card) along with a Railcard, various tickets/receipts, coffee shop loyalty cards and other vital ephemera!

[Soreca]

Hi.

 

My wife and I will be traveling on a Friday afternoon from Heathrow to London. We will only be staying one night in London (near the Lambeth tube) and leaving the next morning. We plan to walk mostly and take some public transport that evening, but that's it. Which card would be best for us?

 

Thank you in advance.

[MATHA531]

Hi.

 

My wife and I will be traveling on a Friday afternoon from Heathrow to London. We will only be staying one night in London (near the Lambeth tube) and leaving the next morning. We plan to walk mostly and take some public transport that evening, but that's it. Which card would be best for us?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

Assuming you're tubing in from LHR, probably the best and simplest solution is to purchase a zone 1-6 off peak travel card (it becomes off peak for purposes of the one day travelcard if your first trip in the AM on a weekday is after 0930. That will cover you completely for that first day. The second day, how are you leaving London. On a cruise transfer? On National Exress? You'll need something different for the 2nd day or if you plan to return to London after the cruise (presuming since this is a cruise board) you might lay out the 5 quid for an oyster card, load £10 on it and play it by ear. How are you leaving London town? Need a bit more info to advise the best way to go.

[Soreca]

Assuming you're tubing in from LHR, probably the best and simplest solution is to purchase a zone 1-6 off peak travel card (it becomes off peak for purposes of the one day travelcard if your first trip in the AM on a weekday is after 0930. That will cover you completely for that first day. The second day, how are you leaving London. On a cruise transfer? On National Exress? You'll need something different for the 2nd day or if you plan to return to London after the cruise (presuming since this is a cruise board) you might lay out the 5 quid for an oyster card, load £10 on it and play it by ear. How are you leaving London town? Need a bit more info to advise the best way to go.

 

We already have arrangements for a private transfer for a group of us to SH cruise terminal early am . Unfortunately, the one evening is all we will have this time around in London. Sounds like the Travelcard would be better for us. I thank you very much for your advice.

[Bob++]

Just in case you are in any doubt. Each member of your group will have to have their own card. You can't charge two fares on one card.

[SuzieQK]

Bob++

husband and I are coming into London for two days from Heathrow, taking the National Express Bus to Victoria Station. We will be staying in a hotel in Victoria area visiting London Bridge, buckingham palace, doing the hop on hop off bus and various sites. We will then take the National Express bus to Dover to catch the cruise ship. We won't be returning to London after. Oyster card or Travelcard? Thanks so much for your help!

suzieqk

[SharonK]

We are arriving at Heathrow in the evening and will arrange private transfer to hotel. We will then be staying in London 3 full days (on the 4th day we will take a private transfer to the cruise port. We plan to do the hop on hop off tour with either a 1 or 2 day ticket. We like to walk alot so I am wondering do we need an oyster card? I am thinking that if we have the 48 hour hoho ticket, we can use it for transportation those days which only leaves one more day. How late do the hoho buses run? Would that be a problem in the evening for us? Would it make more sense to buy only a one day hoho and buy an oyster card? Should we buy the oyster card ahead of time or is it just as easy to purchase it when and if we need it?

 

Do I sound like a need help:confused::confused:

 

Thank you in advance!