London Travel - Travelcard vs. OysterCard

I would recommend an Oyster Card or using Contactless credit cards on the fare readers. I am unsure what value the travel card would bring. Hopefully if there is an advantage I don’t know about, someone will chime in.

I am “old school” and I like my Oyster Card…..

Look at both train and National Express options from Southampton. A key factor is where are you staying in London? Both stations are near where the cruise ships dock. I’d take a cab to the station of choice with luggage.

I'd agree with Carol- just Oyster or contactless. Fares wise the Travelcard may or may not impart a marginal cost advantage. But so marginal, literally the odd £1 or 2, it's not worth doing complex maths.
It is totally immaterial in your overall vacation budget.
Both Oyster and contactless have fare caps, which is how they work out the same.
The Travelcard is now real "old school".
I am also new "old school" and wedded to my Oyster, but whichever of the two suits you.

To get a 7-day Travelcard you either have to put it on an Oyster card, or go to one of the outlets where they still sell paper Travelcards.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/buying-tickets-and-oyster#on-this-page-4

As stated above by others, there is no,price advantage over using your contactless payment card (credit card or Apple Pay), due to the daily cap.

And if you used the London buses instead of the Tube to get around, they are so inexpensive you would spend much less than the £40.50 cost of a Travelcard.

Here is a picture map of the main bus route in London and the popular tourist sites:

https://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/key-bus-routes-in-central-london.pdf

There aren't 7 day paper travelcards any more. They have to be loaded onto an Oyster card or an ITSO card from a non TfL train operator. Oyster cards now have an up front £7 non refundable cost making them not cost effective unless you have a specific need for one.

I have been using my Oyster card for 12 years and bought it its own spiffy holder with the London Underground map on it...I prefer to not be fumbling with a precious credit card every time I use the Tube. Last April I was there for 8 days, used transit extensively every day and spent approximately 40 pounds, if that gives you an idea how much to load on a card.

So there is a way to pay as you enter the train or tube if you have a credit card that is tappable? TY

Kristin, yes, you just tap your CC instead of the oyster.

Kristen, yes, there is no need to buy an Oyster card. You can use a contactless card or phone or smart watch pay and will pay the same as an Oyster card without the £7 card fee.
Some people feel the Oyster is more secure as they are nervous of losing a card or phone but that’s their choice - it will cost more, unless you already have an Oyster card.

Contactless CC or ApplePay have the advantage of not needing to be monitored for balance and/ or reloaded as may be necessary with Oyster. I’ve found the contactless to be the best option for me.

I do understand travelers who are nervous about using a CC and possibly losing it, but I have not found this to be any more of a consideration than losing an Oyster. If you travel with 2 CC’s , you have a back-up.

It did strike me that you said-

and we plan on seeing the usual Zone 1 and 2 attractions plus travel solely by Tube and other public transport.

I am not sure if you meant using the 2 For 1 offers. If so that can only be done on a travelcard issued at a National Rail station, not one at a Tube station, or some attractions will accept Britrail if they so specify. That would be a huge waste of a Britrail day.
As you can no longer get 7 day paper travelcards, that is only possible on 1 day travelcards.
You may well end up spending more on travelcards than you save at the attractions, and keep having to go to a National Rail station.

Only you can do that maths.

It feels easier just to pay for your travel as above, and pay full price at the attractions, rather than jumping through all those hoops.

The one caveat is that there are a few North American Visa cards that do NOT work for contactless payment on the TFL system buses or Tube, although they are true “tap and go” cards. My husband’s Visa card from Bank of America did not work on the bus, even though he had been using it for contactless payments elsewhere in London and in Italy before. Fortunately we have several Oyster cards from our previous visits to London, so he just used one of those. My AmEx card worked just fine.

There is a warning about this problem with some Visa cards from outside the UK on the TFL website. They also note that AmEx cards will always work.

There are two types of travel card.

There is one that is a paper ticket that is used from an outlying station where you intend to head to a London terminus and then use the Underground. For example coming in from Chertsey. Most people use them for a day and generally it's going to be a resident having a day in London.

There is then a non-physical version that you add to an Oyster. If your travel starts on a Monday then contactless or Oyster does it all for you. If you start your travel on any other day then you need an Oyster AND a seven day Travel card. As said it is not a physical card.

It's a simple enough sum. A seven day Travel card is £40.50 for zones 1/2. If you used daily capping for 7 days in the same zones that would be 7x£8.10 so £56.70. So you would save £16.20 but would need to spend £7 on the Oyster card, so an overall saving of £9.20. So a bit more of a saving than the couple of pounds someone suggested but not super significant.

If you stray outside zones 1/2 you just pay for the extra - for example if you came in from or went to Heathrow it would be £5.60 on the Underground and a daily cap of £14.90. So you would need a little more on the Oyster card.

Whilst Oyster is considered increasingly old fashioned (and usage is significantly reduced) that the only way you can do a non-Monday seven day discount is by adding your Travelcard is keeping it alive a little longer.

Note if you have a day where you won't be using it (maybe a walking day, or a trip to Windsor or similar) then that's £8.10 of your savings gone, so you would now only be saving £1.10 with a Travelcard/Oyster combo.