Need a little clarity on tube and rail costs

Tap and go will automatically work out the cheapest method. In your example, one day travel from Heathrow and 6 days regular travel in zone 1-2, then that is £16.30 + (6 * £8.90) = £69.70

This is cheaper than a weekly z1-6 but more expensive than a weekly z1-2, which makes sense (to me at least)

The differences are quite subtle-
1 If you are travelling elsewhere in the UK by train and qualify for a railcard (Two Together/Senior etc) then you get a 1/3rd reduction off the price of a travelcard. If it is a senior or disabled railcard you get 1/3 off all non peak tube fares, including the daily/weekly cap, using Oyster (but not contactless).
That may be the case if you go to Bletchley, Windsor or Hampton Court for instance (especially if you intend to use the Two for One Offer at Bletchley Park).
2 There are minor differences in favour of the travelcard regarding afternoon peak fares
3 If you intend to use the Thames Clipper/Uber boats a few times, fares are cheapest using a travelcard, as opposed to contactless, sufficiently so to swing the pendulum towards the travelcard.

So it depends on your overall plans.

The Elizabeth Line has a 7 GBP surcharge over the cost of taking the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow.

TFL has a website devoted to fare capping. It should answer all of your questions.

From Sunday 1 March the Elizabeth Line surcharge will be £9.60, which will leave you just 80p short of the daily Zone 1 to 6 cap. So one more journey (tube or bus) and you have reached the day's cap, after which all journeys are free.

Whereas the cost of paper Elizabeth Line tickets is unchanged, due to the national fare freeze on rail fares.

The Elizabeth Line will be £10.50, the tube will be £5.90.

Thanks for the responses. I just discovered that the Heathrow Express train is only £10 if you book far enough in advance, so I think we will go that way, since it will be cheaper than the Elizabeth line and is even faster, and Padding is our destination as well.

Thanks for the info about the Clipper for the Travel Card. But it looks like the difference in cost is not enough to overcome the cost of purchasing the Oyster card, unless you took a whole bunch of boats.

Also, to be clear, the cap on bus rides is separate from the cap on train travel? So getting on a bus when you are close to the cap on the tube will not push you to the tube cap - correct?

Regarding train travel, we are indeed planning on going to Hampton Court, and also possibly to the Red House in Bexleyheath. My wife and I are both seniors. So would it be cheaper to purchase train tickets instead of using the Pay as you go system, especially if we travel off peak?

I went back and looked at isn31c's reply and realize now that the reference to the national rail card is for traveling outside of the London area. I also looked at the TFL web site and don't see any discounts for seniors in the fare list, so I assume that is not an option.

Also, to be clear, the cap on bus rides is separate from the cap on train travel? So getting on a bus when you are close to the cap on the tube will not push you to the tube cap - correct?

No. You won’t pay more than the tube cap. If you take a combo of bus and tube rides, fare is capped at the tube cap. If you only take buses, then the fare is capped at the lower bus cap.

No, the National rail card is for all National Rail services, so includes all London Overground trains (like the slow trains to Watford Junction for Harry Potter), the Elizabeth Line, and the Heathrow Express, and all suburban main line trains. So the £10 Early Bird fare becomes £6.65 on the Heathrow Express.
A paper ticket on the Elizabeth Line with a railcard from Sunday is £10.50 (full paper ticket fare is £15.80, just 30p more than the contactless/Oyster fare)..

Regarding train travel, we are indeed planning on going to Hampton Court, and also possibly to the Red House in Bexleyheath. My wife and I are both seniors. So would it be cheaper to purchase train tickets instead of using the Pay as you go system, especially if we travel off peak?

Yes, but don't buy 2 x senior railcards, buy 1 x Two Together Railcard, for the same price of £35. Both Hampton Court and Bexleyheath are within the London Zonal System- Bexleyheath in Zone 5, and Hampton Court Zone 6.

So, just looked up the railcard info. It does seem like an awesome deal if you are visiting a for a long time. But with a 10 day visit and maximum of 2 or three train journeys, not sure if it would be worth the £35 cost. I'll have to do the math.

I'm confused. I thought loading a Senior Rail Card on my Oyster Card (which a TfL employee did for me last year) meant I would receive a discount on all off-peak Underground trips. Am I misinterpreting this webpage or overlooking a key caveat?

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/national-railcard-discount?intcmp=54723

acraven - you’re right that loading your Senior railcard on to an Oyster does give you a discount. That’s why I have an Oyster rather than just using a contactless card.

But it won’t be worth it for many visitors. The OP appears to be doing only 2 or 3 short rail journeys and it’s certainly not worth buying a railcard at £35 and an Oyster at £10 just to get the discounts on TFL services for a short visit. But for others like you, with different plans, it may be worth the effort. Especially if you are likely to come back and use the Oyster and particularly if you still have a valid Senior Railcard.

I thought someone once told me that the daily rate applies Monday, Tuesday etc. And the travel card rate would run from when you first use it, say 10pm Monday until 10pm Tuesday.

So if I arrive on to use the tube at 9pm Monday and just tap and go then the daily rate starts all over again Tuesday morning at midnight? But if I use the travel card, the daily rate from Monday would continue until 9pm Tuesday. Have I got that right or have I completely lost the plot?

No, an any time Day Travelcard is from 0001 on the day of issue to 0429 the next day, an Off Peak Day Travelcard is from 0930 to 0429 next morning (so for example on the 0003 N9 bus Heathrow T5 to Central London, but not the 2343).
So a weekly Travelcard purchased at 2100 on a Monday evening would be valid until 0429 the following Monday morning- some rail routes (like Thameslink, Paddington to Reading and Euston to Milton Keynes) do have all night trains, and there are many night bus routes. That 0429 is the scheduled time of departure of your bus/train.
So for example it would be valid on the 0425 N9 bus Aldwych to Heathrow T5, arrive 0559, but not the 0445.

Likewise the tap and go 'daily' rates.

Rail Cards can save you money if you are making several long trips, but for a two together card you need to be spending over £106 to recoup the £35 initial cost of the card. It's unlikely to be cost effective if you are only making the trips you say.

Lost the plot. Got it! I did some digging because there has to be a way the travel card is advantageous because I used to use them because they were cheaper. But that was years ago.

So is this correct? If I arrive on a Monday and leave the following Sunday the cap is 44.70 pounds for that time on PAYG. This is the same price as the 7 day travel card. No advantage.

But, if I arrive on Thursday and leave the following Wednesday the PAYG is more than the 44.70 because the cap only applies Monday to Sunday of the same week and therefore are paying 8.90 per day each day. If I use a travel card the price is 44.70. Is this correct or should I just give up and go with PAYG?

@KB- In it's simplest terms that is correct if spending the whole week in Zones 1 and 2.

But if doing what is often done and going to outer zones then it is an individual assessment.

If there are two of you, and you have a £35 2T railcard and arrive and depart Heathrow to central London on the Elizabeth Line that is already £20 of the £35 railcard cost covered. Then a travelcard for a Wed to Tue is £44.70 + £10 Oyster= £54.70 compared to PAYG fares of 7x £8.90= £62.10, saving £7.40 each or £14.80 between you.
So £34.80 saved.
If you go to outer zones or outside London (say to Bletchley) then the savings keep mounting on the railcard.

So it kind of depends how much time anyone wants to spend on maths.

Then look at the daily and weekly caps for outer zones on days you go there.

It all gets complicated.

I do the maths daily for my visits, sometimes it pays me to travel PAYG, sometimes to use a travelcard. There is no single 'one size fits all' answer.

And on the overall cost of an overseas trip does £10 or £20 either way matter, anyway. As a local, yes- every penny matters. As a tourist possibly less so.

I have a comment about the Red House, onetime home of William Morris in Bexleyheath. I made the trek out there last year and was sort of disappointed. First, it takes a good bit of time to get to the Red House. Second, the tour just was not good. I'm not sure what the issue was. The guide was perfectly pleasant, but there was not much historical context provided. How can you talk about a William Morris home and not use the words "Arts and Crafts"? It was odd.

It's not that the Red House is a bad sightseeing destination; it's just that London has so very many possibilities--many requiring less transportation time--and to me it's nowhere near the top of the list. Of course, if you've spent a great deal of time in London and have already seen much of what it offers (as I have), that makes a difference.

Thanks for the comment about the Red House. My son is graduating with a degree in Architecture this spring and this was on his list of places he was interested in. But there are more places on our list than we have time to visit, so this was always a maybe.

I tend to disagree to a degree about The Red House. For architecture buffs, particularly fans of Arts and Crafts and also for fans of the pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, it is unique. Designed, built and furnished by William Morris himself, and lived in by them. Unique.

I was there several years ago, as part of a day devoted entirely to Arts and Crafts. I don't remember a tour, but I see that they are now required.

Even if not perfect, I would include it.

(my father studied architecture before the War)