Please sign in to post.

Need help with London transportation cards

Hi-

My family and I are traveling to London this summer. It is me, my husband, and 3 sons ages 17, 14, and 11. We will actually be in London twice - once for a 1-day stop-over and then for 5 days straight.

On the one-day stopover, we are arriving at Stansted airport and are going to the Harry Potter Studio Tour in Leavesden. We will be taking an overnight train out of Watford Junction that night to go to Scotland for a week.

On the rest of the trip ( a week later), we plan to stay 5 straight days in London.

I need some help figuring out what option to buy for travel around London - obviously looking for the most economical route.

1) We are planning to get The London Pass for our visit - most likely the 3-day pass. There is an option to get an Oyster Travelcard with this that matches the days your pass is - so we would have credit for 3 days of travel on the card. My two youngest sons are between 11 – 15 would receive a Paper Travelcard, not an Oyster Card. Since we are staying for 5 days, we would need additional travel days for them so not sure if it would be worth it since we need to get an Oyster card for them after this expires. So maybe I should just wait and get the Oyster cards in person once in London? The price to add on the Oyster to the London Pass is ~28lb/adult and ~18lb./child. If you add the travel to the London Pass, you have to order it in advance to be mailed to you instead of getting it delivered to your phone via their mobile app. So there is a ~8-lb. shipping fee per order for that.

2) Not sure if I should buy the Oyster Visitors card ahead of time (separate from the London Pass)? Looks like they charge 3-lb. activation fee per card and about a 5-lb. fee total for my order. Then I would need to go to the ticket counter and get the two youngests' cards to be set for a child rate when we get there.

3) There is also a 16+ Zip Oyster photocard that I can apply for my oldest so but it needs to be ordered in advance with his picture and a 20lb. admin fee. Then we need to pick it up at a Visitors Center when we get to London. By getting it, he would pay half the adult fare and get buses and trams for free or buy a 7-day Travelcard at the child rate - otherwise without it, he will pay the full adult fare for everything. But with 20 pounds fee and 5 days, is it worth it?

4) There is also a 11-15 Zip Oyster photocard for my youngest two that I can also apply for but it needs to be ordered in advance with his picture and a 15lb. admin fee. This would allow them to travel free on buses and trams and at child rate on Tube, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail, Emirates Air Line and most National Rail services in London. Plus half adult rate on Thames Clipper River Bus services. But with 15 pounds fee each and 5 days, is it worth it?

5) I can order 7-day paper Travelcards (zones 1 and 2 only) for all of us for 33-lb/adult (and teen) and 16.50-lb./child. I am worried that since we will have the London Pass, some attractions may be out of those zones that we may want to see (Wimbledon, soccer stadiums, etc.). Plus this may not help me when I need that 1-day to Watford Junction from Stansted.

6) We were also planning on buying a Friends & Family Railcard for 30-lb. because our whole family will be traveling together and my husband, teen, and I would get 1/3 off of train travel and the 2 youngest would get 60% off of train travel. We will be using this more in Scotland but it doesn't sound like this will help us in London except maybe our Stansted airport to Watford Junction trip?

I am soooo confused and need to hear what other families did about all of this. I hate to throw money away so want to make sure I don't buy something I regret later or miss some option that could have saved me money. Any other options that I am missing for a family???

Any tips appreciated!

Posted by
5466 posts

I would forget the Zip Oyster as it is really only of value to someone traveling round frequently enough to pay off the admin fee.

Get the Young Visitor discount applied onto regular Oyster cards for your 14 and 11 year old which is effectively half price on the adult rate and daily caps.

Unless you are going to use the 2-for-1 deals forget paper travel cards. Put on sufficient pay-as-you-go credit on all the Oysters and just use adlib.

Yes you can use the F&F card from Stansted to Watford Junction. You could use them as an alternative within London too - adults pay £8 for a one day travelcard (zone 1-6) and kids under 16 £2.30. It maybe that one any one day this might be better than PAYG Oyster.

Posted by
660 posts

I am not an expert so many others will give more accurate answers. I was in London last month and bought my Oyster card at a machine in the Tube station. Basically it works like this:
1) you put however much money on the card say £20. You pay £5 to initially get the card so you have 15 remaining for travel. You swipe your card to enter and it automatically deducts the cost of your fare. You swipe again to exit but this not deduct it will show you how much of a balance is remaining. The same will happen in reverse.
2) there is a limit I believe in how much they deduct from your card each day then I think you can use it for free THAT DAY ONLY.
3) You can top off your card with extra money anytime if you need to.
4) there are always helpful attendants by the machines to help so ask if you are confused. I did!!
5) you can cash out the remains unused balance on your card but I think it is only £ 10 or less otherwise you have to to an office or something (don't remember so I gave my card to someone).

It is not confusing once you start using it. Enjoy your trip!!

Posted by
2600 posts

GBP or £, not lb unless you mean weight, which you don't

just buy Oyster cards when you arrive put cash on them, get monies back when you leave

forget the London Pass unless yo know it will save you money (I doubt it)

buy cheaper long distance train tickets in advance

keep it simple

Posted by
91 posts

Sorry about my use of lbs instead of GBP - I did not have the GBP symbol on my keyboard and figured most people would understand what I was trying to say - glad to know the GBP now!

I like the idea of using my F&F Railcard to purchase the 1-day travelcards! That may be the best deal for us since we will have the F&F railcard already.

I am still pricing out the London Pass but with all that we want to do (and we like to keep busy sightseeing) that it would be economical for us and allow us to stop in to certain attractions that we may have avoided if we had to pay for them on top of everything else.

Keep the ideas coming and thanks to all that have replied so far!!!

Posted by
37 posts

Hi seahunt,

It is far too tempting to answer the question you did not ask!

For your transport question, I too favour simplicity and the Oyster card is simple.

I originally posted a bunch of options to the London Pass, but that is not what you asked, so I'm retracting that and just throwing in my two cents about the Oyster.

Also wanted to say you are great parents to be taking your kids on this trip.

Have a wonderful time,

Jill

Posted by
771 posts

One point of clarification. We will be in London this summer also, and so I've done some research. If you pre-order the London Pass with Oyster and have it sent, the Oyster card can be used anytime. It is not tied to the days your pass is active. That may give you more flexibility overall with it, especially if you do a lot of walking on some days.

Posted by
4 posts

I too will be in London for a week this summer. I was planning to purchase the London Pass. Is this a good idea? We wanted to visit Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Churchill's War Rooms, Globe Theatre, plus a other attractions. Why or why not would you recommend the Pass? Also, does the pass allow you to bypass long lines? We will be traveling the end of July.

Posted by
1075 posts

"Also, does the pass allow you to bypass long lines?"

That's a marketing ploy, generally there are no LONG queues.

Rather than the London Pass which forces you to run around trying to get as much value out of it as you can, the 2 for 1 offers may suite better:
https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g186338-c195600/London:United-Kingdom:2.4.1.Travelcards.Step.By.Step.html

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-g186338-c133479/London:United-Kingdom:Paper.And.Oyster.Travelcards.2.4.1.Offers.html

Posted by
771 posts

To answer kctwalker, I think the answer is always to do the research and figure out what works best for you. How much of what of you want to see has an admission fee? How do you want to pace yourself in a day? Can you group the things that are free mostly on days you don't have the pass? We (2 adults) will be in London for 5 days and bought a 3 day pass on sale. The cost averages to 30 GBP a day per person, so we thought that if we went to 2 attractions a day, we would more than break even. The hop-on bus is included for 1 day, as is the Thames River Cruise for 1 day. We will see the museums on non-pass days, as well as extra time on other days. Since there are many more attractions included on the pass that aren't on our must-see list, we may be able to see some of those also. We definitely want to have time to wander around and don't feel that we will be rushed. We did buy the Oyster card with it, so we would have the card in hand when we land. The Oyster card doesn't go on sale, since that is run by a different company. The charge was 3GBP for the card and we'll have 25 GBP in transit credit. Part of our choice was convenience. We don't have to deal with vouchers, or getting Travel cards, and we will have many of the sights we want to see already paid for.

As I said in the beginning, you have to figure out what will work for you. We're satisfied with our choice. Others on the forum advise against it.

Posted by
660 posts

Buying tickets in advance allows you to bypass lines...nothing else does. The family behind me had to stand in line (about 40 minutes) to get into Windsor Castle with the pass. It only gave them discounted rates when they purchased their tickets. It is the same throughout Europe.