Still Confused. Oyster Card and Travel Card.

You don't decide. If your trip is covered entirely by the Travelcard zones, then you pay no more. If it doesn't then an appropriate amount of PAYG credit is deducted.

For example. You have a Zone 1-2 travelcard. You have a journey into Z3 from Z1. You are charged for Z2-Z3.

You should always tap in and out (apart from buses/tram).

You're not the only one who is confused :) I found loads of discussion board posts about it, coming up on Google from several different sites. It looks like this topic has been confusing many people on many continents for at least a decade! :)

This is the simplest breakdown of the differences that I can find:
https://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/help/ticket-comparison/

These comparisons were taken from that page:

Visitor Oyster Card
Usually the best choice if:
-You're making many journeys in a small area
-You're only making a few journeys or not travelling every day in London
-You're travelling to Zones 7, 8, or 9
River Bus service: Get 10% off on Thames Clippers services.
If you're travelling with children aged 11-15, buy a Visitor Oyster card & ask a member of our staff to add a Young Visitor discount to the card, giving your child half adult rate discount for up to 14 days
You can also use your Visitor Oyster card to pay for travel on train services to/from Gatwick Airport, including Gatwick Express.
It is the cheapest way to pay for single journeys on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, Tfl Rail and most National Rail services in London.

Travelcard
Usually the best choice for:
-Under-16s
-Easy: one ticket for one day or one week!
-Large groups travelling together (over 10 people), can buy a Group Day Travelcard
River Bus services at 1/3 off. Show your Travelcard at the time of travel.
Child Travelcards are required for those between the ages of 11 and 15 years old.
They are valid for either *one or 7 days ****
You can travel as often as you like on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail and most National Rail services within the London travel fare zones with a Travelcard.

This was on their page to buy the Travelcard:
If you are in London for a week and plan to use only the central London Travelcard zones on a daily basis then a 7 day Travelcard might be the most cost-effective option. If you plan to stay in London for a shorter time or want to travel to the outskirts of the city, the pay-as-you-go Oyster Card cost might be cheaper.

Travelcard prices start at £12.70 for a central London 1 day Travelcard and go up to £62.30 for a 7 day Travelcard covering zones 1-6. Child Travelcards are approximately half these prices.

The Travelcards available on the TfL Visitor Shop are only valid to travel within zones 1-2 or zones 1-6, therefore they are not valid for trains to Gatwick Airport, Stansted Airport, nor Luton Airport.

Travelcards are not valid to travel on:
-Heathrow Connect services between Hayes & Harlington and Heathrow
-Heathrow Express services
-Southeastern High Speed services between St Pancras International and Stratford International.

Children under 11 years of age may travel for free without their own Travelcard on London buses and tubes, but they need their own ticket to travel on any National Rail service.
I’m going to Watford Junction (HARRY POTTER STUDIOS). Which ticket do I need?
The Travelcards available on the TfL Visitor Shop are only valid to travel within zones 1-2 or zones 1-6. Watford Junction is outside of the TfL fares zone.

Travelcards are not valid on London Sightseeing buses or buses operated by companies other than TfL.

This looks like a GREAT chart that shows the charges side by side:
https://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/~/media/files/pdfs/tflfares2018.ashx

And more Oyster card info:
https://visitorshop.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/london-visitor-oyster-card/

They keep saying that the Oyster is a plastic card and the Travelcard is paper, I could find no mention of being able to load the Travelcard onto the Oystercard. Maybe they don't do it anymore? Dunno.

Good luck!

And missing from that long explanation above is the regular Oyster card. All the advantages, and if you don’t want to hang on to it for future trips (imagine landing at Heathrow Jet-lagged but with a valid Oyster card in your pocket with funds for the Tube into town already on it), the deposit on the regular Oyster card is refundable, unlike the viasitor card.

I see why you're confused.

The Oyster Card is a physical card (same size as a credit card and a bit thicker). On it can be several kinds of "fare instruments." Two of the most common are Pay As You Go (PAYG) and a Travelcard.

The Travelcard long predates the Oyster Card. It's good for a set number of days and zones (for instance, a 1 day two zone Travelcard, or a 7 day six zone Travelcard). It used to be a physical paper card that you showed to get in and out of the tube stations, then a physical paper card you inserted into machines to get in and out of the tube stations. It sometimes still is a physical card, if you're getting one good for the two for one offers from Days Out. However, these days it's much more likely to be loaded onto an Oyster Card. So, even thought it's still called a Travelcard, it's usually not a physical card any more.

If you're planning to use the two for one offers, you have to buy a paper Travelcard from a rail station (not a tube station). Otherwise, you'll most likely get an Oyster Card. On it you can load PAYG money and/or load a Travelcard. If you only load PAYG money, each individual fare is deducted, and once you reach the daily maximum, no further fares are deducted. If you load a Travelcard, you get whatever Travelcard you paid for, and can in addition (here's where it gets tricky) load PAYG money for other trips. For instance, on my last trip, I bought an Oyster and loaded a 7 day two zone Travelcard. However, since I was using the tube in from Heathrow (zone 6) to the center (zone 1), I had to add £1.50 in PAYG cash for this (this is the off peak price; it would have been higher in peak times).

You ALWAYS tap in and tap out with an Oyster (tap in only once on buses). If you have loaded both a Travelcard and PAYG money on your Oyster, it will use the Travelcard by default whenever possible, and only tap into your PAYG money for extra fares (like in my example above, when I went beyond my Travelcard's validity).

I think Rick's advice in the London book makes sense. If you're not using the two for one offers, and are staying for five days or fewer, just get an Oyster and put on £20-30 of PAYG credit, then top up if necessary. If you're staying for 6 or 7 days, get a weekly Travelcard for zones 1 and 2; it's a bit cheaper than the daily capping for that many days. If you're getting the Travelcard and will be going to places outside zones 1 and 2 (some popular ones include Heathrow airport, Kew Gardens, and Hampton Court Palace), put on a few £ of PAYG credit in addition, so you don't have to buy it separately before each trip. (If you are only using PAYG without the Travelcard, you don't have to think about zones; the computer will simply deduct the right amount and apply the correct daily cap for the zones you traveled that day).

The Oyster card is, in effect, an electronic wallet. It stores cash that will pay for rides, tapping in and out. It can hold, electronically, some other deals. There are other wrinkles, explained on the Transport for London site, but that's the basic function. It also means that in a crowded Tube station with restless lines at the turnstiles, you just tap and go (and then tap to go out of the destination station.)

Just BUY the regular Oyster card when you arrive in London. There's a refundable 5 pound deposit. The Vistors Oyster Card is a tourist gimmick IMHO. No refundable deposit.

I'm still using the Oyster Card with William and Kates pre wedding images. Just load it up when I arrive at Paddington Station.

Is the Oyster Card good for ALL Zones, ie, it deducts automatically, if you have it payed up for say, a Tube Ride from Heathrow to Earls Court on the Piccadilly Line? My understanding is that it maxes out at about 7 pounds a day, and deducts no more if you just use it in zones 1-2, but will cover the other outer zones as single trips, but those don't max out on a limit. You have to have that amount on the card to travel outside 1-2 zones each time? What do you do if you tap out and something says you've exceeded the card by going out side the 1-2 zones? Does the gate just not open and you have to recharge the card via some vending machine and then tap out?

We have an Oyster card that we load a 7-day Zones 1-2 Travelcard onto it. Most sights are usually found in those two zones. We also add £5-£10 onto the card to cover any trips that we may make outside those zones. It’s cheaper to load a 7 day Travelcard than it is to just load a card with money- if you are using transportation 4 or more days. The stall machines will tell you when you are running low on your account. When you tap in or out, look quickly, and it will flash how much was used or if you are running low. I also tap the machines in the stations and it will give you your balance. At Victoria station they have a great office which have always been very helpful to us with all our questions.

Thank you Harold, I think you gave the best explanation. We will be in London for two weeks. And will use all the transit systems, aside from the taxi. Oyster Card wants Photo ID? Paper Travel Card does not. I don't care either way, happy to give a photo. It just seems weird that these two systems are sort of working together, but not entirely figured out. :)

I was also a tad overwhelmed by the options and extensive wordiness of explanations on the transit website, but Harold's response gave me the solution for my upcoming 5 days in London--regular Oyster card loaded with 30 pounds as I plan to use transit every day and only within London, taking Heathrow Express to Paddington.

"Oyster Card wants Photo ID? Paper Travel Card does not."

No, you have it backwards. Oyster cards do not need photos. If you are getting a 7 day paper Travelcard, you do need a photo.

The only reason to get a paper Travelcard - and it's a good one - is to take advantage of the Two For One offers from DaysOut. If "we" is an even number, these are great. Some details here: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g186338-c195600/London:United-Kingdom:2.4.1.Travelcards.Step.By.Step.html

If your are not going to use the Two For One offers, then just get an Oyster. For two weeks, it will be a bit cheaper to buy a two zone 7 day Travelcard on your Oyster each week. You can also load some PAYG money for trips outside of zones 1 and 2. If you prefer, you can just buy an Oyster and put on £50 (using PAYG only), then top it up as necessary. That's certainly easiest, and will not cost much more in the end.

As Emma says, don't overthink this.

If you use PAYG, don't worry about how the caps work - they are applied automatically, and you will get the lowest correct price (in other words, if you're taking the trips you're taking, you can't get a better price than the caps will give you; there's no "better deal"). You just tap in and tap out, and refill as needed. The Oyster system does the rest.

What if you're staying 10 days? Load it up with what, 40 pounds? Seems like the regular Oyster is the way to go. Machines confuse me... I hope there is a live person to help.

Still trying to decide on using the Heathrow Express or tube to Padington-Southwark. I like to keep things simple.

Big Mike V (I forget the rest)

It would be much better if this were your question so that you get the emails that an answer has come rather then Francis (on whose thread you piggybacked) who will get all your answers even though Francis went in late July and was back by mid August.

If Southwark is your final destination (where - it is a big borough?) then going north to Paddington and then south to Southwark makes no sense to me. If your destination is, purely for example, Borough High Street, then the nearest Tube station would be either London Bridge (Jubilee Line and Northern Line Bank Branch) and the simplest ride would be Piccadilly Line Tube to Green Park. Ignore the signs for Jubilee Line because they will take you a long way around. Follow the signs up the escalators to Way Out and at the booking hall don't go through the barriers but back down the escalators signed Jubilee Line. South or east bound (I don't know which they call it there, I never look at the signs) Jubilee Line 4 stops (or 3 if Southwark is more convenient) to London Bridge. Step free access to the surface and you're there. Sounds complicated - but not really.

Nigel, understand and thank you.. Francis, sorry about that.

Adjacent to Crystal Palace Park.

Fantastic helpful answer, Harold! I understand it myself but never would have been able to explain it so clearly. Bravo.