I've searched the forums and can't find a recent answer. I'm trying to decide between the Travel Oyster card and the Travel Card for our upcoming trip to London, but leaning towards the Oyster card. We will be in London for 6 days with travel from King's Cross to Victoria underground on Day 1 and then from Victoria out to Heathrow on Day 6. From the underground website, I can't seem to buy a Travelcard for more than 3 days, so maybe that right there means I should get the Oyster card? Just trying to determine which makes the most sense. While in London, we should be just in Zones 1-2 with the exception to go to Heathrow on last day. It's also possible we might reach trip caps on some days, so that would clearly save some money.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5332 posts
Do you need either? Have you considered just using a contactless payment method instead (card, Apple / Google Pay etc)? You still get daily capping and by the way you describe it you are not going to be heavy users anyway.
Posted by
Lake District, England
5940 posts
You can buy a 7 day travelcard for any combination of zones, and that is any 7 day period.
The weekly cap on Oyster or Contactless is a Monday to Sunday cap.
You need a PhD to work out the differences in value, and then they are miniscule.
Posted by
105 posts
On our recent trip to London we just tapped our credit cards for all of our rides. Very easy and inexpensive.
Posted by
OP
Atlanta, GA
13 posts
Yes, these are valid points. Its advertised as a benefit to tourists and way to save money, but I can't tell that it actually does. If my wife and I can just download an app and tap our phones and costs is same, why wouldn't we just do that?
Posted by
Preston UK
903 posts
You don’t even need an app. Just turn up at the ticket barrier with a contactless card or phone or smart watch pay and tap it. You tap it on entry and again on exit. Only once on a bus as it’s a flat fee of £1.75 no matter how far you go.
The system will work out the rest and charge you once in the early hours of the morning for the previous day’s usage, although it might then take a while to appear on your account. If you’re only in zones 1 and 2 you will never get charged more than the £8.50 cap.
It’s possible that your credit card may charge foreign transaction fees on any expenditure (not just transport). It’s likely to be so small as to be not worth worrying about and will certainly be more concerning on a £100 meal bill than an £8.50 transport charge. In any event there are cards available with no fees if you have time get one.
Posted by
Lake District, England
5940 posts
The very simple answer is that both a weekly Travelcard and a weekly Monday to Sunday cap on Oyster/Contactless in Zone 1 and 2 are £42.70.
You are there for 5 whole days- 5 x the daily cap of £8.50= £42.50.
So you are out by a princely 20 pence if you buy a Travelcard. And out by £7.20 if you buy an Oyster due to the cost of the card. But then you get to keep the Oyster as a souvenir or for future trips. And £7 against the overall cost of the trip is not a deal breaker.
But if that matters to you then it matters to you.
Any single Zone 1 and 2 tube fare is £2.80 peak, £2.70 off peak, so to cap out in a day you have to take 4 tubes.
That is the big picture to plan against.