Visitor Oyster Card in London and train to Leeds

Dawn,

Greeting.

But i think you may want to reconsider the Oyster card for you all. and you may want to clearify that for others that will chime in soon.

I believe there are less expensive ways to travel with 2 or more people. I travel solo, so i just know about those.

happy trails.

Dawn: Two people cannot use the same Oyster card. I would suggest getting two for Zones 1-2 and then adding extra for the fare from Heathrow to your hotel (as Heathrow is in Zone 6). The tube eats up more of the money than the bus so that might affect your purchase. And also, traveling after 9:30 a.m. is better too.

OR

Buy one day travel cards for the first day and then two more for the second day. You will have to buy Zones 1-6 on the first day to get from Heathrow to your hotel and then travel cards for Zones 1-2 for the second day. http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares

Train fares are usually available three months in advance and the cheaper tickets are for specific times on specific routes.

Thank you all for the responses. Since we are not arriving in London until late afternoon on the 6th of July, I suppose we will simply pay the cash fare to get to our hotel, which if I'm reading the fare chart correctly, is currently £5.70.

It appears that a day travel card will work best for sightseeing on the 7th of July and then we'll simply pay the cash fare to get from our hotel to King's Cross where we'll pick up the train to Leeds on the morning of the 8th.

Dawn,

regarding the high ticket prices. I found out when i went there last year, that they ream you for traveling during "rush hour". If you look at different times, i think you will find the prices will change (drop) once you get closer to mid day. However, the prices go back up the further away you get from noonish.

Im heading back up there this sept and if i take a AM train, the cost is like 90+ BPS. If i wait until noonish, i found some around 20 BPS.

Note that you can only buy tickets no more than 90? days out. also, dont wait either.

if you care to, just plug and chug a similar DAY for you trip 3 months out and see how the prices are throughout the day. You will get a better idea on costs.

happy trails.

Currently advance tickets are available until 27 June. The ticket of £96.80 you mentioned originally is the regular super off-peak single. The price of a return is £4 more, but I guess you were only going one way. The cheapest advance single is £14.60 but this doesn't have to be available on all trains.

Dawn, Currently on Eastcoast.co.uk you can only book tickets out to June 27. Wait another 2 weeks before booking your train tickets from London to Leeds. As an fyi current fare to Leeds on June 24 is £13.00 per person.

Your cheapest option is to buy Oyster cards at Heathrow and load each of them with about 20 pay-as-you-go pounds. The Oyster computer will automatically give you the best fare for all your rides. On your full day in London you will pay slightly less than the cost of a one-day travelcard. At King's Cross you can get a refund on your deposit plus any unspent PAYG pounds.