Traveling in London

Melissa Can you say what you believe about an Oyster card, please? Once I know what you know I can fill in the gaps. BTW, is that your telephone number in your signature? If it identifiable to you I'd strongly advise changing your signature for your own safety.

For ease and efficiency, all subway systems have a card that you purchase and put money on to use for travel. It is very rare to purchase a ticket every time you ride any subway, the Tube included. In DC, I have a similar card that I use every time I ride the Metro, a hard plastic card that you can put money on (i.e., $20) and you scan it every time you ride and money is subtracted from the total, just like the Oyster card. Otherwise, you would waste significant amounts of time buying your fare every time you ride. Also, the Oyster card will charge you only a certain max per day, so you could save money if you used it frequently in one day. And why would you want to whip out your money/credit card every time you entered a busy station. If you don't use all your funds on the card, you can get your money back at any station.
As for the London Pass, only you can decide if it is worthwhile. Figure out what you want to see and in what number of days and compare that against the cost of the pass. It was worthwhile for us, but others do not feel that it is cost efficient. If you do get the London Pass, get it without the travel option since that is not worthwhile.

Melissa, I have the same questions as Nigel. Could you provide a bit more clarification on your questions? The Oyster Card is wonderfully convenient for getting about on The Tube. You can certainly use cash and buy a ticket each time you travel, but that's a bit of a nuisance (and there may be a long queue at the ticket office on occasion). There's a very good analysis in the England and London Guidebooks about the pros & cons of the various Travel Cards and transportation passes in London. Cheers!

I've also read that the Oyster Card charges you a cheaper rate per ticket than buying the ticket without it (like .50 euro less or something like that). I assume if you use it a lot then it would definitely be worth it.

You have a several choices with Oyster. You can load a Travelcard, Pay-as-you-go money or both. This lets you choose the method of payment that best suits your travle plans. And yes, the card will calculate your cheapest daily fare if you use Pay-as-you-go (Paygo).

The Oyster card is convenient and may actually save you money. I haven't sat down and run two sets of figures to see which is actually cheaper based on my use -- it just isn't worth it to me to do so. The convenience factor alone makes it worthwhile. As for the London pass, we didn't find it particularly useful and it didn't pay off in savings. We probably ended up paying more using it. But your result may be different. It depends on what you plan on doing.

As you travel, the Oyster card calculates the cheapest fare for you and will cap your expense for the day at the unlimited rate. Discounts for kids are great. We have even ordered an Oyster card with photo in advance of our trip for our teen - they accepted our debit card just fine on the web site.

Paying by cash for a ticket on the tube is 4 pounds. With an Oyster Card it is half price at only 2 pounds. Same with the bus, cash ticket is 2 pounds, Oyster Card is 1 pound. We bought a one week travel card attached to our Oyster Card, so we could ride as we liked without a care for the price, works in Zones 1-2.