Oyster Card or Travelcard: Travel Days are split

You can't really compare a Zone 1-4 travelcard with a Zone 1-6 Oyster fare since different areas are covered. What you need to compare is a Zone 1-4 travelcard and the Zone 1-4 peak price cap on the Oyster card. Right now that's £10.00 for either one. The difference is no matter when or how much you travel in one day, you'll never pay more than £10.00 with the Oyster card and you'll never pay less than £10.00 with the travelcard. So if you make just one trip in from Zone 4 to 1 and one trip back out, you pay £7.80 (assuming peak prices) with the Oyster card, but the full £10.00 with the travel card. You also have more flexibility with the Oyster card since it accommodates both peak and off-peak fares. It seems to me the better choice would be the Oyster card.

Thanks Leslie. I dug a little deeper on the website and saw where the Zone 1-4 Oyster peak cap fare was. So my question now is for example: If I travel from Zone 4-1 and then back the fare is GBP 3.4x 2= GBP 6.8. Then if I travel somewhere between Zone 1-2 once, will the fare GBP 2.5 be added? So my total for that day is then 9.3 GBP. Is that correct? Or does the total for that day still be 6.8 as Zone 1-2 fare is not counted? So what I'm asking is will they charge me everytime to travel upto GBP 10 (Peak price cap).

Is it only the "R" that capitalized? My guess is the cousin pays for weekly or monthly peak fares. Not really relevant to the OP's question, me thinks. If you are a little late out of bed you can save money by going into town off-peak, and Oyster will only charge you off peak prices for the day. Oyster never charges more than the relevant cap. If you want to go the paper Travelcard 2-4-1 route you MUST buy it at a National Rail station. There isn't one of those at Heathrow, there is at Gatwick, but if you will be near Hounslow I guess you may come in at Heathrow. BTW, the station is Hounslow East not East Hounslow. The nearest National Rail station would either be Hounslow or, more likely, Isleworth, both on the Southwest Trains line into Waterloo, via Kew Bridge (a short walk across the River from Kew Gardens - hint, hint). One further wee BTW - it is "Cotswolds". Although there are many posh people there including the Prince of Wales, most people are not posh, including my relatives. Was it a slip of the Freudian type to call; it "Costwolds", or one of the typing fingers?

Claudia: Will ask my cousin and post it :) Nigel: Thanks for the correction for Hounslow East. No, the Cotswolds was just a typo :) LOl for teh capitalized "R". My name starts with "R" and I'm an Aries so that's why! Gosh I feel like I am thinking too much. Every day I oscillate between Travelcard and Oyster. I looked at the Travel card 2-1 website and there seem to be a lot of discounts for the paper card including travel to Oxford etc. Nigel: 1) So looks like I can buy the paper travel card at Hounslow East? 2) Maybe a silly question: Does it make sense to do both: Oyster for the out-of-London days and paper travel for within London just to get those 2-1 discounts.
Thanks

I don't try to figure out the Travelcard. I just use a regular Oyster and "top it up" when the balance gets low. With the Oyster you will never pay more than you would for a single ticket and it is so convenient to use. Oyster cards can be bought or "topped-up" at many shops besides the Tube stations. Anyplace you see the yellow reader on the counter, that's where you can buy Oyster.

Have to ask? Your cousin commutes daily into London. What does she use? I'm going to be gobsmacked if it's not an Oyster card.

Thanks Swan.
There are 4 of us travelling. In light of the 2-1 discounts for some sights (Cabinet War rooms, etc which we'd like to visit), would it be fair to assume that the paper travelcards bought from specific stations make more sense? I read on one of the threads that someone did that and that was one of the deciding factors.

1) So looks like I can buy the paper travel card at Hounslow East?
2) Maybe a silly question: Does it make sense to do both: Oyster for the out-of-London days and paper travel for within London just to get those 2-1 discounts. 1) No and yes. Yes you can buy one at any Underground station, but NO, it won't help you with the 2 for 1 discounts. If you want to take advantage of the ATOC National Rail 2 for 1 discounts you have to have a valid train ticket sold by a National Rail station. I mentioned in my prior message the two nearest your place near Hounslow East Underground station. They would be Hounslow or Isleworth. 2) No, you cannot use Oyster Cards beyond zone 6 (or zone 9 for travel to Watford), unless that is not what you meant. I would suggest having an Oyster Card for the duration of your stay. If you don't use it at all on a particular day it won't be charged at all. If you just use it for a bus ride to Isleworth one day you will only be charged for one bus ride that day. Or if you use it to take the bus there and then take the train to zone 2 and use your zone 1-2 paper Travelcard for your 2 for 1 discounts. It seems way easier, if you really will get your money's worth, to get zone 1-4 paper Travelcards from the National Rail station. Unless you get much more value than paying regular prices and using an Oyster Card, I would really suggest to forget the Travelcard and just have a topped up Oyster Card at all times. They are so convenient. And you don't have to go through the hassle to get them. ... more ...

... more ... Regarding seem to be a lot of discounts for the paper card including travel to Oxford etc. I went to the Daysout website and found a Chiltern Railways offer. The 4 go for the price of 2 is not restricted to the 2-4-1 program. There is a Groupsave 4 and a Groupsave 3 regularly available just walking up to the window and buying tickets. The Groupsave fare, appears to be mimicked by that offer, is when the price is for two and either 3 or 4 travel together. Neither the Groupsave or the Chiltern offer on the 2-4-1 website (if that's the one you meant) are any good for a party of only 2. Does that help clarify?

Back to your question about how often you get charged with an Oyster card, it's every time you ride the tube or bus up to the daily limit. You can use a combination of travelcards some days and Oyster card on others. It would probably hinge on how much you would save (£27.80 on a group of 4, assuming you're all adults, if you took Nigel's hint and visited Kew Gardens, a lovely place), and how much of a hassle it would be to pick up a travelcard on those days. Or perhaps you can buy travelcards for several different days in advance? When we bought our 7 day cards in September, we asked for them to start the day after purchase. Perhaps Nigel knows the answer to that question.

Thanks Leslie and Nigel, 1) Got it. Either pick Travelcards at Hounslow or Isleworth that are near Hounslow East. I also looked at the tube map and the national rail (crow's feet) symbol is printed next to the stations' names.Rright now atleast I am looking to buy Oyster cards and travelcards. I'll make sure to use the travel cards on the days we go to the 2-1 discount places. I looked at national rail website and from there atleast it looks like you can specify which days you want to buy the cards. 2) Sorry I wasn't clear. When I wrote "out -of-London" days I was meaning the days when we travel outside London on day trips BUT we will still need to use the Tube to get to the train connections and I'll use Oyster card during that time. (i.e While going to Oxford; getting from Hounslow East to Paddington OR Hounslow East to heathrow to catch the Oxford-Heathrow-Gatwick bus) Also we are now a total of 4 people travelling so the discounts will be good for us. More questions: 1) Considering we will be staying in East Hounslow, does it make more sense to travel to Heathrow and take the various buses for day trips to Windsor, trip to Oxford? Logistically looking at the map it seems like I'd be backtracking if I go to central London only to take the train outside. I do understand the bus would take a bit longer buttime aside, are these buses fine? 2) Does the Tube have air-conditioning? I tried to find this out in the Tube website and its either not there or I am unable to locate it.
Thanks in advance.

No air conditioning on the Underground. Most trains are air conditioned. Most coaches are air conditioned. Few buses are air conditioned. Moot point, though. You are talking about late April into early May. There will be bulbs, but most trees won't even have their leaves. Air conditioning is not needed. Others may disagree - and I have an ax to grind as I work for one of the large train companies - but with a group of 4 traveling I would find gathering around a table on a train or even sitting 4 across or 2 and 2 would be much nicer than in forward facing seats on a coach. On a coach you see the motorway and built up areas. On a train you see the sheep and the countryside and rivers and canals with canalboats.

Claudia: Just answering your question about what my cousin uses to travel to work everyday. She uses the pay as you go Oyster card instead of the weekly one. She mentioned its cheaper for her as she only works 5 days a week and sometimes she travels duringoff peak hours. What I find really interesting and am a little surprised about is that her employer doesnt subsidize transit passes or offer free transit passes. She mentioned that she has not really heard of anyone's employer doing it either. Here in Seattle my employer offers free transit card and I don't even use it as public transport from where I live(suburbs) is spotty and it would take me 2 hours each way if I took it. Its a little humbling! I also googled her address and saw she wasn't kidding when she said her place is 2 minutes from Hounslow east tube. She works in Picadilly Circus so it takes her 30 minutes by tube.