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Oyster Card - Zone 1-2 Travelcard, when traveling to Zone 3-4-5-6

If I get a 7 day zone 1-2 Travelcard (on my Oyster Card), and I travel to say....Kew or some other 3+ zone, I assume when I get to the destination, they will have me pay 1.50 or 2 pounds (the oyster rate) when I get there? Vs charging some other fare ? Is there an advantage to using the Oyster Travelcard on the days I travel to those zones? Or do you really end up paying the same as you would have if you'd just started with a regular Oyster card within zone 1-2 (not a travelcard on the Oyster).

Cheers!

Posted by
8700 posts

Buy the Oyster card. Load a 7 day, zone 1-2 travelcard on it. Also load some pay-as-you-go pounds on it for travel beyond zone 2. The Oyster computer will do all the work for you and it will automatically give you the best fare. You can top up the card as needed. If you have any unspent PAYG pounds on the card at the end of your stay, you can get a refund.

Posted by
780 posts

If you are using the tube to get into London from Heathrow, you will have to add more money on top of the travel card anyhow, since Hounslow is in zone 6. Youre right, it is about 2 pounds more per trip outside zones 1&2.

Posted by
4684 posts

Tim's advice is mostly good (and whatever you do DON'T wait until you get to your destination to pay the extra, that's fare dodging and you will get a heavy fine if you're caught). What he says, though is only true if you are travelling out of your Travelcard zones by bus or Underground (say the District Line to Kew). If you travel out of zone by suburban rail there is a horribly complicated system where you have to buy a special Oyster top-up fare called an Oyster Extension Permit - see this page for details.