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 a District Line tube
carriage by sue_stone
If you purchase it after 9.30am on weekdays it is cheaper (a zone 1-3 day card is about 4.60 pounds).
On the weekends you can buy a weekend travel card that works out cheaper for the two days.
If you are in London for longer, you can also buy weekly and monthly travel cards.
Ask at any tube office for information Leave a Comment
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 A Multi-Purpose Travelcard by Bwana_BrownLeave a Comment Theme: Subway/Metro
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 tube and buses at busy Oxford
Circus/Regent St by angiebabe, 4 more photos
Lets explain - a bus pass for the day which means you can use the London red buses all around London ie all the zones out to zone 6 is £3 or for the week its £14.
Thats a bargain i reckon!!
You can get a free map of the London Buses for Central London from most tube stations, especially the large ones such as Victoria Station. and so marked on this map are the bus routes linking all around the city centre. So its a handy map for using to find your find around.
The advantage of paying £1 more to call it a zone 2 to 3 travel card means you can use all tube and overground trains from zone 2. Handy stations such as Nottings Hill Gate, vauxhall and Earls Court are both Zone 1 and 2. So you can use Zone 2 stations to go out further to places around Zone 2 and 3 - Clapham Common, Brixton, Putney and Wandsworth, Gunnersbury Park, Kew Gardens though you might want to catch a bus any further from there to say Richmond as its then Zone 4. So this makes a real cheap bonus for you!
You can also get free tube train maps called A Visitors Guide to Travelling ARound London that include the zones marked on them and also include where the overground trains connect so that can be useful too for faster travel.
The trick is still to use an Oyster card - which are electronic smartcard that are bought for £3 - and you put on this your travel card - but you can also carry money on it for single journeys which are charged at a lower rate when on an Oyster card - so if you do want to make a zone 1 tube trip it will only cost you £1.50 - otherwise use the excellent buses all over and then the tube and trains around Zones 2 and 3!! Leave a Comment Theme: BusWebsite: www.tfl.gov.uk Other Contact: www.visitbritaindirect.com
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Our transport pricing system is notoriously complicated but I hope to explain it in this tip.
An oyster card will be the most sensible purchase you can make during your stay it is a GBP3 deposit and can be reused on a future trip or refunded when returned.
Next to bear in mind is peak travel times are 4.30 - 9.30am Monday to Friday. Off Peak is after 9.30am weekdays & all of Saturday and Sunday + public holidays.
A cash single fare is GBP4 not bad if you are travelling from heathrow zone 1-6 during peak hours as you will have a GBP3.80 fare deduction off your oyster card & GBP2.20 off peak, but travel a few stops in zone 1 and having an oyster card will save you GBP2.40.
Providing you avoid peak hours a zone 1&2 oyster fare is GBP1.60 (single journey) and GBP2.20 zones 1-6. An oyster card will also cap itself at the price of a paper travelcard less 50p for zones 1&2 off peak price cap GBP 5.10 (provided travel is after 9.30 weekdays) and the cap price peak GBP6.70 no matter how many journeys you take. The day you arrive from heathrow though the cap is GBP14.30 peak or GBP7 off peak.
So keep in mind travel the tube within off peak hours or else travel by bus. Up to 4 children under 11yrs can travel accompanied by an adult for free. Ages 11-15yrs old need to bring a photo to obtain a photocard from transport for london which entitles them to get an off-peak day travelcard for GBP1 when accompanied by an adult.
The other alternative for zones 1&2 is a 3 day travelcard for anytime travel GBP18.40 (this works out GBP3.10 more then 3 days off peak with oyster) or a 7 day travelcard GBP25.80. Always touch in and out with your oystercard on the yellow reader accompanied by a green light and 1 beep or multiple beeps for child oyster. A red light with 2 beeps means card has not been accepted see a member of staff for assistance or face a penalty fare. Leave a Comment
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 Victoria Station by TravelJunkie
If you are going to be exploring the city for 3 days or more, I highly recommend getting a a Visitor TravelCard. There are several zone and length-of-stay options to meet individual needs. We got a weeklong Zone 1 & 2 travelcard, which we used 5 or 6 times a day, getting more than out money's worth.
THE CATCH: These passes cannot be bought once you are in London. They must be purchased prior to you trip. I ordered mine on line a month before we left and got them about a week later. You receive a voucher that you cash in at a train station for the weekly pass. We went to the train stop at Heathrow airport, exchanged the voucher for a pass, and headed off.
It beats having to dig for unfamiliar change in a big crowd. And if you get confused and accidently exit the station or get on the wrong bus, you get a do-over at no extra charge! Leave a Comment
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London is a small place, or should I say the parts of London visitors want to see is! I very rarely travel on the buses and Underground in London when visiting the sites, simply because they are all so near to each other.
Most of the major attractions are situated within a couple of square miles of each other and can be easily reached on foot. I also think that the best way to discover anything is on foot, you have more time to stop and look at things that take your interest.
But if you must travel around the city on public transport I would recommend getting a day/week pass for both the Underground and bus system, which are limited to travel after 9.30 a.m. but who want's to get up early when on vacation anyway. These passes are much cheaper than individual tickets and can be purchased for one person or a family. Leave a Comment Theme: Subway/Metro
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 Handy for a week by pedersdottir
If you are heading for London from home you can order a Travel Card or Heathrow Express Travel card online from Transport for London. The price is based on the number of days and zones you plan to travel - up to 7 days.
The Heathrow Express fare gives you a roundtrip from the airport to the city in addition to unlimited travel in London Zones 1& 2 for a week - for 42.80 pounds. (Less, for fewer days.)
Note : you MUST order from abroad. The card will be mailed to you at least 1 week prior to your departure.
Imagine how simple it will be to step off the plane and onto a train that whisks you into London - with no annoying stops at the exchange desk! Leave a Comment Theme: Subway/MetroWebsite: Transport for London Other Contact: overseas ticket link
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(fares updated 2 January 2009)
Any visitor to London is going to need a Travelcard or a cash Oyster card, as the fare structure on public transport penalises those who pay cash. Travelcards are available from all tube stations and many newsagents etc. You can find out where to buy them at: ticketlocator.tfl.gov.uk
Travelcards can be used on the Tube, DLR, London Overground and National Rail within the zones covered and on all London Buses displaying the familar London Transport sign. They also include a 1/3 discount off scheduled Riverboat services. Travelcards cannot be used on the train services to Heathrow.
A one-day off-peak (ie after 9:30 am) Travelcard for
zones 1 & 2: £5.60
zones 1-4: £6.30
zones 1-6: £7. 50
Three-day Travelcards are also available:
zones 1 & 2: £18.40 (If you´re only travelling off-peak then three one-day cards are cheaper)
zones 1-6:£42.40 (£21.20off-peak)
# If the three days you are travelling on include a Saturday, Sunday or Public Holiday, it may be cheaper to buy a combination of Day Travelcards
A 7-day Travelcard for zones 1 & 2 costs £24.20.
Travelcards are often the cheaper option if you are going to use the bus or tube for more than one or two journeys in any one day. Cash single fares are now very expensive:
Bus fare
£2.00 cash
£1 with Oyster card (up to a daily maximum £3.30 if you travel by bus only)
Zone 1 Tube journey
£4.00 cash
£1.60 Oyster card, up to a daily maximum of:
- £6.70 (if any of your travel is between 0430 and 0930 Monday to Friday),or
- £4.80 (if your travel is after 0930 Mon-Fri)
Since Oyster Card rates are capped at £0.50 below the relevant one-day Travelcard price, it is usually cheaper to use Oyster cash fares if you are travelling less than 7 days.
It is possible to buy an Oystercard before you get here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/visitortickets/5192.aspx Leave a Comment
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Is the "London Pass" value for money?
Of course, it depends where you want to visit, so you should check the price against the various entrance charges. But remember that most of the national museums and galleries in London are free entry now. These include:
- British Museum
- National Gallery
- National Portrait Gallery
- Science Musem
- Natural History Museum
- Victoria & Albert
- Tate Modern
- Tate Britain
- Museum of London
- National Maritime Museum
- Royal Observatory, Greenwich
- Imperial War Museum
So be sure that you are not paying for something you don't need.
The London Pass costs a minimum of £39 for 1 day (not including transport) and the coverage is fairly limited. It does cover The Tower of London, HMS Belfast, St Paul's, Kew Gardens, and London Zoo, but most of the other attractions offered are fairly minor (but all worth seeing in ther own right, of course). It also allows you to skip the ticket queues at busy attractions, and includes some restaurant offers and discounts at gift shops.
Some major tourist attractions like Westminster Abbey, Madame Tussaud's and the London Dungeon are not covered by the London Pass.
Also, you will have to pay extra for a Transport for London (TfL) Travelcard with the London Pass. This adds £7 to the one day card price for a zones 1-6 off-peak (ie after 9:30am) card.
Any visitor to London will certainly need a TfL TravelCard, but most visitors will only require zones 1 & 2, and you can get a one-day off-peak card for these zones for £5.60.
In our view, the London Pass is not very good value unless you want to visit the attractions that are included in it in a short space of time. Most visitors would be better-off just getting the TravelCard that they need.
For further information, see the following websites:
London Pass
TfL TravelCards
Free London Leave a Comment Theme: Subway/Metro
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London requires ID cards for the purchase of week or longer travelcards for the Tube. These are free, but you have to supply a passport size picture. These identification cards can be made at any Tube station.
If you are a student, you can get a student ID card that will give you 30% off travel cards. The only problem is that they initially charge you 10 pounds for the card. Leave a Comment Theme: Subway/Metro
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