texasbookworm

Are one-day paper travel cards for London transport only good on the day they are purchased or can they be bought ahead of time? If so, are they dated or do they become valid once used? (For our 2 week stay in London I plan to get an Oyster card upon arrival for most of our travels, but to use the 2for1 vouchers, there are 3 days I will want paper cards, (not 3 in a row), and I'd love to be able to get all that purchased at once.)

Thank you! I promise I've reviewed the forum and read the websites to try to figure this out but I can't find this. I found something about 2 lines for purchasing paper tickets at Victoria, one for future use, but it sounded like that was only for 7-day cards.

Leaving 4 weeks from right now!--A

PalenQ

Off-Peak Travelcards used to at least only be sold on the day of travel just before 9:30am IME lest you use them before 9:30am - may have changed so will be interested in the answer

texasbookworm

That brings up a minor detail--we'd want Peak Travel cards for 2 of the days so we could get to sites (Tower for instance) as early as possible. Don't know if this detail makes any difference to the answer!

Robespierre

You could take the bus. It has no zone or peak limitation. Off-peak Travelcards won't operate the turnstiles before 9:30 - it's in the code.

PatrickLondon

From the Tfl website:

"You can buy One Day and 3 Day tickets up to 7 days in advance of the start date (except at Tube station touchscreen ticket machines which issue printed tickets on the start date only)"

and on off-peak travelcards:
"Can be used from 0930 Mondays to Fridays, all day Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays, on the day of validity and for any journey that starts before 0430 on the following day."

There is a one-day bus-only pass that has no time restriction: but it seems pretty clear that offpeak travelcards cannot be used before 0930 on any mode.

PalenQ

Patrick - it makes it nice to be able to buy in advance

Several years ago when i was buying a one-day travel card many days at the same train station they were obstinate about not selling it before 9:30am and several folks were waiting at the window to buy it

one guy one day got so angry - he wanted to take say the 9:31 train to London and the guy would not sell it until 9:30 he almost got in a fight - a shouting match ensued

texasbookworm

Thanks,all. (You 3 and 3-4 others have been so much help on the forum here as I've planned.)

I don't mind buying Peak Travel cards; that's what I planned to do on 2 days, because the 2for1 deals will offset the cost.

I will now plan to buy all our travel tickets/cards at the same time IF I can do it at Heathrow on arrival, where I'll be having to get the Oyster cards. If not, I'll go to plan B (I have a lot of those--plan B's!)

But if anyone has any other insight/experience/comment, please post.
A

TimS

If you plan to print and use the 2for1 offers offered by National Rail using their Days Out Guide, then you need to buy paper travelcards which bear the National Rail logo. You cannot buy them at Heathrow or at Tube stations. Get them at any National Rail station (like Victoria, Waterloo, Paddington, Charing Cross, Euston, King's Cross, St. Pancras, Liverpool Street, etc.).

yk

Just want to say good luck!

Last time when I was at the Heathrow tube station (~9:30am on a Friday), the lines were incredibly long and the whole station was jam-packed. It was so bad that the station manager made an announcement that pax can proceed to board the tube WITHOUT a ticket - and that the pax can pay for the ticket at their arrival station.

Fortunately I already had an Oyster with money on it. Even with that, I had to fight thru the crowds to get to the turnstile.

This doesn't help you in your case, as you really had no other choice but to buy your tix at LHR tube station.