gailellen

I will be traveling to London next week for the first time in several years. The Oyster Card is new since I have been there last. I must admit I am rather confused about how to figure out the amount of pounds to put on it. I will be there for 4 days and plan on using the tube to get around - mainly in the heart of the city. Thanks in advance for any information you might be able to provide me regarding this card.

xyz123

I will let somebody else go through the whole spiel of why using an oyster card issued by tfl might not be the best solution but for transportation alone in London it is by far.

Put £20 on the card. They will also charge you £5 refundable deposit for the card. You can monitor it as you go along via the machines in each station. If you start running low, it is easy enough to top up with another £5 or £10. As you leave, if you tube out to Heathrow airport, you can get a refund of the deposit and whatever money is left on the card.

29FEB

Or, save it for a return visit. Neither the card itself nor the funds on it expire.

TDudette

Has anyone in the U.S. ever bought it online before traveling? This was a link from the London site.

http://www.visitbritainshop.com/usa/...ster-card.html

janisj

lots of folks report buying ahead of time. I personally don't see all that much benefit - I think you are limited to a PAYG Oyster. If you want a 7-day card you still need to buy it in London.

But if PAYG is what you want, a reasonable option.

xyz123

People have but it is totally unnecessary...wherever your first contact with tfl it is easy enough to purchase either from a live human being or one of the machines. It is just another thing to forget in your haste to pack and you don'get any sort of break in the price.

Wait till you get to London...put ░20 on the card and then if needed, top up. Neat and simple.

TDudette

Thanks!

dgassa

The OP left for London around the 2nd week of August. Their decision has been made.

nyse

<i>..."and you don'get any sort of break in the price."</i>

You may even pay more, as the "Oyster for Visitors" card has a non-refundable &pound;3 activation fee. Or at least it used to.

And dgassa, OP may have left but a new question was mentioned today.

janisj

dgassa>The OP left for London around the 2nd week of August. Their decision has been made.<<

But TDudette topped it to ask a follow up question . . . . which we are answering.

propita

Yes, please keep answering! Because I have a question...

We (Hubby and I) are planning to be in London for 8 or 9 days. We'll have to get from Heathrow into the city, to get to St Pancras for the eurostar to Paris, and likely the train to Watford Junction for Harry Potter. I know that we'll each want an Oyster card for all that. But if we're in London, taking off in the morning, likely crossing town for lunch and/or dinner, and back at night, that's easily 3-4 trips/day. Wouldn't that be a daily capping out on the Oyster--making the 7-day card better for the daily rides (after 4 days), and also have the Oyster for these others trips?

Am I being too confusing?

indy_dad

propita --

<i>Am I being too confusing?</i> Maybe a little

The Oyster Card is just a card. You can load it with a 7-day travelcard or Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) money or both. At face value, you would want to get a Zone 1-2 7-day travelcard loaded onto your Oyster AND add some PAYG money to handle the extra from Heathrow (if using the Tube), Watford Junction and the extra days.

However, to complicate things further, since there are two of you, you might want to take advantage of the 2-for-1 offers by National Rail for which you need a train ticket. A sneaky option is to buy a 7-day paper travelcard from a National Rail office to qualify. Then you would just use the PAYG oyster for the extras as noted above.

Many threads here on the 2for1 options. Some info here:

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/

Avalon2

I always get a
7day card even for 4 days in London. But I take the buses or tube everywhere, usually at least 2 tube trips and 8 or 9 bus trips each day!!

Hooameye

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel-....1.Offers.html

DCJones

From the TFL site:

Daily price capping

If you make lots of pay as you go journeys in one day, we'll make sure you never pay more than the price of an equivalent Day Travelcard*.

janisj

that's true - but a 7 day travel card usually works out cheaper than 4.5-5 days of single day caps.

Seamus

<i> Avalon2: I always get a 7day card even for 4 days in London...</i>

Yep, ditto here. With the zone 1-2 daily cap on PAYG at £8.40 peak/£7.00 off-peak, the 7 day at £30.40 is a good deal. For three days or less, just loading some credit onto the Oyster works out fine.

propita

@indy_dad:

That's exactly what I was thinking, but I didn't get it sounding right, through my ignorance of the subject. DCJones and janisj spelled it out better than me.

We both want to see Oxford, and I was explaining options to Hubby: train, bus, tour. Since we want to walk around there a lot, I figured the tours were out. I was looking up bus/trains to Oxford and got confused on the bus company vs. tube service. The names were being used interchangeably, and same prices/stops...and then I read that, yep! They're competitors, at the same price, same stops, etc. The difference seems irrelevant except that, if you go to Oxford with one company, your return is with the same one (well, duh). One item down and easily summarized to Hubby.

As for trains from Paddington to Oxford, still a bit confused as to ticketing. Is there a benefit to buying ahead or better to just buy at the station on that day?

Still looking for clean and cheap place to stay with a private bath. Cheap as in <$200/nt. Preferably less. But we do have time until May.

janisj

>>got confused on the bus company vs. tube service<<

OK - I'm really going to confuse you now

The "Oxford tube" and the London Underground (tube) have ABSOLUTELY nothing to do w/ each other. In fact the Oxford Tube isn't a 'tube' at all. It is one of the <u>bus companies</u> to Oxford (that thinks the name is cute )

The 'real' Tube (London Underground) does not go to Oxford (or anywhere outside of London). Your Oyster card works on buses/underground IN London. The Oxford Tube is a bus for which you need to buy a ticket. I personally would probably take the bus (Oxford Tube) instead of the train simply because there are various bus stops in central Oxford and you wouldn't have to walk in from the train station.

flanneruk

"As for trains from Paddington to Oxford, still a bit confused as to ticketing. Is there a benefit to buying ahead or better to just buy at the station on that day?"

Generally, a prebooked train ticket (up to 6.30 the night before, but often cheaper weeks in advance) is cheaper than a walk-up train ticket, and about the same as a walk-up bus ticket, for London-Oxford. But it does require you to take ONLY the nominated trains.

At weekends, and after 0930 weekdays, there really isn't enough difference (in cash, though the %age diff may be considerable) to make prebooking worth the effort. But if you need a full weekday in Oxford, and want to get the train, it's best to prebook.

From most locations in London to the centre of Oxford it's usually faster and handier to get the bus, though traffic disruptions are likelier by road.