My next trip will be 4 days in London, 4 days out of town, and then finishing w/ 4 more days in London.

So is Pay-as-you-go my best/only (?) option?

thanks

What about a seven day travelcard loaded on an Oyster and then add some extra cash for PayG if needed. The way I understand it, the seven days don't have to be consecutive, do they?

&quot;<i>the seven days don't have to be consecutive, do they?</i>&quot;

They do -- A 7-day travel card is for 7 consecutive days.

Oops! Duh... Every time I think I've got it straight, I don't. Well, maybe someone who knows what they're talking about will chime in. I need to rethink my Oyster plans also. I'm leaving London for a couple of days in the middle of my visit too...

In preparation for my 12/22/06 trip to London, I'm also studying toward a master's in London Underground, so I'll chime in. In your situation I would get an Oyster and pay as you go, with no Travelcards.

The 7-day Travelcard would be a money-loser for you because of the four intervening days away from London. You would use only four days out of the seven days' travel value on your card, not enough to break even. Many posters on this site have worked out break-even to be at five days of Travelcard use.

1-day off-peak Travelcards for zones 1-2 (cannot be loaded on an Oyster) would be &pound;4.90 each, and 3-day peak Travelcards for zones 1-2 (similarly cannot be loaded on a Oyster) would be &pound;15.40, so you can see that the per-day costs of each of these options, respectively, would be more than the per-day cap of &pound;4.40 when you ride the tube using the Oyster on a PAYG basis.

In addition, if you need single fares to ride in zones 1-6 to get to and from Heathrow, the single fares if you PAYG with an Oyster (&pound;3.50 peak from 7:00 am to 7:00 pm, &pound;2.00 off-peak) will be less than if you buy single fares without the Oyster (&pound;4.00).

Similarly any extension fares you need will be less with Oyster than without.

Your option would be various combinations of Zones 1-2 weekly season tix (&pound;22.20), 3 day card (&pound;15.40), and daily cap on Oyster (&pound;5.70 for weekday, &pound;4.40 for weekends/off-peak).

A) 3day + 1 day and repeat again when you get back to London. This would be &pound;42.20 in total.

B) 7day (you'll have to waste the last 3 days) + 3day + 1 day. This will be &pound;43.30 in total. If your last day is weekend, then &pound;42.00.

C) <b>However</b>, if your first day of use is Thursday, days 3, 4, 10, 11 will fall on weekend. You can just use pay-as-you-go with oyster daily cap for the entire trip. The total would be &pound;40.

So the answer depends on what day of the week you'll be arriving.

Oops, Option A can be &pound;40.90 if one of the days you'll be using daily cap falls on weekend.

Thanks. W9London explained it pretty much like I figured.

It used to be so simple -- 4+ days I got a weekly travel card, but I've not used an Oyster and the more I read TFL the dumber I feel

W/ the weekend days it looks like PAYG will be best. I'm not worried about the small money difference, just wanted to know what to load on the oyster.

I too used to use 4+ days when they had a zone 1 7 day travelcard to determine getting a 7 day pass...when they moved to only zone 1 &amp; 2 I went with 5 days...it would seem 7 day travel card for zones 1 &amp; 2 (&pound;22.20 was comparable with 5 days of capping on oyster for zone 1 &amp; 2 off peak (5 x &pound;4.40 or &pound;22...of course with the PAYG you give up, unless you want to pay somewhat more, the ability to use it before 0930 on weekdays...however our friend Robespierre on this board did convince me that somewhere along the way I would probably not reach the cap or might only use buses or might take an out of town excursion or whatever and now go with 6 days as the minimum before I would buy a 7 day travelcard as opposed to using oyster PAYG...although sometimes I wish it wasn't so expensive gto use it before 0930 on a weekday and almost feel compelled (nobody is really forcing me I do like to mind my pence now and then) if I take a bus ride before 0930 to simply use buses the rest of the day and let the thing cap at &pound;3 (the oyster cap for a 1 day bus pass)...(although I do have to factor in the cost of the extension to Heathrow which is &pound;1.80 peak (0700 to 1900 weekdays) and only &pound;1 other times against PAYG which is &pound;2 off peak and &pound;3.50 peak but certainly the difference should not be a deal killer.

And in answer to another question on the board, a 7 day pass is good for 7 consecutive days.