Help with Transportation Options in London
 

I've been trying to understand what we should buy for transportation for getting around London. Perhaps I am making it mre complicated than need be, but all the options have me confused as to what would be most cost effective for us to buy. We will be arriving by train from Edinburgh. We (2 adults) will be staying in the centre of London for 7 nights. We don't plan any trips out of London. We leave from Heathrow. We have Apple Pay. Help! Thank you

Buy paper 7day zone 1&2 travel cards (at Kings Cross when you arrive from Scotland). That will give all tube/bus travel for the week PLUS give you 2for1 discounts at many of the big London attractions.

https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london

Then either buy a single tube ticket for the trip to LHR or easier and only a little more expensive -- book a car service like justairports.com

I used them just yesterday from SW1 and it was £26

What does Apple Pay have to do with anything? Do what Janis said.

It also depends on how much transportation you expect to use. If you don't plan on using the Underground or buses a lot, then you could also get an Oyster card and top up (add money as you go). Keep in mind that London has a distance-based fare system with peak and off-peak rates similar to DC Metro.

Thanks, Janis & tp

BigRuss -- guess you're not up to date on things in London. ApplePay is an option of a way to pay. Its similar to pay as you go with a contactless payment card.

We spent a week in London last month and bought a 7 day paper travel card, used it continuously for tube and busses. I took the bus for one block when I was exhausted; I considered this a great bargain.

We had printed out a few of the 2-4-1 offers to use with our paper travel card and the savings were fairly remarkable.

We used the Transport for London website which was very helpful for route planning:

https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

and we also downloaded a site called City Mapper before we left home. Sometimes CityMapper offered more convenient options for us. We used both.

https://citymapper.com/london

Now, the ultimate sin around here: We took the Heathrow Express from the airport to Paddington. I know Fodorites don't do this, but it was easy, it was fast, it was comfortable, and while we were in Paddington, we bought our 7 day travel cards.

We used justairports.com for the ride from our rental back to Heathrow.

I hope this helps.

tuscanlifeedit -- yes, very helpfu, thank you. Re the printing out of the voucher offers on the paper travel card. We won't have a printer with us. Did you print your vouchers at home? or where?

Yes -- look over the site now (helps you plan your days in London too) and print out every voucher you think you might be able to use (even if long shots) - only loss will be a few sheets of paper.

Okay - got it! Thanks for all your help. I havent even begun to think about how we will spend our time in London, so you're right it will help.

Don't forget passport photos for the paper travel card. They are required.

jamikins -- thanks for the info. Do we just need one each?

Yes, just one each.

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Thanks yestravel for this thread. I am also confused about the options for traveling around London. I googles day travel card and was led to this London Underground site:
https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payment...on-this-page-1

Is this what you are talking about? It says you can only get a paper ticket for 1 day - a 7 day would be on an Oyster Card.

TIA

Now, the ultimate sin around here: We took the Heathrow Express from the airport to Paddington. I know Fodorites don't do this, but it was easy, it was fast, it was comfortable, and while we were in Paddington, we bought our 7 day travel cards>

Yes what I always sin too- fastest way in but not cheap though on the official site they often have 2 for 1 tickets. Paddington however is rather remote from where many are staying.

AGM -- obviously I know nothing about this, but it does say:
"Travelcard Season tickets
Travelcard season tickets are available for 7 days, one month or for any longer period up to one year. They:

Are generally issued on Oyster cards except when bought from a National Rail station"

Honestly, why they make these cards so damn complicated is beyond me. I just returned from Australia and their OPAL card doesn't show prices for individual trips anywhere. We ended up topping a card because we thought we'd be caught short which we weren't, but nowhere to be find were their rates posted. Sorry for the rant!

yes travel - opal is only Sydney , MYKI (which is the Melbourne one ) shows fares for zones on its websites .

A 7 day travel card can either be added to an Oyster card through TfL at tube stations, or be purchased at a national rail station (train station) and be a paper card. Only the paper cards are eligible for 2for1 deals.

This is a promo to encourage people to travel by train from outside London to London to visit tourist attractions. It is not meant for London tourists, but you get to take advantage of it by buying the cards at a rail station.

We don't use Oyster cards anymore - and neither do many Londoners, from what I can tell. It's much easier and generally cheaper to use a contactless payment card.
The system automatically caps your expenditure by day or week, so that you will never pay more than a daily/weekly travel card.

In our family we use both UK issued cards and non-UK cards, debit and credit; all work.

Obviously, if you have a high transaction charge on your card you'd have to be aware of that.

It's a great system; always works, no more topping up of cards, and you always get the lowest fares.

Hi northie! Yes, I know Opal was in Sydney. Sorry to besmirch all of Australia. In Melbourne we only used the free tram and loved it. Sydney needs to do the same.

We plan to buy the paper 7day zone 1&2 travel cards at the Kings Cross Station when we arrive by train from Edinburgh. We'll have a photo with us and print some vouchers athome before we leave. I havent found a current price. I'm sure it's somewhere.

Thanks all for your help!

see http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/e...ravelcard.html for pros and cons of contactless and Oyster cards

Good article! If you have an American issued credit card can it be used? Didn't sound like it could. If it accepts Apple Pay will that work if it is connected to a US card?

Chiming in here. I need to get this straight because I am confused :-) Are these the steps to get the 2-4-1 and to get an unlimited tube travel card for a week in London?
1. Peruse 2-4-1 and print any and all vouchers we might want.
2. Fly to London from the USA, land in Heathrow
3. Somehow travel to Paddington station (or other train station?) to purchase a paper 7 day card. (For this reason alone, I am thinking the express to Paddington from the airport)
4. We need to bring passport photos for each person (2 adults and 2 children)--these photos are used for the cards.
5. Take the Tube from Paddington to our rental in Nottinghill.

I am having trouble believing that I can get all of these benefits by buying the 7 day card at Paddington. It's the same card I would buy at the Tube station (???) but because I bought it at Paddington, I can get all the 2-4-1 benefits. It just sounds too good to be true!!

Also--is there some giant line to get these cards? Does it take hours to complete the process? (Can you tell I am a skeptic? But Fodorites have never steered me wrong so I feel I have to believe that I can take advantage of this great offer!)

Thanks for helping me understand!

Stanton-Hyde--DD and I used the Heathrow CONNECT for a fraction of the cost of the Express from LHR to Paddington. Took longer, but time wasn't an issue. Boarded same platform--just had to not get on an Express. It got very crowded by the time we arrived, but we had seats all the time, with our small luggage with us. Just a cheapish option to the Tube, which we've used, or car service like Just Airports, which we've used.

wjm--thanks for that link--that has every answer I could need. As for the family pricing vs. 2-4-1, I think the fact that my kids are 12 and 14 may complicate things (some places maybe they are kids, others they are considered adults) It's good to do the math. Thanks for this great resource.

texasbookworm-how much longer did it take? I just used the route planner app noted above and it would take us around 20 minutes to get to Paddington and then only 3 minutes to get from there to NottingHill. I like that much better than, say, 60 minutes!

yes travel. ��

yestravel - was meant to be a laughing face - not sure what happens with emojis on fodors.
We always use Oyster cards in London and don't bother with 2 for 1 as the attractions on it are not what we want . Like oyster because we get any money not used back when leaving or leave it until next time.

>.I just used the route planner app noted above and it would take us around 20 minutes to get to Paddington and then only 3 minutes to get from there to NottingHill. I like that much better than, say, 60 minutes!<<

Yes, for Notting Hill and that side of London, Paddington can make more sense. For other places not so much (when you bear in mind the HEX is only every fifteen minutes, and onward transport from Paddington may not be that convenient).

Brace yourselves, btw, it won't be that long now before CrossRail comes into service......
http://www.crossrail.co.uk/route/maps/

Northie-I've wondered if we will use enough of the attractions to make the 2 for 1 worthwhile. I have to go thru the list and check admission prices against the cost of the travel card. We also tend to walk a lot so don't know if we will make a huge amount of use out of the transportation. At least I think I understand how it all works. I still haven't fount a current price for the travel card.

Here's what I wrote about our experience with Heathrow CONNNECT in a TR I posted in 2015, so the pricing won't be the same:

After landing and getting all stuff done in LHR, DD and I and 2 other fellow travelers did this:

"As we followed signs toward the Connect/Express ticket office (I hoped), we walked by a Heathrow Express ticket kiosk where I asked about <b>Heathrow Connect</b> tickets; he showed us how to buy those tickets at the kiosk (no problem with our CC’s). We followed the signs to Heathrow Express for a long walk; at the platform we just had to wait about 20 minutes for the Connect train not the Express one, and then it took 30 to get <b>to Paddington. </b> After the first stop the train was quite packed. I wasn’t expecting commuters to use it. But I found this a good way to reach the city for pretty cheap—£10.10—if getting to Paddington works for where you are staying.

At Paddington we were very much the confused tourists and had to get help—kindly given—to figure out how to get up to the actual street level station. There we found ATM machine (J’s card had issues, but as a wise traveler, she pulled out her second one and it worked). They topped up their Oyster cards for their week of travel, while I went to the National Rail office and got the 7-Day-Zones 1-2 Travel Card; I had our passport-size photos with me so the whole process went pretty fast, even on this busy Monday morning."

Then we walked to our nearby hotel to drop luggage and came back to take the Tube to Hyde Park.

yestravel, for travel within zone 1 and 2 - which is where you will nearly always be - there's a cap of 6,60 per day. So if you load money on your Oyster card, and travel around getting on and off busses and tubes all day - you will not be charged more than that in zone 1. The weekly cap is 33 pounds - but that is when you use a contactless payment card, rather than an Oyster.
You can also buy a 7-day travel card as mentioned on other posts here, and if you buy that from a train station you will qualify for the 2for1 offers.

All fares are here;
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/adult-fares-2017.pdf

London is a very large city. You will use buses/tubes to get around all the time. It's very easy to spend 6,60 per day. If you are sightseeing, you will almost certainly use that. It's so easy to just jump on a bus, even if it's just for a short distance.

Use the citymapper app to plan your journeys. It's very easy to use.

So if you do not get a 7-day travel card, and instead use an Oyster card to get around Zone 1 and 2 for 7 days, it will cost you a maximum of 7 times 6.60 (which is the daily maximum cap).
If you use a contactless credit or debit card, you do not need to think about anything; you will never pay more than the 33 pounds per week. Or 6.60 per day.

Even if you use the 2for1 offers only once, you'll be better of getting the 7-day travel card. You can pick it up at Kings Cross when you get there from Edinburgh.

But I found this a good way to reach the city for pretty cheap—£10.10—if getting to Paddington works for where you are staying.>

I wonder if HEX Connect return tickets can be used for 2 for 1 offers -may have been said above but skimming thru missed.

I suspect HE Connect may get crowded too at stations en route?

The official HEX often has 2 for 1 tickets, as said above, on their site making it not much more than the Connect and with baggage, etc and no stops after airport may be money worth spent -if not for much time savings?

>>I wonder if HEX Connect return tickets can be used for 2 for 1 offers -<<

They cannot . . .

Just an FYI regarding weekly capping with a contactless card - it only caps at a 7 day Travelcard amount Monday-Sunday, so depending on your days, you may be better off with a 7 day Travelcard.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payment...hat-is-capping

On the contactless card does anyone know if it will accept a US card? Or Apple Pay connected to a US card?

We use a non-UK euro cc and that works fine. Try it out at the gate. If it doesn't open, go back and get an oyster instead?

That's a possibility. I did read it has to be a U.K. Issued card, but if yours worked who knows? Information seems to be scattered all over. I have yet to find a comprehensive site with all the pertinent information.