London metro passes?? problem help?
 

okay, all my research and planning is just about to end. we are going to london and paris in october. lots of great tips found here at this board. <BR> <BR>i am having a problem with one of them. I have lost my notes on the london underground passes. i checked it's website and can't seem to find the answer. <BR> <BR>i know you can buy 7 day travelzone cards for central zone and different other zones, but when i read the site, it looks like you need to bring a photo or have one made there. <BR> <BR>didn't someone say here that there was a special 4 or 7 day pass that you could buy that you do not need a photo for? we would like to save money and buy them there instead of thru the net. <BR> <BR>i have the paris viste licked! london tube i am having a problem with. help? <BR> <BR>sandy c

Don't bother buying the pass until you get to London. Yes, you'll need a photo - you probably have a spare passport photo (you usually receive extras). But if you don't just go down to the local mall and sit in one of those photo booths - you know, the ones teenage girls all jump inmto and giggle when they take the pictures. Those work just fine. <BR> <BR>And, failing that - every tube station has the same machines so you can snap the photos and walk right up to the ticket booth and buy the pass.

www.londonpass.com <BR>or <BR>WWW.thetube.com <BR> <BR>Why shouldn't one purchase it before leaving?

Sandy: If you're flying into Heathrow, you can get a 7-day tube pass that does not require that you have a photo. These are for visitors only and can be purchased only at Heathrow, right next to the Heathrow tube entrance. I did this in March, just shortly after the pass became available. The only inconvenience is that the tube entrance and the Heathrow Express entrance are in different terminals and a bit of a hike apart. Hope this helps!

sorry, I mean't to give you this, instead of "the tube' <BR> <BR>http://www.britishtravel.com/britishtravel/britrail.htm

Before going to London we purchased the London Pass Book (www.londontown.com) and along with it we got a Visitor Travel Card that is good for public transport and is validated to coincide with The London Pass (you purchase for the number of days you need). The Visitor Travel Card is valid within Greater London and allows you to travel on the underground, rail, buses and Docklands Light Rail. No photo is needed for the London Pass or the Travel Card. a1cooker

Hi, Sandy, <BR> <BR>Though I haven't been to London in a couple of years, in all of my many trips there I have always found that buying a central zone London Transport pass (the one with the photo, which covers buses and the underground) is a MUCH BETTER value than is merely buying the tourist-oriented travel passes. As others have mentioned, there are photo booths in most of the larger tube stations and getting these photos is a minor inconvenience IMHO. Most tourists never use more than the central zone when touring London -- and, if you do, you can pay the difference separately for these "one of" trips. <BR> <BR>Have a good trip. <BR> <BR>John H.

John--check out this new card at Heathrow if you fly in there next time. It is not the traditional visitor's pass; it's zones 1 and 2 only and is priced competitively with the card you were accustomed to buying. As I said, this is fairly new--launched in February or March of this year--but it's a good deal that does not require photos.

We bought the Visitor Travel Card, the same pass Escritora is talking about for our trip a couple of weeks ago, but I bought ours in advance on the Rail Europe web site (www.raileurope.com). It might be cheaper to buy at Heathrow, I don't know. But you definitely only need it for zones 1 and 2. <BR> <BR>Also, we took the Underground Piccadilly line into London from Heathrow, which is a lot cheaper than Heathrow Express and we had no problems at all with our luggage. You just have to buy a supplement ticket of about 3 GBP to go with your Visitor Travel Card.

thanks everyone, i knew i was not just dreaming it! <BR> <BR>sandy c

Last year my husband and I had extra passport photos for our underground passes. My sister, who went with us, simply found an old photo that she was in and cut her face out of it. Her face was about an inch high in the picture. They accepted it without question when we bought our passes at the Marble Arch station. <BR> <BR>I can't remember now how much we paid, but I remember it being quite inexpensive. It covered buses too, and we tried to use buses more on this trip than we had on previous trips. It helped that our end destination to go home at night was Marble Arch. We also discovered that there is a loop bus that simply goes in a circle from train station to train station all day long. It's slower than the tube, but it was very convenient when we were traveling with luggage.

Could somebody please tell me whether this newish pass sold only at Heathrow covers busses also, and what it costs for a week ? <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London

Ben Haines: The pass covers the Underground, busses, and above-ground trains (such as the train to Greenwich) within zones 1 and 2 as well as the Docklands Rail. There's nothing marked in the spot for price on my ticket, but my recollection is that it was £18-20 for a 7-day pass.

I buy that pass quite often, but I do need a photo. It's a 2-zone seven day London travel card, sold at any tube or mainline rail station. It's been going for twenty years. <BR> <BR>Ben Haines, London

This has me gobsmacked (I just love that expression). We have bought the Travelcard for several years (week long and the weekend one) and never got a photo card...no clerk in the underground ever told us we needed a photo card. The card was recommended by our B&B hostess, but no mention of a photo card! This is absolutely the first time I've ever heard of such a thing... <BR> <BR>What the heck's going on? Ben?

I used the 7-day pass in London in May; bought it over the phone from Rail Europe, they mailed me a voucher which I exchanged at the Euston Station in London for the pass. No photo required. I don't see why a photo is needed when this pass was the kind you insert in the turnstiles as you enter and exit the tube stations. No attendants around at all to check anything.

Are we talking two different 7-day passes here? If so, what are the differences (besides the photo). How do you use the one with the photo, i.e., getting through the turnstile? What is the difference in price?

I always buy the regular London Transport 7-day Travelcard (like Londoners use if they don't buy yearly or monthly passes). It requires a photograph. You put the ticket through the turnstile - but since it is non-transferable to other users, there is a photocard as well. If you are stopped you must be able to show the ticket and the photocard w/ the same serial number on them. <BR> <BR>Are the "Travel passes" you buy with vouchers available in any combination of travel zones? And is it in conjunction with the London Pass scheme? I don't buy that since most museums are becoming free and the Great British Heritage Pass covers most of the othet places I'm likely to go. I only get zone 1-2 since 99% of what I need is in zone 1 plus occasional forays into Highgate and Hampstead.

The non-photo 7-day cards are Visitor Travelcards and can only be purchased outside the UK. It doesn't include any sightseeing, etc. just the tube, busses, DLR and trains in London. I bought mine through my local travel agent who gave me a voucher. I don't remember how much it cost, was paying more attention to airline ticket prices at the time. Anyway, I exchanged the voucher at Victoria Station (I think you can do it at any tube station) for a 7-day Visitor Travelcard. <BR> <BR>The Transport for London website says: <BR> <BR>"All zones (1 - 6) Visitor Travelcards are available for varying periods of travel from 2 to 7 consecutive days. <BR> <BR>Central zones (1 & 2) Visitor Travelcards are available for 3,4 or 7 days consecutive travel." <BR> <BR>The website also says that some UK tour operators can sell these cards in conjunction with tours. <BR> <BR>I wish I had paid attention to how much it cost, to know if it's a better or worse deal than the regular "in-London" Travelcard.

Woops, sorry, almost forgot: <BR> <BR>http://www.londontransport.co.uk/ftt_visitor.shtml <BR> <BR>The website also says they don't list the prices of Visitor Travelcards on the website because they are priced in all the different countries' currencies. <BR> <BR>

Last post here, I promise. But just had a thought... <BR> <BR>Escritora, while the Visitor Travelcards have been around for at least a few years, maybe they just started this year selling them at Heathrow. Question: Did you have to show your passport or anything to buy yours at Heathrow? <BR>

BoomerBabe: Yes, this is the same card you used to be able to buy only in the States, and the new part is that you now can buy it at Heathrow, sans photo. I *think* I showed my passport when I bought it, but I'm not positive. (I'm very adept at sleeping through the night on a redeye without drugs but not so good at being awake in the morning!) In any case, by picking it up at Heathrow I saved the FedEx charge that would have been added to the cost had I ordered it in advance here.

My wife, son and I used the LondonPass last April. If you'll be doing a lot of siteseeing the LPass covers many admissions and discounts besides providing a travel card for the Tube, buses and overland trains in Zones 1-6. We found it very nice for our one week stay and it comes with a very handy booklet. We bought ours on the web but our B&B host mentioned that he thought you could get them cheaper buying them there.

I believe there are 2 different passes being talked about here. the LondonPass (http://www.londonpass.com/) combines tube, bus & light train travel and admission to about 60 atractions. It can only be purchased outside of the UK. <BR>You can buy 1,2,3 or 6 day passes. A 6 day costs 89 GBP. <BR> <BR>there also is a London visitor Travel Card. (http://www.britishtravel.com/britishtravel/britrail.htm), which covers the tube & red double decker buses. You can buy 3,4 & 7 day. the 7 day is 61 USD. <BR>No photo needed for either. <BR>Have fun, I'll be there next month! <BR>

$61 for seven days is ridiculous. That is why I buy the regular LT Travelcard - the one w/ the photo. The last one I bought was in June 2000 so it may have gone up a little, but then the 7-day travel card was 15.30 GBP, or less than $22. <BR> <BR>So don't assume all these "Visitor passes" save you any money. The only one I find that is actually a bargain is the Great British Heritage Pass. All of the others either include services you don't need or are very overpriced. Plus in the states you usually have to add the shipping charge so it is even more expensive.

The 7-day card for $61 is for all 6 zones. According to the gospel of Rick: <BR> <BR>http://www.ricksteves.com/rail/greatbritain.htm <BR> <BR>The site may be using last year's prices, but still gives a good comparison of the Visitor Travelcard and the Travelcard you buy in London. Not much difference in price for the two-zone, seven day cards. <BR> <BR>If you buy the Visitor Travelcard through your travel agent there is no FedEx charge. The agent prints a voucher which you take to London and turn in for your Visitor Travelcard, but no photo is needed. <BR> <BR>For a two-zone card I don't see a big advantage either way, buying it at home or in London. <BR> <BR>To me, either of these Travelcards is preferable to the daily transport cards you buy out of a machine in the tube station. Those can't be bought or used until 9:30am. Both the Travelcard and Visitor Travelcard can be used any time. <BR> <BR>

Marv: That is my point - less than 1 tourist out of a thousand needs a 6 zone travel card. The six zone card includes 5 zones the average visitor will never see. So they are paying for services they won't use. <BR> <BR>Just for a trip to Hampton Court for example - buying a 6 zone pass is wasteful. Just buy a zone 1 travel card and supplement the ticket for that one trip outside of zone 1.