London: Oyster, 2For1, Travel Card--Help!
 

Hello, I have read many threads here and websites (National Rail, Days Out) but feel like I am trapped in one of those math problems that starts “If two trains leave the station at the same time . . . “ which always confounded me in school. I was set to print vouchers for the 2 For 1 offers until I saw that the vouchers to places we would like to visit expire April 30, 2016. DH and will visit London in May. Will the website have new offerings in May or are 2 For 1 offers not available for high season? We are interested in visiting St. Paul's, Kew Gardens, the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey.

If we don't need to purchase the paper Travel Card when we arrive at St. Pancras (no 2 For 1 offers that we want to use) is it best to purchase Oyster cards and load with the 7-day Travel Card? We will be in London 9 full days and anticipate using the Underground most days.

Thanks for your help, Scootoir

Ah Scoot, I get what you're saying and I feel your pain.

One thing I do think I know is that 2 for 1 offers will be updated. At least I've seen that in the past.

We will also be in London in May so I've been looking, too.

And to piggyback, if you don't mind:

We are arriving in London by train from Macclesfield. I can't quite figure out if our train ticket will get us 2 for 1 offers.

We will be in London for 4 nights, and I thought with the train ticket, I could just load some money on our Oysters. I don't want to block myself from any 2 for 1 offers but I don't think I need a paper travelcard. I think.

Piggyback away tuscanlifeedit--let's hope others can help us. I will watch for updates on the 2 For 1 offers, thanks for that info.

Hi
It was confusing to me too!
My 21 yr old daughter and I were in London back in jan 2014
We bit the bullet
Didn't do the sums lol but we are ok about it!
We spent a small fortune doing a hop on/ off bus thing the first day..no regrets

We bought the two for one and it was good I think...expensive but we were there for nine days and we got a two for one deal for the tower so that helped
We could've been a lot smarter I'm sure
We also went out to a big shopping centre in the outlying districts and the two for one was not included ..it only covers the immediate more touristy zone but the ticket master felt sorry for us and let us through..l saved us about 18 pounds and that's a lot for Aussies with their pathetic dollar!


You don't have to print out vouchers...they give you a booklet with all the offers ...at least that's how it worked in 2014


Look.. Unless you're obsessed with deals and dollars it won't matter
London is the boss of cities in my opinion...and I was cynical on my first trip being from Sydney and think oh so erroneously it'd be all like oz...how wrong and how humbled I was!
We r going back...it will be my third visit and I'm in love with London...
Love New York too but londons history is what has our hearts!

Just go and do everything you want ..! You won't regret anything!

In the past 90% of the Days Out offers have renewed for the high/summer season. But a few are only for the off season and won't be good between May and October. Just wait a couple of weeks and the new/updated vouchers should be printable.

Don't know if you've already read this:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Travel...p.By.Step.html

It may answer some of your questions.

<i>We bought the two for one and it was good I think...expensive </i>

You don't buy 2-4-1, it's an offer. What you buy is a 7 day Travelcard from a National Rail ticket office which gives you travel on all Tube & train services within it's zones of validity (HEX & HEC to/from Heathrow excluded), bus services throughout London, tram travel throughout London and a one third discount on the Thames ferries.

You can then use that to get the offers. As you need to pay somehow for transport around London it can hardly be said to be "expensive".

lanejohann : >>We bought the two for one and it was good I think...expensive <<

Oh -- I missed that bit. dotheboyshall is right, you didn't 'buy' the 2for1's.

>>We also went out to a big shopping centre in the outlying districts and the two for one was not included ..it only covers the immediate more touristy zone<<

I don't get what you mean - it sounds like you are mixing up the 2for1's (or London Pass or what ever you bought) and your actual transport pass/ticket. If your transport only covered the 'central touristy zone' then you only had a zone 1 and 2 travelcard. Nothing to do with what attractions/sites are covered.

Thanks janisj, good to know about the 2 for 1 offers, I will continue to watch them.

Hooameye--I have read that and it was helpful clarifying the need for the photos, thanks.

I am still unclear about what to purchase to ride the tube and buses for all of our 9-day visit, perhaps you can help with these questions:

If the 2 for 1 vouchers are available we will purchase the paper travel card on the day we arrive at St. Pancras. That is good for 7 days, correct? What do you recommend for our final 2 days?

If there are no 2 For 1 offers for the places we want to visit shall we purchase Oyster cards and load them with the travel card? (No photo needed for Oyster)

I really appreciate your help with this.

>>What do you recommend for our final 2 days?<<

Get Oystercards with £15 pay-as-you-go money on each - but keep an eye on whether you need to top them up on the second day.

>>If there are no 2 For 1 offers for the places we want to visit shall we purchase Oyster cards and load them with the travel card? <<

Yes.

and . . . you would load both the seven day zone 1-2 travelcard AND the extra PAYG ££ on the same Oyster card (at the same time or top it up later)

oops meant to add -- you might want a little additional PAYG to use during the seven days for any trips out of zones 1 - 2. Like to Hampton Court Palace or in from LHR or whatever. But you can start out w/ the £15 and then you can always top it up later.

Scoot our I thought I had it all figured out...now I can't find the great website I was on that explained it all...
So the 2-4-1 is only available for the 7 day travel card, have I got that right? We will be there only 3 days...

Sundriedtopepo--If you find that website please post it. I thought they no longer offere a 3-day travel card but someone else will have to answer that. We were looking at a longer stay so I did not pay close attention to less than a week.

If there are only 1-day and 7-day travel cards perhaps with enough 2 for 1 discounts the cost of the 7-day could be worth it. Or 3 1-day cards might be the way to go when you do the calculations.

There is no 3 day pass anymore, only 1 and 7 day passes

dotheboyshall--Your screen name just dawned on me. Loved the book and the play.

I've skimmed thru several times and did not see what happens if you have left over money on your Oyster Card - if not coming back to London I assume you can easily refund it upon leaving - any service fees or hoops to go thru doing this?

Thanks in advance.

PalenQ, I have read that we are able to get a refund of what's left on the Oyster card in an Underground station. I understand that they do not expire so if one travels to London regularly you can just keep it until your next trip. Perhaps someone who has done this will confirm.

that's my understanding too but I vaguely remember reading about some problems with the refund being so easy?

PQ I read that you can get a refund for the balance plus the $5 deposit. No refund if you have the Visitor Oyster though.

So then we do not want a Visitor Oyster?

>>So the 2-4-1 is only available for the 7 day travel card, have I got that right? <<

Nope . . . it is available with <i>any</i> paper rail ticket. So that can be a train ticket in to London, a one day paper ticket for transit in London, or a 7-day travelcard. The thing isn't the length -- it is that it be a PAPER ticket w/ the National Rail logo on it and valid on the day you are using the 2for1.

So if you are there 3 days -- and IF you want to use the 2 for 1's you would need paper travel cards fore each day.

This is harder than it ought to be.

We have Oyster cards. We plan to use them on a Pay as you go basis.

Do these cards actually automatically stop taking out money after you hit £6.50 per day? They read the card by date or time? Really?

Yep -- Oysters are geniuses :)

On PAYG the system stops deducting £ once you've hit the daily cap

OK, I'm way better off tonight than I was earlier today.

I now know that with my rail ticket I can use 2 for 1 offers only on the date of my ticket (it's one way to London) and that PAYG is a great bargain.

Thanks thanks thanks.

You might not believe this but I've been to London with my Oyster card a few times, as well as paper travelcards.

Janisj Thanks for the help.

>>Do these cards actually automatically stop taking out money after you hit £6.50 per day? They read the card by date or time? Really?<<

Yes. It's has a little RFID chip on it that records what value you have on it, when you entered the system and exited, and calculates (either itself or through the central computer connected to the reader, I don't know which) what to do with that information: including charging a maximum fare if somehow you've managed to get in or out of the system without having your card checked - that's why they keep reminding you "Always touch in and touch out".

The system can now also charge PAYG fares to contactless debit and credit cards, so if you have any of those you should keep them separate from the Oyster to avoid any confusion.

You can get your money back on an Oyster card. There are refund machines at stations - we used the one at Tottenham court Road - refund in cash .

^^"PQ I read that you can get a refund for the balance plus the $5 deposit. No refund if you have the Visitor Oyster though."

Where did you read that? You CAN get a refund on the Visitor Oyster un-used value, but there is no deposit on the VO so no deposit refund. (You do pay a non-refundable "activation fee" for the pleasure of having the VO.) So, no advantage to getting one that I can see.

Perhaps things have changed?

"Perhaps things have changed?"

No they haven't, £5 refundable deposit on normal oyster card + unused fare (up to £10 in cash but I've heard if it's more than than that you get a £ cheque). On a visitor card, you just get the unused fare back.

^^"PQ I read that you can get a refund for the balance plus the $5 deposit. No refund if you have the Visitor Oyster though."

Where did you read that? <<

Not sure, I think I'm going cross eyed from reading too much. :)
Of course, it is the 3Euro activation fee that is not refundable on the Visitor Oyster, but any unused fare is refundable.

So, is it a good idea to buy the Oyster card at Heathrow, and use it for the tube to get into London, or just buy a separate fare for that portion? Does Oyster calculate the max daily fare for a zone 1-6 for that one day?

>>So, is it a good idea to buy the Oyster card at Heathrow, and use it for the tube to get into London, or just buy a separate fare for that portion?<<

Same thing. You won't get a ticket in any other form.

It depends what other values you want to hold and whether you want to hold them on the Oyster.

If you're planning to get a travelcard on the Oyster, get that, and then put some additional PAYG money on it to cover the add-on fare into the zones you're getting the travelcard for.

If you're planning on getting a National Rail paper travelcard for the 2for1s, just put some PAYG money on the Oyster card. If memory serves, the machines will offer you options for the different ticket types.

Ah thank you Patrick that brings it all together.

This was really helpful everyone and I have a plan for Oyster, 2 for 1, PAYG, buses & tubes for our trip to London and Bath next month.

OK -- >> I have a plan for Oyster, 2 for 1, PAYG, buses & tubes<< . . . You mention everything <i>except</i> the <u>paper</u> travelcard you need to get the 2for1's

Yes--the PAPER travelcard! I will be checking if 2for1 is available for our desired sights in May. Thanks Janisj!

Janisj I have added paper travelcards to my to do list when we arrive at Paddington.

This is the first mention of Paddington -- I thought you were arriving at St Pancras.

Paper travelcards can be bought at both stations - but just in case, there is no need to go to Paddington to pick up your travelcards.

We have 3 train trips to make during our time in London and I mixed up the stations. I just checked our tickets from Bath and we arrive at Paddington. Trips later in the week will be from St. Pancras and Euston.