erinb

hi all,

London Visitor Travelcard
London Travelcard
London Day passes
London Tube
London Metro

A message below verifying the no photo on central zones travelcards and then a previous message by anon about where to buy visitor travelcards puts a differnt spin on the question...purchase before or after arrival.

I really think this is now about personal preference. As Anon said, some people prefer to have it taken care of before they leave. of course, then we have to make sure we bring it.

I will mention that if you do pre-purchase DO NOT go thru the Raileurope site. They charge a MANDATORY $15 in S&H. I think they also give you a voucher instead of the card. This means you have to trade it in when you get to london. For me, that negates any reason for pre-purchasing.

Anon, referred me to the following site which does NOT charge S&H and sends you the actual pass:

www.ticket-on-line.com

If you are really interested in the cost/vs saving of travelcards vs day passes, and visitor travelcard see the following grid. To make sure we are comparing apples with apples, this applies to:

Central zones 1-2 only
Peak period unrestricted
Adult fares
In GBP(pounds)
n/a mean Card is not sold

----------Central 1-2 Zones------------
------London------London-----Visitor---
------Day Pass---Travelcard-TravelCard-

1 day---5.10-------n/a---------n/a-----
2 day--10.20-------n/a---------n/a-----
3 day--15.30-------n/a---------13.00---
4 day--20.40-------n/a---------16.20---
5 day--25.50-------n/a---------n/a-----
6 day--30.60-------n/a---------n/a-----
7 day--35.70-------19.60-------19.80---

--You can not buy in london any other travelcard but a 7 day, anything less and you have to buy the individual day passes or carnets(exception they do sell a weekend pass).

--The central zone visitor travelcard is sold only in 3,4 or 7 day.

--Off peak day passes saves you about a pound a day, but I found it too restricting. I usually got going around 8am each morning. Plus, this savings is only on day passes. 7 pds for 7 days still makes the travelcard less expensive.

Observations:

Clearly, if you plan on being in London 4 or more days, do not listen to anyone saying wait to buy individual day passes, its much more expensive. If you wait to buy in london and you are going to be there 4 days or more, buy the london 7 day travelcard, it is less expensive than buying 4 individual day passes. Or consider pre-buying the Visitor Travelcard.

The decision to pre-buy a Visitor Travelcard vs. waiting until you get there has now boiled down to personal preference: They cost about the same and neither requires photocards. It has boiled down to whether or not you:

-prefer to buy it ahead of time and not have to wait in line

vs.

-not having to remember to bring it

Although I have only included the Central 1-2 zone in this, the savings applies to the 1-6 zone also, in fact, the savings is much greater on day passes. There is still no real difference in price between the visitor tc and the london tc.

jsmith

Brilliant! I'm envious that I didn't do this.

erinb

Hi jsmith,

Thank you..thank you!

And did you notice I put some key words at the top so if people are searching.....

erinb

Of course it would helped if the darn searched WORKED!(AAAGGHHH!)

obxgirl

Don't cry, erinb, sometimes it takes a while for messages to be indexed. All will be OK!

Anonymous

Great summary, erin, a real public service!

An additional pass consideration for families traveling with kids under 16 is Family Travelcards, which are available on a one-day basis only (i.e., not weekly) and on weekdays only after 9:30 AM. But they can save money for people willing to bother with them, an adult pass for zones 1 & 2 is £2.70 and kids go for 80p.

Ticket-on-line.com is the official web sales site for Transport for London, the government agency that oversees all this wonderfulness.

Here's the site that provides the details and background info for the various travelcards, in case erin's summary wasn't enough for you (e.g., other zones, prices for kids):

http://www.transportforlondon.gov.uk...t_tcards.shtml

LVSue

Clear and cogent summary, Erin. Good job!

BrimhamRocks

More discussion on travelcards can be found on this thread:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34433063

arizabif

Thanks so much for posting this. There's so much differing info on travelcards. It makes it hard to sort out what is the right card for your needs. I couldn't even get a straight answer once I got to London! This will help for my next trip.

LVSue

Worth noting for someone on a truly tight budget, there is a 7-day London Travelcard (not Visitors) available for Zone 1 only for £ 16.50.

Also, there's a 7-day bus-only Zones 1-4 pass for £ 8.50 (the 1-day bus pass is £ 2).

xyz123

Also just to clarify, the only 2 important tourist spots located in zone 2 are the zoo and Greenwich. If you are planning to visit both, you are better off with the zone 1 & 2 card. If you are visiting one and not the other or neither, then the zone 1 travel card will do. If you are going to one but not the other, you buy a one zone extension as you enter. Availble now in the machines which means you can use a credit card. Costs £1 for the extension so a round trip costs £2..that is why if you are visiting both it pays to get zone 1 & 2.

One other thing that some don't realize. If you are tubing in from LHR, you still buy the appropriate card. You don't need to buy a zone 1 - 6 card. The extension from LHR with a zone 1 is £2.30; the extension with a zone 1 & 2 is £2.10.

Also, if you are buying a 1 day travelcard and tubing in from LHR, it is a pretty good bargain. You buy the zone 1 - 6 one day card for £5. Since a 1 day zone 1 & 2 costs £4.10, in effect your trip from LHR to central London costs you 90p. But if it is a weekday, you have to watch the 9:30 AM restriction. If your plane arrives early in the AM and you are using the tube into central London, it might pay to have an extra cup of coffee at the airport to wait for the 9:30 restriction to be lifted.

The family travelcards are a fantastic bargain when tubing in from LHR. The adults pay something like £3.50 for the zone 1 & 6 while the kids pay 80p and you're set for the day.

To further confuse matters, there are weekend travelcards which do not have the 9:30 restriction. If you're in London for a weekend and don't have another travelcard, you get Sunday for 50% off. So if you're spending a weekend in London and planning to tube back to LHR on Sunday, you buy the zone 1-6 weekend card for £7.50 and you're all set. Beats buying a one day zone 1 & 2 for Saturday at £4.10 and a single back to Heathrow on Sunday for £3.60.

All you have to do is do your homework and everything is crystal clear on the London Transport (thetube.com) web sites.

Anonymous

Topping for pammyjo.

erinb

hey anony,

The search found it! =D>

All you have to do is type "travelcards" and there it is!

erinb

Anonymous

I'm glad that this very handy thread shows up in the search. But it will only do that for people who think to run a search! And who know that travelcard is all one word.

Anonymous

Topping for Andie.