London Tube Fares Rise!
 

Just read that London's tube is now charging 3 pounds for a single ride - the shortest ride or about $5.50, making it one of the world's most expensive transit systems for single tickets. If you use an Oyster Card the ride is 1.80 pounds for the minimum ride. Thus one- three or 7-day Travelcards can result in great savings.
Travelcard details: www.tfl.co.uk (Transport for London, the name of London's transportation system - once called London Transport)

Actually the 3 pound all day bus pass good for travel in all zones is a bargain - especially for short hops around the city. I prefer the bus over the tube ever since a few years ago when i missed being on the Tube by one day during a power failure where folks were trapped for up to a few hours underground - and then the terrorists attacks didn't do much for my confidence. I love taking the tube however but find the bus more convenient for short hops, especially since going down to the deep bored tube lines often takes time and the tube is often crowded. buy bus passes at most bus stops in machines - then just flash it when boarding the bus.

There are several threads discussing this...buying single tube tickets is almost committing financial suicide...oyster cards lend a great deal of flexibility....they may or may not require a £3 deposit but the tube fare is £1.50 with an oyster card and all sorts of other possibilities.

Read the web site or do a search for oyster cards.

I was planning to write a letter to Ken Livingstone.He is the Mayor.It was his idea to raise fares on the Underground to encourage people to get an Oystercard.......But it isn't just the Tube fares.....I went in to a London theatre .....O.K.It wasn't a cheap seat that I asked for.It was £37.50!!!!!Then I wanted to order a gin and tonic for the interval."Five pounds please ".For one drink........I think that London is pricing itself out of the holiday market......Was also going to ask Ken as to why £8.00 per adult is the fee to see around St.Paul's Cathedral........If that isn't daylight robbery,I do'nt know what is......After all,It may be costly to keep it going,and cost of staff,etc.,but how do places like the British Museum manage?People just donate what they have,and it seems to be enough!!!!!

I was staying in a B&B in Greenwich in December and the landlady said Americans weren't coming like they did and Europeans as well because, she thought, of how expensive London was. And it does seem really dear to me so maybe is pricing itself out of tourist market, at least on middle to low end.

...and £2.50 for a small cup of ice cream at half time at the theatre and something like £2 for a soda...

I bring my own.

Yes, London prices are madness. The big museums are paid for by the British taxpayer and thus are free. Go to St Pauls and other churches for one of the services (5pm Evensong is a good one) and get in for free. Go by bus, get a day pass. You can get cheap tickets for the National Theatre (on the South Bank) by going directly to the box office. Often this works for other theatres too. Have a student/senior card handy. Take you own munchies if you can't manage without.

At least my B&B - clean, in a nice neighborhood a few steps from the Eltham overground rail line station with a great breakfast and nice old lady running it was just 22.50 pounds a night! But other things, like to store bags in a train station - five pounds per 24 hours per bag!

Here's another vote for the 1-day bus pass. It's now £3.50, but still a bargain compared to the Day Travelcard. I love taking the bus, and it's very convenient.

BTW, a single ride on the vaporetto in Venice down the Grand Canal is €5. The £3 single tube ride is still a "bargain" relatively speaking.

We took a day trip over from Paris (where we were on holiday) in early January. We went to a bank to exchange for pounds - gave 50 Euros and US$30. Didn't realize it until WAY after the fact (reading the receipt), but they exchanged it in two transactions, but *both* at the US$ rate. Lost money on that one.

Then we went to the aquarium by the London Eye. My gosh - that cost nearly half our money, and didn't hold a candle to the local aquarium we have in the states.

I agree - prices are outrageous. Good thing we were only there for a day trip!

BTW...

My only problem with the oyster card system is the £3 deposit required...it really does add a great deal of flexibility and it becomes a 1 day pass the instant you reach that capping level.

Use it one day and take a couple of bus rides....I think the one way bus fare on oyster is £1 (it may be 80p off peak I forget)...no need to plan ahead. If you use it 4 times, as soon as it reaches £3.50 voila no more charges piled on.

In theory, oyster is a wonderful thing as I discovered this week, it really is. But once you start venturing into under 16 oyster photocards and other things such as that, it becomes absurdly complicated.

The other bad thing is lots of homework is necessary to figure out the best fare. When my friends from London visit NYC, well the subway fares are easy to understand. $2/ride with 1 transfer from a train to a bus in a two hour period but a metrocard bought for $10 gives you 6 rides, $1.67 per ride no matter the distance. Simplicity at its fullest.

The 3£ deposit didn't bother me..I will keep the card and reuse it on future trips, usually at least 1 or 2 per year. Or turn it in and get your 3£ back. They didn't even charge a friend of mine for the deposit.

jody...

On the tfl web site last September they indicated they would no longer be making paper 7 day travelcards available on paper and that they would have to be bought with oyster. They then said for a limited time they would waive the £3 deposit...I guess September to January 13 when I bought mine with a 7 day travelcard qualifies as "limited time."

You went on a day trip to London and went to the AQUARIUM??? OMG. Instead of paying for a second rate tourist attraction, why not go to one of these FREE sites -- National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, British Museum, V&A, Imperial War Museum, Tate Britain, Tate Modern - or any of a number of other world famous sites that are free.

About St Paul's - they used to ask for a voluntary donation - but only a small fraction of visitors paid anything. So they instituted an entrance charge. Can't really blame them - all those hundreds of thousands of trippers do cause wear and tear.

Yes prices in London are expensive - but there are so many free/low cost tricks you really CAN do London as cheaply as Paris. Instead of £37.50 for a theater ticket pay £21.25 for the same ticket (TKTS 1/2 price + £2.50 booking fee). BTW even at £37.50 theatre is a bargain in London. Try getting a good seat in NYC for $65. Use Priceline to get a £250 room for $90 (Priceline is not very good for Paris - but there are many good moderately priced hotels there so you can stay cheaply w/o using PL)

There are LOTs of other ways to save money in London - you just need to do a bit of research first . . . . .

xyz123: Apparently you can still get the paper travelcards if you buy them in a train station instead of a tube station.

...but why would you want to...extension tickets are so much cheaper on oyster prepaid...

Example....with a zone 1 & 2 travelcard on paper, if you want an extension to Heathrow it costs £3 for a paper extension ticket...with oyster it's £1.80 peak hours (7 AM to 9 PM weekdays) and only £1 at other times!

I wasn't saying one SHOULD buy paper travelcards - I was only commenting re &quot;<i>they indicated they would no longer be making paper 7 day travelcards available on paper</i>

Sure seems to prove how much of a bargain public transportation is in Paris.

sorry janisj...didn't mean to be argumentative.