needsnow

I think I have finally figured this out - I don't know why it is difficult for me, but I am not alone I see. So many reasonably intelligent people have the same problems making sense of all the options available for transportation.

Here goes:
Family of 4, in London for 9 full days Aug 1- 10(with the travel in- and-out days on the bookends, July 31 and Aug 11).

Will get 2 PAYG Oyster Cards, for husband and me; 1 5-15 photocard for 14-yr-old son so he can travel for free; and 1 16+ photocard for 16-yr-old daughter so she can ride at a discount.

My question is this: Will the 16+ photocard allow us the option of getting a refund for money not used on her card? I don't see that info on the Oyster website. Are the photocards PAYG too?

Another question..and don't laugh.. If we want to take trips outside of London, to Bath and Windsor and Warwick, we will still need a Brit Rail Pass too I would think? Correct.. that makes sense, esp. the Party Pass?

And it would make sense to get our PAYG Oyster, and then to also get out 1-day Travelcards when we want to take advantage of 2-fers?

How'd I do?

needsnow

Oh, here I am, on my knees, not too proud to be begging for responses from you wise and experienced Fodorites. Please let me know if my plans for transportation using the oyster card are okay? Have I informed myself well? Am I getting the most out of the system that I can, so we can travel smartly and budget-wise?

MademoiselleFifi

Why not get the 7-day paper Travelcards for the middle 7 days?

texasbookworm

We're about to be in London for 14 full days, with at least 5 days scattered throughout on which we will take train (with BritRailEngland passes) or bus for day trips.

Our plan, somewhat like yours, is to buy the Oyster for most days. It will be more economical than a 7-day (or 1 day or 3 day) travel card because there are many days when we won't ride much, probably, maybe just one or two trips (London is a walking city). Plus since we, like you, will be taking several day trips, the 7-day-in-a-row card might not make sense (still gotta get to train stations, via tube, probably, but that won't cost as much using Oyster as pre-paid day on a travel card). We will go to a train station at least twice to purchase a one-day card so we can use 2for1 vouchers.

So my point is that the travel cards aren't really always the best deal except when combined with the 2for1 offers and sometimes not even then (e.g., we may not mess with making an out-of-the-way stop at a train station to get a one day card on the day we go to Westminster Abbey, which we have a voucher for, because in the long run we might only save about $4, when you compute cost of admissions and cost of travel. But on the Tower of London and Greenwich days, we will for sure make the effort because our savings will be significant.)

So I think your plan makes sense.

scotlib

Hi needsnow, I have not used the Oyster, but I have seen several threads lately, some quite lengthy; hopefully, you would find some useful info on them.

Do try the search this forum box. You can get some different search results using different terms. Try both oyster and oystercard

Cheers!

Robespierre

I think a good idea is to spreadsheet your planned perambulations - including single rides to and from train stations) and add up the single Oyster fares for each day (remember to "cap" each day's total at the cost of a 1-day Travelcard, minus 50p).

Add up the numbers. If the totals add up to less than a Travelcard - taking into account any 2fer savings with a Travelcard - then PAYG.

Remember that the LHR and LGW Express (and I guess Connect) tickets are valid ID for 2fers.

pirouette

Our family of four is presently in London-two adults and two teenagers 14 and 17. We have been here for 10 days. We got 7 day paper travel cards for the 17 year old and us.Our 14 year old travelled as an accompanying minor for 1 pound a day. We did this to take advantage of the 2 for one offers that are only available through the paper travel card. It has worked well for us- we used the offers at Kensington Palace, Chelsea Stadium and the Cabinet War Rooms. There were lots of other offers available that we didn't pursue due to other commitments. This has worked very well for us.

twoflower

"Oyster card finally making sense?" - I'm looking forward to it finally making sense to me, that's for sure!

Last week I got on their website with firm intention to pre-order a couple of Oyster Cards. The signs were encouraging - the product I was quoted for was called a "Visitor" Oyster Card, it gave me the whole world to choose from in the dropdown menu for my address, and it even contained a promotional blurb about the benefits of pre-ordering and getting it sent to you anywhere in the world so that you are all "ready to go" with it when you arrive in London.

But before I clicked to confirm my order, a notice appears on the screen saying "Important Note before proceeding: Oyster Card is only available to UK residents and at UK addresses". This totally contradicts everything else that went before! What's going on?

Merseyheart

I suggest doing what I did: upon my first visit to a tube station, I went up to the clerk, and said: I'll be in town for seven days, traveling mostly in zones one and two, how much do I owe you? I handed him my Oyster card (from a previous trip) and a credit card, and he put about 25 GBP on it. That amount actually lasted over a week. (When I tried to "top off" the card, the clerk told me I had enough on the card).

Sometimes doing things on-line isn't always the easiest way.

needsnow

Thanks everyone - begging sometimes doesn't hurt.I appreciate every single response.

Mademoiselle Fifi-About the travel cards, it seems those are only good for consecutive travel days and what you don't use, you have to "eat" whereas the PAYG Oyster Card allows you to get a refund for the amount you don't use, plus there is no stipulation about traveling on consecutive days. It is much more flexible and forgiving. At least , the way I understand it.

TexasBookworm: What does the Brit Rail Pass serve that the Oyster Card doesn't? Just outlying towns, correct? Are you going for for the -flexi-pass, consecutive day passes, party passes?

Scotlib- you're right, there are so many threads on the Oyster vs. travel cards. Just goes to show that everyone has trouble figuring out the best choices for themselves. I'll keep perusing.

Robespierre - I plan to do what you suggested..add everything up to see what comes out ahead. My husband thinks I am obsessing but it truly is the only way to figure things out. We don't plan to take the Gatwick Express arriving into London because we will be hiring a car to meet us to take us to Peckham (Nunhead) as it works out cheaper, so can't take advantage of their 2-fers.

Pirouette - Are you having fun? Is it crowded everywhere? I've heard this is a light tourist season and lines aren't as long. Let me ask you though - why didn't you get the PAYG Oyster - is it because you knew you were going to be using the transportation system 7 consecutive days, or was it solely for the 2-fers?

Twoflower- I experienced that kind of confusion on the Oyster website as well. If you log onto Rick Steves' website there is a section for people confused about the rail system in Britian, and you can email someone for help on his website, and "experts" answer your questions about Oyster vs. paper, etc. Maybe that will help. The answer I got to my question wasn't very in-depth, but then maybe my question wasn't very well-thought out.
But it is worth a try. It is very complicated because there are so many choices. Don't lose faith, it'll all come together for you soon.

Visitors do have to buy the Oysters at a participating station, but you can pre-order photocards for your kids so they travel at a deep discount, or free, but I just can't figure out if their cards have the PAYG option. I don't want to put a lot of money on the kids' cards to then realize we won't use them as much and I can't get it back. Better then to get the regular Oyster for them too.

Merseyheart - it does help to be in front of a live-person I think, an expert, when you get your card. I agree online is very confusing. I will need the online site though to order the kids' photocards.

Is there anyone out there who ordered photocards, used them and wants to comment?

MademoiselleFifi

re: <<to be in front of a live-person I think, an expert>>

Never expect station agents to be experts!

janisj

MmeFifi: The TFL agents in the tube stations sell oysters/tickets all day, every single day, and they do know what the best ticket/fare/oyster options are . . . . . .

texasbookworm

Hi,
To respond to your question to me about railpasses: We got a great value on a bandb in London if we stayed 14 consecutive nights, so we opted to do that and see outside of London via train or bus (got seriously convinced not to drive this trip). So I weighed all the options and picked a 4-day flex BritRailEngland pass because we had 5 destinations planned, but Oxford is cheaper to get to via a bus (and about as fast and lands us near Lewis's house, so---), so the pass gets us to our other 4 places.

We are planning trips to Dover, Salisbury, Chatsworth House via Chesterfield and Silverstone Racetrack via Northampton (these last 2 are a bit crazy but we're gonna try it!) To me (and I did read lots of opinions) the Pass has the advantage of our being able to travel any time of the day, and we plan to travel very early, during peak times, so lowest price tickets wouldn't have helped us. And while I have a "schedule" of when we will go, if weather or something changes our minds, we're pretty flexible; pre-buying cheapest rail tickets locks you in to a certain day (and time). And we don't know when we'll be ready to leave our destinations so flex at the end of the day is important, too.

So the probable slight extra cost of the RailPass is definitely offset for us by its flexibility.

(At least that's my plan/reasoning; living in south Texas means we have NO experience with trains so we'll see how it goes!)

MademoiselleFifi

JanisJ,
Not the ones at Finsbury Park.

MademoiselleFifi

Also, even when they know what would be the best deal for you, it doesn't mean they'll tell you-- the RATP people in Paris usually try to push the Paris Visite rip-off on tourists.

janisj

I have never had a tfl agent try to "over sell" me. They are not always the most polite/friendly - but in my experience, they usually do know their business.

Robespierre

I think the RATP agents push the <i>Paris Visite</i> because a) it's easy for them, and b) it's easy for the visitor (without getting into days-of-validity and other arcana).

Like service personnel in any industry, both TfL and RATP agents are, for the most part, friendly and co-operative. And a few are stinkers.