Hello,

I've just learned about the Oystercard, and would appreciate help in figuring out the best way to get my money's worth, as apparently I didn't learn all that well. We have 4-day BritRail FlexiPasses to cover our train travel. Figuring out how to pay for the tube is confusing to me. Here is the scenario:

- arriving at Gatwick Saturday morning, going to Redruth, Cornwall for week-long guided nature walk
- early departure from Redruth the following Saturday, head to Salisbury to see Stonehenge, then on to Kings Cross/St Pancras to get to our London hotel (our Flexipass covers above train travel). We may take the tube that evening somewhere.
- Sunday in London
- Monday and Tuesday in York (Flexipass covers this too). Return to London Tuesday evening, may use the tube that evening.
- Wed. through Sat. we'll stay put in London, leaving Kings Cross/St Pancras early on Sat. for Gatwick. All London travel for sightseeing purposes will be within Zones 1 & 2. Thank you for your help, I see the Brits have patience with us Americans in trying to figure this out, and believe me, we are grateful!

LKate

The Oyster Card figures it all out for you - gives you the cheapest option each day and caps at appropriate TravelCard price.

don't need to think about it. But get an OysterCard as without Tube trips cost 4 pounds, with 1.5 pounds. Not good on trains to Gatwick.

Pass covers train in because you are going that same day to Cornwall but wouldn't pay to use a day on the pass going back.

Southern Trains cost much less but can be crowded at some times of day.

With Oyster Card i really think you don't have to think - you get the cheapest overall price for your travels on Tubes and buses.

Not a problem and quite easy...

The first time you use the tube, Saturday and Kings Cross, buy an oyster card and put say £20 on it...you will get £17 worth of service and a £3 deposit...use the card to your heart's content....the computer will automatically deduct the proper fare up to a cap far less than if you paid cash. Example...that first trip to your hotel on Saturday from Kings Cross, pay cash and it costs £4 for a single ticket, a total rip off but that's the way tfl makes money on unsuspecting tourists...buy the oyster card noted above and the same trip deducts £1.50 from your balance.

Some time when you get back to London, use one of the machines to check your balance...if it starts running out, you can top it up easily either at a machine or at the booking office.....when you depart from Victoria back to Gatwick on the Gatwick Express, you can if you want request a refund of whatever is left on the card as well as the 3 quid deposit or simply hold onto it for future trips to London as it retains its validity forever.

The beauty of the card is its flexibility...on those days you may only use the tube for one return trip, it will only cost you 3 quid...on those days you take four or five bus trips, it will cap at £3 which is 50p less than the price of a one day bus pass...the daily fare will always cap at the cheapest travelcard available on paper less 50p so if you don't have the card and it costs £5.10 for an off peak travelcard, when your expenditures for the day reach £4.60, the clock stops running so to speak (remember the off peak travelcard requires no use of London transit before 0930 on weekdays)...you don't have to make plans in advance, you don't have to decide on a particular day you need a one day travelcard, or you need a one day bus pass. Just touch in on the bus, just touch in and out on the tube and the tfl computer compues the best and lowest price for you.

It's really easy and totally flexible and not something you have to worry about in the slightest after you purchase the card!

Whatever you do, don't pay cash per single ride.

For your first arrival, since you'll be there over parts of three days but only one whole day, Oyster pay-as-you-go is the obvious choice.

It might pay you to put a 7-day travelcard on to the Oyster for your second period in London, even though you'll be staying four days (plus a bit of two others). The advantage of a travelcard over PAYG is that it includes bus travel outside the zones you've paid for, and you get one third off a boat ride (which you don't get with PAYG). A 7-day card costs the same as fifteen tube rides throughout the Tues-Sat, or five times the maximum daily cap on PAYG. If you think you'll be making less use of the system than that, then PAYG would be the obvious choice, but there's not a lot in it.

LKate,

Since it looks like you'll be staying near King's Cross/St. Pancras, I suggest that you take a first Capital Connect train directly from King's Cross Thameslink to Gatwick The fare is only £8.90, much cheaper than the Gatwick Express.

<<< The advantage of a travelcard over PAYG is that >>>

it allows you to use the offers on www.2for1entry.co.uk

Seconding AlanRow: Even though I will only be in London for three whole days (and two half days), I've decided to get a 7-day travelcard loaded on an Oyster to take advantage of the 2 for 1 offers. I figure we will save about 25 GBP on three attractions alone (Tower of London, Cabinet War Rooms, Shakespeare's Globe) so that definitely makes it worthwhile for us.

Thanks to each of you for your help. I am now well-informed, and learning about the 2-for-1 deals that come with the 7-day travelcard (loaded on Oyster) has sealed my decision.

Tim - Thanks for the info about the cheaper train to Gatwick. I'll definitely consider doing that. I'm assuming it's a slower train to Gatwick than the Express, hence the lower price?

LKate

LKate - The ride from King's Cross Thameslink to Gatwick takes 45 minutes, faster than the time it would take you to get from the King's Cross area to Victoria on the tube an then on to Gatwick on the GEX. Trains run every 15 minutes.

Just to build confidence in the system, I have avoided getting an Oyster Card the past few trips to London as it just seemed too complicated. But as mentioned above, it does all the figuring for you. This last trip for 10 days in London, we finally purchased Oyster Cards at Heathrow and started with 12 pounds (plus the 3 deposit) on each. We only topped them up once for 5 more pounds each. We rode went we wanted to and never had to worry about the "best" way to load them. Seven day travelcards are not practical for us, however, as we simply don't use public transporation that much.
Now I am totally confident in the system.
Incidentally, to my surprise I found that I could keep my Oyster right inside my wallet, and the reader reads it right through the leather when I touch my wallet to it. Much easier than fumbling to get a card out and put it away all the time.

<<< Seven day travelcards are not practical for us, however, as we simply don't use public transporation that much. >>>

They become practical if you need 4 or more days travel in the 7 days - and even if you are going out of London the rest of the time the odds are that you need to take a bus or Tube to get to the pickup point

I guess I don't get your point, Alan. If you used an Oyster just once on four different days in a one week period, it would cost you 6 pounds total. Are you saying the cost of a 7 day travelcard loaded on an Oyster is LESS than 6 pounds? Or are you saying if you were making numerous trips on four of the days, THEN it would be worth it?
Since we each spent less than 14 pounds total in 10 days, I think we made the right decision. No?

Most people use public transport multiple times in a day - out to a sight, back to hotel, out in the evening back to the hotel.

PAYG Oyster is really only worth it if you travel less than 3 times a day on the Tube

Compared to zone 1-2 one day cards (£6.60 peak, £5.10 off peak) the break even point for a 7 day card is around the 4 day mark

For PAYG using it to it's cap then it becomes 5 days for the 7 day card to become worthwhile.

you can do the maths from www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/travelcard.htm

OK, that's why I said it isn't right for us. Rarely do we do more than two trips on the tube in any day. Many days we don't use it at all. I guess that's because we stay very central to most of what we do (Covent Garden) and walk a great deal otherwise. One day this trip we did go into a one day travelcard mode -- 4 times that day (on a Sunday, no less), but otherwise I don't recall any other day when we used it more than twice.

Thanks for the explanation, Tim. Thameslink to Gatwick it will be...
LKate

Let's see...5 days payg to the cap of £4.60 would be £23...7 day travelcard £23.20..well since 7 day travelcard is good before 0930, perhaps a little bit of a standoff...but then the question becomes are there any days you might only take one return trip...instead of spending £4.60 that day, you spend £3....are there days you only use the bus...you cap at £3....so 5 days is pretty much a stand off.....6 days probably make 7 day card a better value.