Pay as you go oyster

[Vespa]

I will be in London for 3 days, previously I used to get 7 days travel pass loaded onto my oyster card.

Obviously for 3 days I can't justify that, I'm just checking as I haven't done this before, I'm thinking of using it as a pay as you go for 3 days instead, my question is about the pay as you go cap.

Does this mean you can tap up to a certain amount and then its capped all day meaning after that there is no further charge on your card balance ?

How much is the daily cap and how does it last before it resets ?

Thanks

 

[jfollows]

I suggest you look at https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/tube-and-rail-fares/pay-as-you-go-caps

Contactless differs (it's better) and allows a weekly cap also, whereas Oyster doesn't have a weekly cap for train journeys. See https://www.oyster-rail.org.uk/contactless-vs-oyster/ and associated pages.

It looks like you understand the concept broadly - depending on the number of zones you travel through you will be limited to a maximum charge, but remember that this depends on the zones you travel through.

EDIT: A transaction log for my travels on January 11th. attached, note that this is contactless rather than Oyster, and you'll see that the last two trips of the day didn't cost me anything and the third from last was at a reduced fare. So I paid my daily cap of £7.20 for the zones I'd travelled through that day. (The second and third bus fares were zero because they followed on closely from the first bus trip)

 

[jfollows]

However, to put some numbers on it, assuming you go a bit bonkers and travel between zones 1 and 9 each day, your daily cap will be £18.80, or £13.30 if all your travel is off-peak.
A weekly travelcard (Zones 1-9) is £94.10, so you won't come near to this for just 3 days. Especially if you don't travel between all zones every day, in which case your daily cap will be for less than the amounts for all zones.

 

[jfollows]

How much is the daily cap and how does it last before it resets ?

Pay as you go caps

Make as many pay as you go journeys are you like using contactless or an Oyster card and we'll cap your fare

tfl.gov.uk

Daily cap
A daily cap is calculated over 24 hours for pay as you go journeys that start at 04:30 and end on 04:29 the next day.
Weekly cap
A weekly cap is calculated for journeys using contactless (card or device) or an Oyster card (bus and tram journeys only), that start on Monday and end on a Sunday.

 

[Vespa]

I'm likely to be in zone 1-2 and I've got a ENCTS concessionary pass which I can use for the bus.

 

[jfollows]

I'm likely to be in zone 1-2 and I've got a ENCTS concessionary pass which I can use for the bus.

Then you'll pay a maximum of £7.20 each day, regardless of what time you travel, which is better than a 7-day Travelcard at £36.10
Full fares table at http://content.tfl.gov.uk/adult-fares-2020.pdf

 

[jfollows]

Certain national railcards added to your Oyster card will reduce the fares and caps further, typically by 1/3 for both fares and caps. This is one main reason to prefer Oyster over contactless.

 

[Vespa]

Certain national railcards added to your Oyster card will reduce the fares and caps further, typically by 1/3 for both fares and caps. This is one main reason to prefer Oyster over contactless.

I have a disabled railcard so I could use that, do I have to go to an office or counter to have it tagged to my oyster card ?

 

[jfollows]

I have a disabled railcard so I could use that, do I have to go to an office or counter to have it tagged to my oyster card ?

National Railcard discounts

National Railcard discounts on Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth line and National Rail services

tfl.gov.uk

 

[Vespa]

Thanks I'll pop into a tube station and get it done there thanks.

 

[route101]

Just be careful touching in and out correctly , i forgot and got muddled at Cheshunt last year !