Alternative Options for Tourists when Travelcards are Withdrawn

[BigB]

Moderator Note - split from:

TfL proposes to withdraw Day Travelcards

A consultation has just launched on the TfL website into a proposal to withdraw One Day Travelcards; this would affect both inboundary and outboundary versions. We are exploring the option of withdrawing Day Travelcards. If withdrawn, Day Travelcards would no longer be sold or accepted by...

www.railforums.co.uk

So, back to Travelcards.... apologies if it's been covered in the last 1000 posts as I've not read them all, but the concept of PAYG with contactless for foreign tourists will cost a lot more as they need to pay a fee per £ transaction on their cards.
The ability to buy a day Travelcard and add to an oyster card would be the logical thing? TFL get the money up front, and if not all used then happy days.

 

[Hadders]

So, back to Travelcards.... apologies if it's been covered in the last 1000 posts as I've not read them all, but the concept of PAYG with contactless for foreign tourists will cost a lot more as they need to pay a fee per £ transaction on their cards.
The ability to buy a day Travelcard and add to an oyster card would be the logical thing? TFL get the money up front, and if not all used then happy days.

TfL consolidate daily fares with one transaction per day being charged.

 

[johncrossley]

but the concept of PAYG with contactless for foreign tourists will cost a lot more as they need to pay a fee per £ transaction on their cards.

TfL charge once per day and in any case they should have a card which charges only a percentage and not a fixed fee per transaction. Ideally they would have a good value card that doesn't even charge the percentage. Residents of the EU, EEA, Switzerland, USA and Japan at the very least have access to such cards in their home markets. There are undoubtedly cards which don't charge fixed fees per transaction in many other countries and if not they can get a prepaid card in the UK. If they have a card that does charge a fixed fee per transaction then whose fault is that if there are alternatives? If they have a card that charges a fixed fee per transaction then they are already throwing money away on all the other card transactions they make while they are abroad.

 

[Haywain]

If they have a card that does charge a fixed fee per transaction

Then they will be better off using PAYG Oyster, and paying the deposit.

 

[fandroid]

There are prepaid cards that will hold money in various currencies in the account that backs them up, and I'm sure that these can be set up as virtual cards, ie only existing on a smartphone. It's different, but it's actually very convenient once mastered. Why anyone nowadays pays a transaction fee (or a skewed exchange rate) on small foreign currency transactions baffles me. Banks take enough of our cash already. Don't let them get away with it!

 

[jon81uk]

there are plenty of other businesses in London that are card payment only, I would always advise a visiting tourist to get a card that doesn’t charge fees for international payments. I’ve got one myself for when I go to the USA.

 

[RJ]

There are prepaid cards that will hold money in various currencies in the account that backs them up, and I'm sure that these can be set up as virtual cards, ie only existing on a smartphone. It's different, but it's actually very convenient once mastered. Why anyone nowadays pays a transaction fee (or a skewed exchange rate) on small foreign currency transactions baffles me. Banks take enough of our cash already. Don't let them get away with it!

Not everyone wants to play the system to save money. There are a lot of people out there who only want one account and will pay those fees for the convenience of keeping things simple.

 

[johncrossley]

Not everyone wants to play the system to save money. There are a lot of people out there who only want one account and will pay those fees for the convenience of keeping things simple.

That's fine, but then they shouldn't complain when they have to pay excessive charges. Certainly within most of Europe there are now quite a few good value bank accounts that do more or less everything that most people need and after switching no other account is required.

 

[RJ]

That's fine, but then they shouldn't complain when they have to pay excessive charges. Certainly within most of Europe there are now quite a few good value bank accounts that do more or less everything that most people need and after switching no other account is required.

People will complain but then pay anyway - that’s up to them. They put a higher value on convenience.

 

[johncrossley]

People will complain but then pay anyway - that’s up to them. They put a higher value on convenience.

If they switch banks then they will still only have one bank. So the level of convenience is the same once the switch has been made. There is of course inertia/laziness/fear etc. preventing the switch but convenience isn't the right word to describe that.

 

[stuu]

Then they will be better off using PAYG Oyster, and paying the deposit.

With what? Withdrawing cash usually incurs a fee as well, changing cash between currencies isn't free either

 

[Haywain]

With what? Withdrawing cash usually incurs a fee as well, changing cash between currencies isn't free either

Well, if they are tourists they are going to have to figure out some way of spending money, aren't they?

 

[Feuillesmortes]

Is it still the case that a week Travelcard gets you a Oyster for free?

 

[stuu]

Well, if they are tourists they are going to have to figure out some way of spending money, aren't they?

Yes, so I don't understand why buying an Oystercard and putting money on it is any better than using contactless

 

[K.o.R]

Yes, so I don't understand why buying an Oystercard and putting money on it is any better than using contactless

Well if they are going to be hit with a charge for using their card, better to make one transaction of topping up an Oyster than one daily PAYG transaction (though even then, the Oyster deposit is almost certainly going to be more than the transaction charges).

 

[Vespa]

We should be making is easier for visitors not making it difficult and putting people off visiting London.

We've already lost a significant number to Europe especially the big spenders because we've scrapped tax refunds on product brought by tourists.

 

[stuu]

Well if they are going to be hit with a charge for using their card, better to make one transaction of topping up an Oyster than one daily PAYG transaction (though even then, the Oyster deposit is almost certainly going to be more than the transaction charges).

Most cards charge a percentage of the transaction, so it shouldn't make any difference to their total costs

 

[skyhigh]

We should be making is easier for visitors not making it difficult and putting people off visiting London.

Somehow I don't think there's much easier than just tapping with contactless. I imagine the % of tourists who actually go out their way to buy a paper Travelcard is tiny.

 

[James H]

For all-adult tourist groups contactless is great.

As soon as you have a group that includes children not usually resident in London (ie without a Zip card) travelling with kids soon becomes VERY complicated. And expensive if you don't know your way round the rules.

They really need to come up with a better solution for child ticketing.

 

[Hadders]

Somehow I don't think there's much easier than just tapping with contactless. I imagine the % of tourists who actually go out their way to buy a paper Travelcard is tiny.

I agree. I wish Paris did contactless, it would be so much more convenient.

When I'm in unfamiliar places I have two main priorities:

1. Have I got a valid ticket?
2. How easy is it to buy?

Cost only becomes a factor once the other two conditions are satisfied, and even then it's a minor consideration for me unless I'm going to be making a large number of journeys.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I agree. I wish Paris did contactless, it would be so much more convenient.

They do? The Navigo.

 

[James H]

I think Hadders means London style contactless where no special product is needed and you can just use an ordinary bank card.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Ah, right...

 

[30907]

I think Hadders means London style contactless where no special product is needed and you can just use an ordinary bank card.

Seems to be pretty rare - I've only found Bergen that does it.

 

[James H]

Renfe now offers it on some cercanias networks.

 

[Hadders]

I think Hadders means London style contactless where no special product is needed and you can just use an ordinary bank card.

That's right! Last time I was in Paris I was making a connection between Gare Du Nord and Gare de Lyon. Contactless would be perfect for this type of journey but I had to queue up (in a huge queue) to purchase a ticket from a ticket machine.

Despite what we might sometimes think London really does do this sort of thing very well with contactless.

 

[fandroid]

Seems to be pretty rare - I've only found Bergen that does it.

And just the whole of the Netherlands!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Aug 2023 ==

I'll admit that I do a lot of short journeys into various countries in Europe, so became ultra aware of things like fees on cash withdrawals and, worse in my opinion, rip-off exchange rates. There's plenty of advice online as to ways of minimising those transaction costs. I have a cash card that I can top up online and on the go from my normal bank account so, as long as there's money in my main account, I'm fine. It charges no fee and gives me the interbank exchange rate at the time of the transaction. So no ripoff exchange rate either.

It's hardly a complication to my affairs any more than holding a current account and a separate credit card account is complicated. As it's a cash card, I can always control how much any thief could get if I lost it.

That's why I'm baffled at people who willingly chuck money at banks simply because they haven't done any research before travelling abroad.

 

[jon81uk]

I think Hadders means London style contactless where no special product is needed and you can just use an ordinary bank card.

Seems to be pretty rare - I've only found Bergen that does it.

We were in Antwerp and used a contactless bank card to tap in our their underground tram. Seemed to have two different readers though for contactless and their Oyster equivalent.

 

[trainJam]

Will the bus and tram pass still exist? Could be an option.

Although that won't allow travel on tube.

 

[Haywain]

Will the bus and tram pass still exist? Could be an option.

It still has to be paid for, so there's no advantage over contactless or Oyster.