Best value ticket in london

[1874]

hi, wife is of to London in January, could anyone suggest best/cheapest ticket for underground..she will be there for no more than 24 hours..arrives Euston, hotel Covent Garden. Thanks for any replies.

 

[RJ]

Has she got a contactless payment card? That would be the cheapest way to Travel.

If she just wants a ticket with no further hassle a Travelcard is £12.70 if travelling only after 09:30.

 

[1874]

Thanks for reply, do you swipe on way in and way out of stations.

 

[maniacmartin]

Yes, you do. Just put the contactless bank card on the yellow readers. Make sure she uses the same card for all travel during the whole visit to London.

 

[Bensonby]

If she’s in good health, doesn’t have much luggage, and it’s a nice day then she could walk it. It would take about 25 minutes through Bloomsbury which is pretty pleasant.

 

[gazthomas]

£1.50 for a bus trip

 

[IceAgeComing]

Contactless is by far the cheapest way: you just tap in and it automatically works out the cheapest fare at the end of the day and charges you that. To give a quick explanation of Londons fare systems: each station is allocated in a certain Zone and you get charged on the Zones that you travel through: and there's a cap which is the Maximum that you'll be charged (assuming that she stays in Central London that's £6.80/day for Zones 1-2) no matter how many individual journeys you take which also includes Bus travel as well if she'll be using them. There are a few rules in that you have to make sure that you tap out when you arrive and leave a station - that shouldn't be a problem in Central London on the Underground since she'll have to go through the barriers anyway but in some of the outer stations (like if she plans to go to somewhere like Greenwich) you need to find a validator and scan your card otherwise you'll get charged a Maximum fare which is a lot of money.

If that isn't an option then I'm pretty sure that getting an Oyster card and buying a pair of one day travel cards (or enough PAYG credit to cover the trips you make) works out cheaper than getting a paper travel card, at least if she's sure that she'll stay in the Centre of London. The cheaper Paper travel card you can get is zones 1-4 which is £12.70 (for reference the Oyster cap for this is £9.80 so significantly less and that's true of all paper tickets in London) while if your wife is only interested in the centre of London then the Oyster zone 1-2 Daily cap is £6.80 - factor in the £3 Oyster deposit which is refundable as is any unused credit then that would save you a fair bit of money if you're willing to deal with a little hassle in getting that refund. I don't think that there's really any reason for anyone to get a paper ticket on the Underground anymore unless you don't have a contactless card and need to make a single journey across London which isn't included in a separate railway ticket: for pretty much everything else its cheaper to just get an Oyster card and deal with that.

 

[Hadders]

£1.50 for a bus trip

Worth pointing out that you cannot pay with cash on London Buses. Contactless, Oyster, ENCTS card or a paper Travelcard only

 

[Deerfold]

The cheaper Paper travel card you can get is zones 1-4 which is £12.70 (for reference the Oyster cap for this is £9.80 so significantly less and that's true of all paper tickets in London) while if your wife is only interested in the centre of London then the Oyster zone 1-2 Daily cap is £6.80 - factor in the £3 Oyster deposit which is refundable as is any unused credit then that would save you a fair bit of money if you're willing to deal with a little hassle in getting that refund.

Oyster deposit has been £5 for several years now.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/buying-tickets-and-oyster