Student in London

Ways to save: Travelcards & Oystercards

Apologies: There are some font size problems. I'm no HTML programmer so I blame Blogspot's flawed rich text editor 100% for this.

Travelcards
Travelcards come in useful if you plan take multiple forms of public transport in a short period.
Picture of Travelcard (1 day, Zones 1-6, Off-Peak).

A travelcard can be valid from a day to a year, depending on the kind you pick. You can also pick which of the 6 zones that you want your travelcard to cover, so check in advance which zones are required for our travel!

How does a travelcard work? Say if you have a one day Zone 1-2 Travelcard, you have an unlimited number of journeys on public transport within zones 1-2. The variables are the zones you pick and the length of validity, but a travelcard simply gives you unlimited travel where its valid.

Cards are cheaper off-peak, after 9:30am on weekdays and all day on weekends. Prices for each kind of card can be found HERE.

Example: My journey requires 1 tube ride and 1 bus ride each way between Zones 1-2.
A return trip means 4 separate journeys. Working with the cheapest prices for single journeys (oyster pre pay):

Tube: £2.10 x 2 = £4.20 return.
Bus: £0.80 x 2 = £1.60 return.
Your journey with single tickets will cost a total of £5.80.

The off-peak day travelcard (zones 1-2) costs £4.70, a saving of £1.20 over single tickets!


Oystercards
An Oystercard is basically a plastic card with an embedded microchip. There are several kinds of Oysters but I will stick with the simplest form which is also the most useful in Central London.
Picture of Oystercard

An Oyster "Prepay" card can be purchased with a £3 (refundable if you don't lose the card) deposit plus the mininum storage value of £5 at the start, total £8. Using this card on the Tube and Bus makes journeys cheaper. A single bus journey costs £1.20 standard but only £0.80 with Oyster! Same thing works for the Tube.

You "touch in" your card every time you take the tube/board the bus against a machine with the Oyster logo for payment.

"Capping"
If you travel on the Tube and Bus, the max value you get deducted in 1 day is the price of the equivalent travelcard. If you take the tube 10 times between zones 1-2, (worth over £20 in singles), you will still only get deducted a MAX of £4.70 (£6 if peak hours), the price of a Zone 1-2 day travelcard!

If you only travel on the bus, then the "capping" value is £3 a day, the price of a 1-day bus pass!

All this makes the "Travelcards" I explained earlier seem obsolete. This is not the case as Oysters unfortunately are not valid on overground "National Rail" services (very few exceptions). Travelcards are however valid on "National Rail".

Example: I take "National Rail" to South London every week. I take Tube->National Rail and the reverse on return. My Oystercard cannot be used on "National Rail" so I buy a 1-day travelcard(because it's cheaper than single tickets).

Once the value "stored" in your card reaches zero or a negative value, you *have* to refill it. The best place to do it is a Tube station although some small newagents also provide top-up services. "Pre-pay" is the key word. You "Pre-pay" by topping up your card in advance before travelling.

posted by studentinlondon @ 4:15 PM