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Best travel card for getting around London

10 replies

clottedcream · 19/01/2012 11:28

we are coming Sat till Monday for Easter - what travel card would be need for the tube?

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dinkystinky · 19/01/2012 11:29

Get an Oyster card - its pay as you go and you can top it up for etra trips.

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clottedcream · 19/01/2012 11:30

soory I dont udnerstand what this means? pay as you go????

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Iggly · 19/01/2012 11:31

Oystercard! Just ask for one each from the ticket office or some shops (you pay a deposit), stick £20 on and that's it. Works on trains, tubes, buses and trams. And DLR.

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emsyj · 19/01/2012 11:33

An Oyster card is a plastic card that you can use to buy cheap tickets (i.e. the fare you pay via an Oyster card is less than the cash fare you would pay for a paper ticket). You can get them at the big stations and load them up with credit, then it takes the fare as you swipe it. The total you pay in a day will never exceed the equivalent travelcard cost for the day.

Alternatively, just buy a travel card for the zones you want to travel in. Depends how much tube and bus travel you expect to do really. Check out the info on //www.tfl.gov.uk

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Iggly · 19/01/2012 11:34

Pay as you go is just that. You get charged for every journey. There is a machine on each bus/tube station barrier etc (yellow, round) and you touch your oystercard on it and are then charged for your journey. On the tube you touch on your way in and on the way out.

Once you've finished your holiday, give back the card and get a refund on any money left.

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RockStockAndTwoOpenBottles · 19/01/2012 11:36

You get charged for every journey, but it's capped daily to the cost of a travel card for the zones you're travelling in.I'm pretty sure bus journeys are almost half the price (as paying cash for each one) when using an Oyster.

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clottedcream · 19/01/2012 11:38

Thank you now I understand.

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clottedcream · 19/01/2012 11:39

think the OC will be better than a tube travel card as I wil be using it for sat, sun and monday and I believe you can onyl get a weekend card

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emsyj · 19/01/2012 11:44

The Oyster card also helps you to feel more like a true Londoner as you sweep through the barriers etc instead of looking like a tourist with your little paper travelcard .

We used to live in London and I always get my old Oyster card out in its little holder to use when I go down, helps me feel like I belong.