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Original poster

Children on the tube

14 replies

Thingsthatgo · 15/12/2023 21:19

I'm going to London this weekend with my kids. It's been a long time, and previously we would just get London travel cards, but this time we don't need them. However, I will need to do a couple of tubes journeys with my children. I know that I can tap my debit card, but what about the children? Do I buy them tickets from the machine? (Sorry for the stupid question, just trying to get prepared for the chaos!)

OP posts:
Needmorelego · 15/12/2023 21:21

If they are under 11 it's free. You tap your card and all of you go through together on the extra large gates.
If they are over 11 it gets more complicated.
What are their ages?

Original poster
Thingsthatgo · 15/12/2023 21:29

Ah ok. They are 9 and 11 years old.

OP posts:
Needmorelego · 15/12/2023 21:34

Easy peasy then 🙂

Needmorelego · 15/12/2023 21:36

Well - it's under 11 but if they don't really look it you should be fine.

FussyPud · 15/12/2023 21:44

If your 11 year old looks much older than 11, do you have a spare card to use? When I took my older two to London earlier in the year I used the account hooked up to Apple Pay, and the youngest of the two kids used my other account card. Granted that’s only an option if you have more than one account.

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 15/12/2023 21:54

Your 9 year old will be free, but your 11 year old will need an 11-15 zip card which you can pick up at tfl visitors centres:
https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/getting-around-london/visitor-centres
Otherwise they can touch in with a spare debit/credit card (Note NOT the card that you use yourself), but you'll pay an adult fare for them that way.

Visitor Centres

What Visitor Centres in London can help you with, and location and opening hours detials

https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/getting-around-london/visitor-centres

ectoone · 15/12/2023 21:57

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 15/12/2023 21:54

Your 9 year old will be free, but your 11 year old will need an 11-15 zip card which you can pick up at tfl visitors centres:
https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/getting-around-london/visitor-centres
Otherwise they can touch in with a spare debit/credit card (Note NOT the card that you use yourself), but you'll pay an adult fare for them that way.

You can get an oyster and have a child visitor discount applied but not much saving to be made for one small visit because you have to pay for the oyster.

cringingatchristmas · 15/12/2023 21:57

The 11 year old is 10 (they won't check). Use the luggage / wide gates at the stations and they go free with you. Just tap your card in and out.

For next time, either get your 11 year old a zip card (order online, costs £15 but when they travel, it'll only cost a couple of quid a day max and lasts until the September after they turn 16) or if you won't travel to London often, you can buy a paper child's travel card / ticket.

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 15/12/2023 22:17

You really need to pay for your 11 year old - either with the zip card/oyster visitors discount or by tapping in and paying the adult fare. We live in London. My DD has just turned 11 and we will be making our first trip by public transport tomorrow since her birthday. She is tiny (just gone into 9-10 clothing). We could probably get away with "pretending that she is still 10" but we won't be and will be paying for her child fare on the zip card. It's fare evasion and it just means that everyone else has to pay higher fares.

Needmorelego · 15/12/2023 22:23

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon while that's true Transport for London don't really make it that simple for 11-16 year olds who are literally just there for the day.
Apparently there is £1000s of unspent pre-payments on Oyster cards that people haven't used up so I think tfl can cope with an 11 year old being 10 for the day

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 15/12/2023 22:27

I've posted this before, but when visiting London we were positively encouraged to bunk the fare for our then 11yo.

I had an old Oyster card, but the ticket machine wasn't selling child tickets. I asked a TFL woman, who asked me how old DD was. I said she was 11, which is the age they need their own ticket. She replied "she looks 10 to me". I said "oh no, she's definitely 11", and the woman had to repeat "she looks 10 to me" before the penny dropped and she waved us through.

BlackLambAndGreyFalcon · 15/12/2023 22:40

@Needmorelego I would agree regarding the accessibility for those based out of London, however on the other hand TFL are being quite generous in allowing free travel for under 11s in the first place. In many other places, you pay a child fare (or even an adult fare) once the child turns 5. TFL's finances are not in the best of shape (a vast understatement!) and it has been mooted in the past that one way of addressing this in part would be to remove the free travel for under 11s, which is more likely to happen if the policy is abused.
Buses are still currently free for under 16s, however over 11s need to tap with the free fare.

Needmorelego · 15/12/2023 22:50

@BlackLambAndGreyFalcon to be fair as they make it confusing and complicated for 11-16 day-trippers to access "child" fares many end up paying the full adult price because they are using a parents spare contactless card.
So for every 11 year old being 10 for the day, another has probably paid full adult fare. So it will even out.
@Thingsthatgo enjoy your day trip 🙂

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