To have not reasoned how expensive travel within London is!

[Flippingflamingo]

Niece started uni in London a few weeks ago and I offered to pay to keep her Oyster card topped up as my contribution.

However I have just discovered she has spent £27 on it from Monday to Thursday this week!!

I really want to be able to pay it for her, but it’s not sustainable for me to keep topping it up constantly.

I didn’t realise it was this much and thought there were daily caps on travel!

Indeed. Under 16s don't get half price either, I think it's 75% of the adult cost

It's fake economy as people don't use it because of the cost.

You'd have trouble running a car on 50 quid a week, even before depreciation.

Seems really cheap to me. Nearest big town to me is £9-20 return per day (also has nearest 6th form) by train. Rubbish service, hourly often cancelled at short notice. Bus takes forever. I'd happily take £27 for London's transport.

Depends how many zones she travels in. I travel zone 1-4 and the daily cap is £12. Cheap compared to rail and bus travel outside London!

The actual prices are tricky to find on their website - https://tfl.gov.uk/campaign/new-fares. Looks like your weekly cap info might be wrong op sadly.

I am not sure there is a weekly "cap" but with a student card she can get a heavily discounted weekly, monthly or annual travelcard. https://content.tfl.gov.uk/18-plus-student-oyster-photocard-fares.pdf

Not just up north!

The Oyster 18+ card discount is only valid on travelcards.

You're much better off paying for a weekly/ monthly travel card for her. Much cheaper.

Alternatively attach a discount rail pass to her Oyster card for off-peak PAYG tickets.

A lime bike pass is £8.99 per month

You're a lovely aunt and well done to your niece.

So if I have done my research correctly I am best to:

Get a student oyster
But a monthly travel card with the 30% discount for her zone 2-3 uni commute.
Add her young person rail card and keep some money on the oyster to cover additional travel to zone 1 off peak with a 1/3 off?

Does this seem right? One card can cover all options if I buy the monthly pass plus keep some money on there as well?

You need to buy a monthly pass for all months that she'll be there - for instance, if she'll only be there for a week from say 5th December, it's pointless getting a pass to cover the whole month.

A month isn't a calendar month btw, it's, for example, the 11th of one month to the 11th of the next month.

And investigate if she really needs it to cover the tube, a monthly bus pass is much cheaper

Unfortunately this is not true, Lime Bikes are £££
30 mins to use in 1 day is £3,99
60 mins to use in 3 days is £6.99
200 mins to use in a week is £18.99
400 mins to use in 30 days is £36.99

If I use one to go about 12 mins and don't get a pass it's about £7!!

I would just get the one that includes z1
it will save her and you a lot of money in the long run as she will inevitably go through z1 a lot

@OldieButBaddie I wanna know what hack the kids at the local academy do to use the lime bikes for free (if the bike is beeping like a dalek it's been hacked).......

Wow you're a very nice aunty.

I have six aunties.

None of them gave me a penny when I went to college.

They never even rang me to ask me how I was getting on once.

That you are paying her transport fees all through University is absolutely amazing.

She's very lucky.

My parents also didnt give me a penny to go to Uni either. My dad wasn't around. And my mum wasn't bothered.

I worked to pay for myself all through Univeristy.

Looking back, I'm very proud of myself.

I never realised that anyone got anything paid for them, until I came on mumsnet

She sounds like a very determined young woman who has already achieved a great deal and you sound like a lovely auntie.

Agree that public transport in London is probably safer and more predictable than a bike or walking especially when she's navigating the whole new independent living/studying thing. Hope it goes well for her OP and that you find a way to get it to work financially.

There are caps and she needs to get a student discount applied

It's not just 50 quid a week though is it. That's your minimum cost. What about all the times when you visit people out of town, have trips away etc? What about when you can't get to a place within an hour (and you need to) because the public transport options don't allow it, so you call an Uber? Relying on public transport is really not cheap.

Please include zone 1.

That information was given to me by someone who commutes on one daily as it worked out cheaper than the tube, but yes i may not have all the right numbers

It is if you combine with cycling and walking

I've not got any advice, but I just wanted to say, what a lovely thing to do for your niece.

You’re a lovely auntie.

I don’t live in London, I live in a much smaller city and the price of a daily bus ticket is a set price of £4.70 per day, even if you just want to go a couple of short stops! Trains are much more expensive! So the price doesn’t seem unreasonable to me.