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!

@Nannyoggapple That's unfair. It was no doubt a very long time ago, and the real value of the student loan has eroded over years.

What do you mean nobody does it? That is simply not true. Traffic is often at standstill, low traffic neighbourhoods have pushed a lot of traffic onto main roads in some areas so longer sitting in traffic. Harder to park, more expensive to park, including council parking fees. She’d be better off with a bike.

What's unfair?

I said that she was a very nice aunty.

@Nannyoggapple this post.

What are you even on about. I said that no one paid for me to go through college.

Thats fact.

How is that "unfair" to anyone?

Do you even know what youre on about?

If you want to clarify what you meant, write more than two words next time.

So far you've written

"Thats unfair"

and

"This post"

In total.

For me, it reads a bit snippy and dismissive about what OP is discussing.

Busses aren't that bad, you can use an unlimited number of busses for a certain timeframe for the same cost.
Or rent an Uber bike, you can use those for half an hour for free.
Walking is often quicker and better than tubes in central London.

How exactly?

When I wrote the following words "no one paid for anything for me through University, YOU ARE A LOVELY AUNTY" to the OP

I put the relevant part in bold.

I'm not sure how me complimenting the OP, was seen as snippy.

Some people take offense at anything

I used to have a student travel card in London but even that was a fair bit of my budget 20 years ago

My son is traveling to London right now and he will be there for the week. He is changing hotels 3 times just to make costs travel easier.

That post sounds as though you are saying “oh well I managed.”

Thats unfair because it was relatively a lot cheaper in the past.eg in the early 80s, when I went. Far more expensive for my kids.

but I suspect you know that.

Buses are cheaper than the tube. As she learns her way around London, she may find that she can use the bus for her regular commute. I think they are also more pleasant the tube - less hectic and you see the world go by.

I think it’s best to buy her a travelcard rather than the odd top for PAYG travel- probably best to find out what zones are visited and then top up an amount monthly while the other is offset with travelcard whether bus of text.

“You can save 30% on Travelcards and Bus & Tram Passes with our 18+ Student Oyster photocard. You can also use this Oyster card to pay as you go but you won't receive the 30% discount. Find the cost of Travelcards and Bus & Tram Passes.”

Students living in a London borough can get discounted travel with an Oyster photocard - 30% discount
has she organised one?
does she need to travel everyday?

There is a daily cap, but it varies depending on the zones. The max cap for travel in zones 1-6 is £15.60, so she can easily rack up £27 in 3 days if she has a long commute.
A very quick Google would have revealed that OP; perhaps you should just gift her a regular amount each month. At present there's no incentive for her to budget her travel.

Even in the North a daily bus ticket is £4.50 so you'd need £22.50 Mon - Fri and to stick to one bus company. If you need a metro or a multiple operators it shoots up.

That’s twice the price of what I pay here in Sydney for the same sort of criteria (and I’m unsure if there is a student discount rate).
So it seems expensive to me.

I just looked up our weekly travel cap to all zones and it is $50 or just over 25 pound.

When I lived in Central London 25 years ago, Zone 1 travel was £1 a journey. So easily £10-12 a week before you've added in other journeys.

£27 a week works out at £2.70 a journey if she's travelling just to college and back five days a week. That's barely anything! And the Zones in London go quite far... It's rare to live in Zone 1 or be walking distance to College either.

How much did you think it would be?

I think you need to read the rest of the thread.

THEY AREN'T ISSUING PHOTO OYSTER CARDS AT THE MOMENT DUE TO A CYBER ATTACK AND THIS INCLUDES THE STUDENT DISCOUNT CARD

People have posted this several times!!

Suck it up. It's your fault for not checking the costs beforehand.

It’s bloody expensive . RIP off Britain. Vienna charges £17 for a travel card for all transport fir a WEEK!

I'm £12 pd in Scotland for - 18 min journey - London sounds reasonable!

She needs to get a student 18+ oyster photocard- reduced travel for 18+ living and studying in London. Details online.