Travelcards

[Sorenlorrenson]

My son is travelling to London and staying with his aunt. He's got a Zip card, I want him to buy a weekly travelcard for zone's 1 and 2 will he get a discount with the zip ? I don't know how it works, and I've trawled the website. Thanks.

Yes, he should get a discount. If he goes to a station and asks the staff, they will help him with the purchase. There are some functions on the ticket machines that are only available to staff members.

Just top it up with money and the system automatically does a daily price cap - you don't get charged any more once you reach that amount.
The price cap for Zip Cards (I assume the 11-15 one) is about a fiver I think.
So you need to allocate about £5 a day.
Edit : if he is using buses it's free with the Zip Card but he still needs to beep it.

@Needmorelego can you put money onto the zip card then?

@Sorenlorrenson yes. It needs to have money on it (except if only using buses).
You just top it up on a machine at a station.

You can top Zip cards up on line.

Thanks @Needmorelego , I absolutely did not realise that.... I thought it was just an ID thing, there is no chip or barcode on it !

It's basically an oyster card for kids.
Tap in and out on underground and rail stations within the Oyster zone and the price of a child's ticket will be deducted. They are free on the buses, but still need to tap when they get on.
If you register the card on TfL website you can add money to the account which uploads to the card next time it is tapped in. You can also see the history of each journey.
There is a daily price cap which once reached means there is no further charge for additional trips that day.

@Sorenlorrenson no it's not ID. The Zip Card is the "travel card". It's a smartcard basically.

@Needmorelego@Seeline thanks guys , I'm such a bumpkin !

@Sorenlorrenson hope your son enjoys his visit 🙂

After reading the information here I loaded my sons Zip card with £20.

He arrived in London yesterday, first time travelling alone , at the tube station tries to tap in , no luck, seeks help...apparently the card had no credit, so he buys another £20 worth.
I called the TFL helpline asking where my original £20 had gone...if the money is loaded online you have to start using it within 4 days, otherwise it gets refunded, but not for at least another week...so now I'm down £40..
Bloody brilliant.

@Sorenlorrenson I have never heard of that 😱
As far as I know credit lasts forever on an Oyster. Infact tfl have said there's £1000s of unused credit on old cards that people have forgotten about.
But you said you topped it up online - so suppose that works differently (I've only ever used the machines at stations).
You should get the original money back though so hopefully it won't ruin his trip.

@Needmorelego it seems so strange , an arbitrary 4 days ! Why? and I'm wondering if the money is automatically refunded or the bloke I spoke to started the refunding process when I called him.
Nevermind , sorted now...and my son had to practice interacting with actual strangers at a tube station , which is good !

Sorry - yes you do have to use the card within a certain time to get the money uploaded on your card. I forgot that. The webpage does tell you that when you start and finish the process.
It will automatically refund - I don't think it's ever taken as long as a week for me though.
Once the money is on the card, it lasts forever, but it has to be uploaded to the card by tapping in within the time limit.