Oyster card for 14 and 16yo DDs

[Janek]

We will be in London for the day at the start of April and I was wondering about oyster cards.

DP and I no longer need ours because we can use our contactless cards.
I have read that one of our Oyster cards could be (temporarily) turned into a Young Visitor card for 14 year old dd, so she can travel around like a local.

Is there something similar I can do for 16 year old dd or does she have to have a photocard?

It mentions a £20 admin fee for this, so I don't think it would be worth it for the odd visit to London (compared with just paying the contactless full fare), but I wondered if anyone local knows any different or could give me further info.

TIA!

I think the 20.00 admin fee would be worth it, a one day off peak travel card will be 15.20.

I hadn't thought of that. Although we'll be there on a Saturday so presumably off peak (and it's more likely to weekends in future too). Does the contactless cap cost the same as a travel card?

Thanks!

Can you open bank accounts for them and get contactless card?

I think there's a zip oyster card for 16 to.17s. The discount is worth it. If they just use contact less then they Will pay adult rate.

Zip Oyster costs £15

Hmmm, just looked into it and it seems the adult cap would be £11.60 and the 16+ cap is £5.50, so I need to think about how many times she's likely to go to London before she turns 18 in April next year...

But then they would get charged adult fares.

If you are just there for the day just give the 16 year old your old Oyster card. The daily price cap for Zones 1-4 is about £9.
Cheaper than buying a Zip Card plus I think for 16/17 year olds they can only get a Zip Card if they are at school/college in London.

@Janek do you know what zones you will be travelling in?
Zone 1-2 adult daily price cap is £7.70.

We have enough contactless cards for us to all pay adult fare.

We also have two Oyster cards, one of which could be turned into a 'young visitor' card for my fourteen year old.

I think we need zones 1-3. The whole thing is pretty annoying tbh. We are only there on Saturday because we are catching a Eurostar at 10:30 on Sunday morning and apparently can't get a train from home that will get us there in time. We are staying the night in the Premier Inn in Tottenham (hence zone 3).

It looks to me like there is a £6 difference between what DD1 would pay if she had a 16+ zip card and the capped adult fare, so to make paying £20 for the zip card worthwhile she would need to use it four times in the next fourteen months (when she turns 18 ).

I also understood that the capped fare is within a 24-hour period, I am hoping we can all travel to St Pancras the following morning on the same cap.

We also have two Oyster cards, one of which could be turned into a 'young visitor' card for my fourteen year old.

Just use these. The station staff will apply a temporary discount for you at a machine.

If you are literally just going on Sunday morning from Tottenham to St Pancras (for Eurostar) a single journey fair (adult price) will be £2.90 (Sunday is off peak).
Will you be using Oyster much on the Saturday?

@Janek the "24 hour" thing runs 4.30am - 4.30am so unfortunately if you used the Oyster on Saturday afternoon/evening Sunday morning will count as a different day.

Bum! I did wonder if that would be the case! But as mentioned, it'll only be a single journey on the Sunday morning, so not too hideous.

We wanted to have a bit of London fun on the Saturday, since we're there anyway, but will almost certainly want to start by dropping our luggage at the hotel, unfortunately!

Do you think my sixteen year old is a 'young visitor' also?!? That would solve all my problems!

@Janek if your 16 year old looks young for their age you might get away with it !
(My daughter was 'under 5' for more years than she should have been because she was a tenny tiny thing....🤫)

She could easily pass for under sixteen, but unfortunately I am terminally honest! I think I will not do anything in advance and see what I can negotiate when I get there. Thank you so much for all your help!

Do you think my sixteen year old is a 'young visitor' also?!? That would solve all my problems!

What is the problem?

You have 2 Oyster cards and 2 people who need to travel, not including your and DH with contactless.

Have the discount applied for your under 16.

The under sixteen isn't the problem. As I have said several times, she can have a young visitor discount.

The sixteen year old is the problem. I would like a discount for her if possible, but it seems that the only way to get one is to get a personalised card, with associated £20 admin fee, which I don't think will get enough use to make it worth it.

But I will ask when I get there. I don't need to do anything in advance.

Why do you want a discount?

She can just use the other Oyster card

Sorry OP my error re age

I do think it isn't worth paying for it to get a discount as you will probably only break even anyway unfortunately

Do consider using the bus too, it's much cheaper, often easier and you get to see everything.

Of course she can. Or she could use a contactless card. And pay adult fare on both.

It is possible for her not to have to pay adult fare because she is still in education (at home she has a (free!) 16-18 photocard so can pay child fare on the bus still, even though she is technically an adult).

My question was, is this the only way/is it worth it? And have I understood correctly? Following responses I have done a bit more googling and now believe I have the answer I need - it will work out more expensive to pay the admin fee to get the card that will allow her to travel at schoolgirl rate, so I won't do this.

Cross post, sorry!

I had forgotten about the bus and will definitely bear this in mind.

can you not still buy physical tickets?

go to the ticket office and buy a child day or week ticket.

@Notanotheroneyet it costs more to get paper tickets.

But probably still cheaper than paying adult fare or buying the YP oyster card.