Underground Help

[eggandonion]

I used to travel round London a lot with my trusty A to Z. But it is 15 years since I was there.
Can you help me with the ladybird guide to London please?
Im flying into Heathrow t2 and cad get Elizabeth Line? I don't buy a ticket...I tap my card? (I used to buy a ticket at a machine and it went through another one to get to platforms).
Im going to the British Museum...where is the best place to change? And when I change I don't tap my card? I tap at the end?
I feel very old and very rural...I live somewhere where I give my busfare to the driver. The driver will yell if someone has asked for a specific stop!

Yes - get the Elizabeth Line to Tottenham Court Road - and it's a short walk from there. No need to change.

Use your debit card to tap in and then the same card to tap out when you get to Tottenham Court Road.

(Debit card charges you the same fare as if you had an Oyster card)

You can just tap a contactless bank card on entry at the ticket barriers and again on exit. It doesn’t matter where you go in between! It will just automatically calculate the fare based on entry and exit.

If you’re going straight from Heathrow to the British Museum, you would get the Elizabeth Line to Tottenham Court Road and it’s a 5-10 minute walk from there. No need to change.

Tap in and out every time you enter / leave a station. Make sure you use the same card all day!
It will automatically calculate the charge.
The Lizzie line is lovely!

Yes, use the same card. Because the daily cap is calculated by the number of journeys tapped on that card that day.

If the total is lower than the cap, it doesn't really matter, but if you make more it does. Always tap in at the start of the journey and out at the end on the same card, otherwise the first card will be charged the maximum (because it can't find a valid end point). It helps (if you're carrying more than one card) to bury the others in a different place, so you always reach for the correct one as it's the only handy one.

Citymapper is best app for getting round London, and it’s free.

If you've got an apple phone the public transport option on the maps app is excellent, I prefer it to Citymapper now.

I'm a Londoner and always use Google Maps to get around - it's really helpful for instant suggestions when your train has been cancelled or roadworks have closed a road and buses are on divert etc.
Is City Mapper any better or is it just the tourists that use it?

One thing to bear in mind if you’re travelling with someone - you can’t use the same credit/debit card for a second person, so each person you’re travelling with will need a separate credit/debit card (or buy a ticket for the second person). I quite often see couples trying to use one card between them and it not allowing the second person through.

This is all really helpful! I have seen a lot of London threads in the past and that's why I posted. 😊 thanks so much....I might appear next week with a plea for help!

Check your bank card is a tap one and you use that to tap in through the barriers, and the same one to tap out at the end destination. There are yellow circles on the barriers which show where you tap it. Make sure it's the same card you use for your journeys.

I'd also suggest getting an app called city mapper. It's free but shows you all the different travel options step by step including buses and trains. This is good if for instance there's an issue with the Elizabeth line on the day, this will give you the best alternative routes, how long it will take and even how much it will cost.

I am looking forward to the Elizabeth line. It used to take hours trundling to Heathrow.
I will test my card in WH Smith by buying a newspaper and a massive bar of chocolate!

Dim question alert…… Do you have to use a physical card, or can you tap your phone ‘card’?

It's contactless in the same way as the terminals in shops, so you can use physical or phone. But always use the same one.

@FormerlySpeckledyHen there are no dim questions!
Next week I need to ask questions on making my way back through Heathrow Terminal 2.