Travel on the underground with kids

[Daisypod]

I’m planning a day in London with my 6 year old. I’ve travelled around London a lot by myself and just tap my debit card for payment but I’m not sure how it works for my 6 year old.
Ive seen there is a special Oyster card for them to travel for free but it takes two weeks to get that and we are going Thursday.
Can anyone suggest what I do?

Go through the wide gates together. No need to tap in and out for under 10s.

under 11s are free, just walk through big (suitcase) gate with them

Just tap and they go through the barrier with you. They don’t need a ticket if accompanied by an adult.

Until they’re 11 it’s free. No one will challenge a 6 year old for age. Just take them through the wide gate with you.

mine got a zip oyster when they got to 11

Agree just use your own card, go to the big gates at the side and walk through at the same time.

they don’t need to tap or pay on buses either

That’s great thanks all. I’ll probably also have a pushchair for him as he’s autistic so he prefers to be in there in busy places so I’ll need to use the big gates anyway

Remember you don't need to tap off the bus, just on.

Can I ask what happens once they reach 11? My girl is just 11, we travel over from Ireland, can we buy a young persons oyster with passport ID at the train station?

You have to pay on the underground from 11. There’s a way of getting a reduced price Oyster card but it’s a faff, needed head teacher to sign etc so i didn’t bother for the rare occasions we took the tube as lived away from London. Buses are free and was never questioned

You don't need anything. You just tap your card on the wide family barrier and go through together. I've always travelled like this with my son and my little brother when he was a child, nobody ever said anything. Children under 11 travel for free

We go with DC quite often. We just go through the wide gate and one DC walks through with me and one with my husband.

If you have the pushchair just watch out for step free access stations as they will make it a lot easier. Otherwise we fold the pushchair and carry it as not all stations are step free.

I also have a DS with autism - ear defenders are helpful as it can be noisy (assuming your DS is affected by noise)

You can have a child discount applied to a standard Oyster card at stations that have staff. The discount only remains for 14 days so you need to do it every time you visit.

If you go annually or more frequently, it's potentially worth applying for an 11-15 zip oyster. It costs £16.50 and it comes in about a week, I did it recently it for my youngest. You need a headshot style photo and their passport as you need to type some of the information from that in online so they can verify their identity. It lasts from date of issue until the end of the September after they turn 15. It's only marginally more expensive than an oyster card and doesn't require finding a human being to apply a child discount every time you arrive in London.

Expires September after they turn 16, I just checked and was giving out misinformation.

You apply online with TFL. We live in London though, so not sure if the reduced Oyster requires you to have a London address.

My two were never stopped even whem they were 11 tbf, so you might get away with it. You cab also still buy paper travel cards at machines in train stations. Not sure about Tibe stations though.

I tap with my credit card and my daughter taps with my debit card