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London Oyster Card

The Oyster card is a reusable electronic card which is used to pay for travel on all types of public transport in London: buses, underground, DLR (Docklands Light Railway), trams and local trains.

There are two main ways to use the Oyster card:

As a Pay as you go (PAYG) Oyster card You add money to the Oyster card and use it to pay for single journeys or for travel for the whole day (the ‘daily cap’). It’s a bit like a Pay as you go SIM card for mobile phones. When you use your card (by tapping in and out at the ticket barriers), the cost of travel is deducted from your Oyster card balance. To store season tickets Weekly or monthly Travelcards or Bus Passes are ‘loaded’ onto an Oyster card.

See Travelcards or Bus tickets & passes

You can also add some extra money to your Oyster card if you have a Weekly or Monthly Travelcard. This is useful if you need to travel outside your weekly Travelcard zone.

Are you visiting London for the first time? Read our guide to London’s transport tickets and passes .

Pay as you go (PAYG) Oyster card: an overview

The PAYG Oyster card is the cheapest and most flexible way to pay for travel, especially if your visit to London is between 1–5 days. Even if it’s only for a few journeys, it’s much cheaper than paying the full cash fare.

How much does an Oyster card cost?

The Oyster card costs £7 . You then add money to the card to pay for your travel. The £7 fee is not a deposit. You do not get this money back.

How does it work?

Once you have an Oyster, you add money to it (‘ top up ‘) and the fare for your journey is taken from your Oyster card balance when you use it.

It works out the cost of the journey and how many journeys you take when you tap your card on the Oyster card reader (‘ tap in and out’ ) at a tube or train station ticket barrier, or by tapping the reader when you get on a bus.

Oyster single fares: 2024 prices

The Pay as you go Oyster card is the cheapest way to pay for single tickets on the underground. For journeys in central London (zone 1), ticket prices are more than 50% cheaper with an Oyster card.

Here’s a comparison between Pay as you go Oyster card single fares and the standard tube ticket fare from a ticket machine (‘Cash single’).

Oyster single fares 2024

See single ticket prices for travel in zones 2,3,4,5 & 6

Oyster single fares: peak and off-peak times

If you use your Pay as you go Oyster card only few times a day, the price you pay for each single journey depends on the time of day you travel.

Peak Monday–Friday 6.30am–9.30am and from 4pm–7pm. If you travel into central London (zone 1) from an outer zone, there is no afternoon peak fare . The off-peak fare is charged. Off-Peak Off-peak fares are charged at all other times, including Public Holidays.

Oyster one-day fares: 2024 ‘daily cap’ prices

If you plan to travel by tube at least 3 times in one day, you benefit from the Oyster card ‘daily cap’. This is the maximum amount deducted from your card for travel in one day.

Oyster Daily Cap 2024

There’s a cheaper ‘daily cap’ if you only use the buses

How does the Oyster daily cap work?

For example, if you load £10 onto your Oyster card and travel by underground in central London (zone 1- off peak):

• If you make 1 journey £2.70 is deducted from your card
• If you make 2 journeys, £5.40 is deducted
• If you make 3 journeys, £8.50 is deducted. You have now reached the ‘daily cap’ and all other journeys until 4.30am the following morning are free. £1.50 of Pay as you go credit will remain on your Oyster card

Oyster Weekly Travelcard Cap

Your Oyster card will automatically cap at the weekly Travelcard fare (this is also available on a contactless card ). The cap starts on Monday and ends Sunday, so it mainly benefits Londoners or those working in London.

How much money do I need to add to an Oyster card?

It’s up to you how much money you add to the card. The beauty of the Oyster card is that it’s flexible.

Some people add enough for a single journey, especially if they’re not a frequent traveller. Some add the price of the daily ‘cap’ for the zones they’re visiting for that day. Others just add £15 or £25 and keep an eye on the balance.

Best option for visitors

For visitors, the best option is to add the cost of the daily cap to your card x the number of full days in London. Add a little extra to cover any single journeys at the start or end of your trip if necessary. For example, to and from Heathrow airport.

If you do this then you won’t need to worry about topping up your card again. If there is money on your Oyster card at the end of your trip, you can get it back or keep it on your card for your next visit (it never expires).

Aim to have £10 or less of Pay as you go money on your card at the end of your trip and you can easily get a refund at an underground station ticket machine . Refunds are more complicated if you have more than £10 left on your card.

Where to buy an Oyster card

Oyster cards are available from the following outlets. You can usually top up your card as well.

Underground ticket machines

There are no longer any underground ticket offices. Oyster cards are available from ticket machines. The machines take notes (not £50 notes), coins and credit/debit cards.

Local shops and newsagents

Many newsagents and corner shops are licensed to sell London Transport tickets including Oyster cards. They normally have signs in the window saying ‘Oyster Ticket Stop’.

Find an Oyster Ticket Stop .

London train stations ticket machines

Oyster cards and oyster top-ups are available from ticket machines in London train stations

TfL Visitor Centres

Transport for London has several Visitor Centres at Heathrow, Victoria, Kings Cross/St Pancras International, Liverpool St & Piccadilly Circus.

How to use an Oyster card

Underground.

It’s important to touch in and out when using a PAYG Oyster card. Even if there’s no physical barrier or if the barriers are open, you still need to touch the yellow card reader when you enter and exit the station. If you don’t, the full cash fare (£4–£7) is deducted for your journey.

If you have a lot of luggage or are pushing a pushchair, station attendants will quite often push open the barrier for you. Do make sure you touch the yellow reader for the reason mentioned above. The attendants don’t always remind you to do it.

Place your card flat on the yellow card reader near the driver when you get on the bus. You do not need to touch out when you get off the bus.

How to check your Oyster card balance

If you want to check how much money you have on your Oyster card, there are several ways to find out:

From an underground station ticket machine

Place your card on the yellow card reader on a ticket machine and your remaining balance will flash up on the screen. This is the easiest way to check your balance.

Via an Oyster account online

If you register your card online with TfL , you can check how much money you have on your card.

Via the Oyster app

Check your balance on the official Oyster app. You will need to register your Oyster card. ( ios or android ).

On an underground station ticket barrier

When you place your card on the yellow card reader on a ticket barrier, the balance on your card flashes on the screen. When you arrive at your destination and touch out at a barrier, your remaining balance flashes on the screen along with the fare charged for that particular journey. This doesn’t work on all barriers.

How to get back unused money on your Oyster card

Anyone can get any unused money on your Pay as you go balance. See how to claim back unused money on a PAYG Oyster card .

The Visitor Oyster card

The Visitor Oyster Card is aimed at tourists — you might be offered one by a tour company or airline before you arrive.

The card comes pre-loaded with money and there’s a £5 fee (plus postage).

You can’t load a weekly Travelcard or Bus Pass to a Visitor Oyster, which makes it less flexible than the ‘ordinary’ Oyster. It can only be used as a Pay as you go card, and the ‘daily cap’ is still applied.

The Visitor Oyster Card is only worth buying if:

• You’re happy to pay for postage to your country and you can order it in advance
• You want to pay for your travel before you arrive
• You’re arriving after the tube stations have closed and can’t use a contactless card payment and want to use the night buses

Otherwise, just wait until you arrive in London and get an ordinary Oyster card from one of the places listed above.

Related pages

• Guide to London’s transport tickets & passes
• Oyster single tickets
• Oyster refunds
• Contactless cards
• London Transport zones

Last checked: 22 June 2024

Transport tickets & passes

• Guide to London's transport tickets
• One day & weekly Travelcards
• Zone 2–6 weekly Travelcards
• Bus tickets & passes
• Oyster card
• Oyster card refunds
• Child tickets & passes
• Local train tickets

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London Travelcard

The London Travelcard is a transport pass which entitles you to unlimited travel on London’s public transport. You can use a travelcard to travel on the London Underground, overground, public buses, DLR (docklands light rail), TFL rail and other trains, as long as you travel within London’s travel zones.

It is designed for people who are planning on using London’s public transport a lot when visiting London or for people who commute into London on a daily basis. Still, a London Travelcard may sometimes not be the cheapest option even if does entitle you to unlimited travel.

London Travelcard: What do I need to know before I buy one?

When buying a London Travelcard there are three things that you need to know:

1. The duration of the card:

You can buy a travelcard for one day, 7 days, one month or annual.

2. The travel zones of London that will be using:

When you buy a travelcard you need to choose what travel zones you want use. If you are going to travel between zones 1 and 2, you will need a travelcard that is valid for these two zones, but if you are going to travel between zones 1 and 5 every day, you will need a travelcard that covers zones 1 to 5. This does not apply to travelling by bus, as any travelcard will allow you to travel on buses to and from any zone within London’s travel zones. So for example, if you have a travelcar for zones 1 and 2, you can still use a bus to get to zone 3 or zone 5 with that travelcard at no extra cost.

Most of London’s tourist attractions are located in zone 1, and only a few of the most popular attractions can be found outside zone 1, such as Camden Town Market which is in zone 2. Make sure you know what zone your hotel is in before you buy a travelcard.

3. Off-peak or Anytime

If you are buying a 1 day travelcard  (which we don’t normally recommend as an oyster card has a daily cap that is cheaper than a one day travelcard – see below) you will have to choose if you want it to travel anytime of the day, or just during off-peak times (Monday – Friday from 9.30 am; all day Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays).

This does not affect 1 day travelcards for zones 1 to 4, so if you are visiting London you probably don’t need to worry about this at all as you are unlikely to be travelling to zone 5, 6 or beyond.

Which Travelcard to buy if you are planning a trip to London

1 day travelcard.

The price of the 1 day London travelcard for zones 1, 1-2, 1-3 and 1-4 costs £15.20. We don’t normally recommend using the 1 day travelcard, as it is actually cheaper to use an oyster card, a visitor oyster card, or a contactless card as these payment methods have a daily cap. The daily cap applied to these zones are: £8.10 for travel within zones 1-2; £9.60 for zones 1-3 and £11.70 for zones 1-4. Once you have reached this daily cap you will be able to travel within the same travel zones for free. It is still necessary to tap in and tap out on the yellow reader with your oyster card, visitor oyster card or contactless card when using public transport.

Find out more about choosing between an oyster card, a travelcard or using contactless on London Transport here: Oyster card, Travelcard or Contactless .

7 day Travelcard

The 7 day travelcard for London travel zones 1-2 costs £40.70. When comparing oyster card/visitor oyster card/contactless fares to a 7 day travelcard, I would probably say that it is convenient to get a 7 day travelcard if you are going to be travelling around London for more than 6 days. If you are going to be in London less than 6 days then I would recommend using an oyster card (vistor oyster card or contactless if you are a UK resident).

Where to buy a London travelcard

Buying a London Travelcard at an underground station

It is possible to buy a London travelcard at any underground station in London, by either using a ticket machine at the ticket office or a manned desk in a the ticket office (if available). When you buy a 7 day, monthly or annual London travelcard at an underground station you will normally get an oyster card with the travelcard incorporated in it. So your oyster card will be pre-loaded with the travelcard you have chosen. This way you can also use this oyster card with pay as you go for any trips that are not included in the travelcard.

So, as an example, if you have a 7 day travelcard for zones 1 – 4 in your oyster card, you will be entitles to unlimited journeys within these  travel zones for 7 days, and you can use your oyster as you normally would, by touching in and touching out. But, if one day you need to go to zone 6, you will be able to use the same oyster with pay as you go balance. One example when this might happen, is if you arrive at Heathrow airport (zone 6) but you want to buy a 7 day travelcard for zones 1 – 4. It will be much cheaper to use they oyster card with pay as you go for the journey from Heathrow to central London and the journey from central London to Heathrow Airport on your last day and adding a 7 travelcard for zones 1 – 4, than using a 7 day travelcard for zones 1 – 6.

Buying a London Travelcard at a train station

It is possible to buy a London travelcard at any train station located inside London’s Travel Zones . When you buy a travelcard at a train station, you will normally get a paper travelcard and not an oyster card.

Stansted, Luton or Gatwick airports are all outside London’s Travel Zones so these stations won’t normally sell London travelcards.

Buy a London Travelcard online

One of the easiest ways to buy a London travelcard is by buying it online. The price is exactly the same as what it would cost you to buy it in London but you will pay a little extra for delivery.

Buy a London travelcard at Heathrow airport

London travelcard fares from 5th march 2023, travelcard for children.

Children under the age of 11 travel free within London travel zones. Children over 11 can also benefit from reduced fares; you can learn more about this in our article: Travelling in London with kids .

Find out more

For more information, visit London’s official transport website: Transport For London

Related Posts

London underground, london travel zones, travelling in london with kids, contactless payment on london transport.

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Travelling around London

Planning your journey.

You can find journey planners on the National Rail Enquiries and TfL websites. TfL’s journey planner allows you to compare different modes of transport and now includes fares information for each mode.

Oyster and contactless payment cards

An Oyster card costs £7 to buy .

If you are visiting London from other parts of the country or from abroad and don’t have a contactless payment card, it will probably work out much cheaper to use an Oyster card.

Another advantage of using an Oyster card or contactless bank card to travel around London is that it allows you to also take advantage of capping. Capping is effectively a limit of how much you pay to travel either in a single day or over one week. Once you’ve reached the daily or weekly limit, any additional journeys that you make after that will be free. You can find out more about capping on our page .

Below you can find some examples of the savings you can make when an Oyster card or a contactless payment card over a paper ticket:

Tube (Zone 1)

Oyster/Contactless card single peak fare – £2.80.

Oyster/Contactless card single off-peak fare – £2.70

Cash single fare – £6.70

Daily cap – £8.50

Weekly cap – £42.70

Rail Peak Fare (Zone 1 – 5)

Oyster/Contactless card single fare – £6.30

Cash single fare – £8.10

Daily cap – £14.60

Weekly cap – £73.00

Rail Off-Peak Fare (Zone 1 – 5)

Oyster/Contactless card single fare – £4.20

Daily cap – £4.60

Oyster/Contactless card single fare – £1.75

Cash single fare – N/A

Daily cap – £5.25

Weekly cap – £24.70

*The Hopper Fare allows unlimited travel on Buses and Trams within 1 hour for £1.75

Prices: 3 March 2024

Contactless payment cards

You can use a contactless payment card to pay for travel on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground and most National Rail services in London.

You will be charged an adult-rate Pay As You Go fare each time you make a journey. You benefit from all the features of Oyster Pay As You Go (although you can’t add railcard discounts to a contactless card) as well as being able to take advantage of monthly, daily and Monday to Sunday capping . This gives you with another option if you have run out of credit on your Oyster card or have lost or forgotten your Oyster card. Contactless is a useful way for tourists and visitors to London from other parts of the UK to get the same benefits as people using Oyster Pay As You Go.

Further information on contactless payments can be found on TfL’s website.

Walking and cycling

TfL  and  Walk London  offer free guided walks led by experienced guides. These can be booked on the  Walk London website . The TfL website also has information about walking in London, including their  Walking Tube maps .

You can hire a Santander Cycle from as little as £1.65. Just go to any docking station with your bank card and touch the screen to get started. If you hire a bicycle regularly you can save money by registering for Santander Cycle membership .

The TfL website also contains  information for cyclists  including  free route maps  and  cycle guides .

You can also read about some excellent safety tips for locking your bike on the Best Bike Lock blog written by cycling enthusiast Henry Clark.

Alternatively, you can buy a Travelcard which allows unlimited travel within specified zones. These tickets range in price according to zone. The cheapest is a day off-peak (after 9.30am Monday to Friday, all weekend), which costs £15.20 for zones 1-6 and £21.50 peak.

If you use Oyster Pay As You Go, the price charged is capped so you should never pay more than the Travelcard price and will often pay less. Be aware that Travelcards are not available for every combination of zones. You can compare caps and Travelcard prices on TfL’s website .

If you have a Zone 1-3 Travelcard and are making a peak journey outside this area, it is often advisable to break your journey in Zone 1 to avoid being charged the maximum peak Oyster fare for the extension part of your journey. For example if you travelled to Farringdon from Harrow on the Hill (Zone 5) between 4-7pm you would be charged the off peak Oyster fare but if you went from Harrow on the Hill to Herne Hill via Farringdon you would be charged the peak Oyster fare.

Travelling outside the area covered by your Travelcard

If you want to travel outside the area covered by your Travelcard make sure you either purchase an extension ticket from the ticket office or ticket machine if there is no ticket office available. This will be cheaper than buying an individual ticket between the last station covered by your Travelcard and your destination. If your destination is still within the Oyster area, make sure you put sufficient Pay As You Go credit on your Oyster card before you travel. Also make sure that you touch in at the start of your journey, and touch out at the end even though these parts of your journey might be covered by your Travelcard, to avoid a maximum fare, a penalty fare or prosecution.

Ticket buying tips

Please remember, when putting credit on your Oyster you must touch your card twice – once to show what type of card you have before you select how much money you want to add to it, and once again when you have paid. If you don’t touch the card for a second time you could end up losing the cash you paid or having money taken from your credit/debit card but not have this added to you card.

Pink Readers

If you’re travelling across London but not through Zone 1 and you see a pink card reader when changing trains, touch your card on it to pay the right fare. There are pink card readers at some Tube and London Overground stations. Using a pink reader rather than the standard yellow Oyster/Contactless card reader will ensure that you pay a cheaper fare as the system will know you didn’t travel through Zone 1.

Driving in London

Congestion charge.

Remember the Congestion Charge and the ULEZ charge are not the same charge. Many drivers have to pay both charges to drive into London.

Ultra Low Emission Zone

The Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) now operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, every day of the year except Christmas Day. The zone now covers all areas inside the North and South Circular Roads. The North Circular (A406) and South Circular (A205) roads are not in the zone. Most vehicles, including cars and vans, need to meet the ULEZ emissions standards or their drivers must pay a daily charge to drive within the zone.

• £12.50 for most vehicle types, including cars, motorcycles and vans (up to and including 3.5 tonnes)
• £100 for heavier vehicles, including lorries (over 3.5 tonnes) and buses/coaches (over 5 tonnes)

Check your vehicle and its charge .

NEWS... BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

How much are TfL monthly travelcards going up by in 2023?

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Commute to work in London ? Use the Tube a lot? If so, you might want to purchase a monthly travelcard.

Transport for London (TfL) travelcards allow you to pay for a day, week or month of travel across the Tube, Overground, DLR, buses, trams, TfL Rail and National Rail services – plus, if you need them, the Emirates Air Line and the River Bus.

To use a travelcard you must first purchase an Oyster card (£7) and then you can purchase a travelcard and add it to your Oyster.

You can use also use Oyster for pay as you go, with fares capped per day and week just as they are when you use a contactless card or device (such as your phone). You can also add a national railcard to Oyster , saving up to 1/3 on off-peak pay as you go travel.

However, if you frequently use London public transport, you may find a monthly travelcard is the better option for you.

TfL fares are set to rise again in early March 2023 , so how much do monthly travelcards cost now?

And what will they cost later in the year?

On average, the price of an adult’s monthly travelcard will rise by 5.9% from March 5 onwards.

How much will monthly travelcards cost from March?

For monthly travelcards including travel to Central London, here’s what they currently cost, plus what the new price will be:

• Zone 1: £147.50, going up to £156.30 from March 5
• Zone 1 – 2: £147.50, going up to £156.30
• Zone 1 – 3: £173.60, going up to £184
• Zone 1 – 4: £212.00, going up to £224.70
• Zone 1 – 5: £252.30, going up to £267.30
• Zone 1 – 6: £270.00, going up to £285.70
• Zone 1 – 7: £293.80, going up to £311.10
• Zone 1 – 8: £346.80, going up to £367.20
• Zone 1 – 9: £384.80, going up to £407.50

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If you don’t need to be in Zone 1, you can choose to either pay for just one zone, or for the zone range you actually require.

Usually, it’s cheaper to travel in one zone, or between two zones. Once you start needing to commute between three, four or more zones, the monthly travel card costs starts to tot up.

It’s also more cost effective to travel in areas located in Zone 2 and Zone 3 (£110.60, going up to £117.20) than it is to travel just in Zone 1 (£147.50, going up to £156.30).

For the full range of prices, plus daily and annual travel card costs, check out TfL’s adult fares chart or work out your new cost from March using this price checker .

As for youngsters, 11 to 15-year-olds can buy a monthly ZIP Oyster card, with fares starting from a much lower £73.80 (going up to £78.40) for travel in Zone 1 and Zone 2. 16 to 17-year-olds can also commute between the two for the same price.

Meanwhile, an apprentice or an adult student can pay £103 per month (going up to £109.10) for travelcard covering Zone 1 and Zone 2.

There’s also a JobCentre Plus monthly travelcard, which starts at £73.80 (going up to £78.40) per month.

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London Underground Fare Zones Explained

London Underground and parts of the Overground network are divided into fare zones. They are also commonly referred to as zones or travel zones. They range from Zone 1 through to Zone 9. Zone 1 is right in the middle, all the way out to Zone 9 which runs around the edge. The zones are like tree rings, concentric rings around the centre.

Historically, the tube network was divided into six zones… 1 to 6. This has increased with the addition of TfL Rail, London Overground and parts of the Metropolitan line.

London Underground Zones 7,8&9

Zones 7,8 & 9 essentially cover the areas just outside North East London (into Essex ) and North West London. Watford, Croxley Green, Rickmansworth, Amersham or Chalfont & Latimer on the Metropolitan Line are in zones 7,8 & 9. Carpenders Park, Bushey, Watford High Street on the London Overground are in zones 7 & 8. Brentwood on TfL Rail is in zone 8.

Have a look here at the most current and up to date tube map for the latest zones and lines, because sometimes (rarely) the zones change.

London Underground Zones 1 – 6

Zone 1 is essentially the city centre and Zone 6 is the outskirts of the city. The tube lines run in through and out the other side of London. Only the Circle Line runs round and round, like the M25 motorway.

Most people come into the centre of London from the outside, rather than circling around the city. They travel from the outer zones inwards to the inner central zones and vice versa. Most passengers live in the outer zones and commute to London for work or travel to London for recreation purposes.

Because of this, Transport for London created the zone system to simplify fare pricing by calculating a passenger’s journey. The more fare zones you travel through, the more your fare will cost.

London Underground Stations in Multiple Zones

There have always been a few stations that span two zones. By this, we mean that they sit on the edge of two zones and are classed as being in both zones. The reason for this is so that people who may travel in either direction from their start location are not penalised for travelling into another zone, which may cost more.

If the station is sitting on the boundary of zones 1 & 2, you would stay within your starting zone travelling in either direction. See the image below, Notting Hill Gate is in both Zone 1 and Zone 2. Because fares are zone-based, you would pay the fare for a single zone journey.

For example, a single ticket from Notting Hill Gate to Queensway, Lancaster Gate, Marble Arch, Bond Street, Oxford Circus or any other station in Zone 1 would be charged a single-zone fare. And, a single ticket from Notting Hill Gate to Holland Park, Sheperd’s Bush, White City, East Acton, North Acton or any other station in Zone 2 would be charged a single-zone fare.

Stations that are in two zones are shown on the Underground map with a grey box around the station name.

A Station Sitting on the Edge of a Zone

Some stations sit on the edge of 2 zones but are wholly in one zone. For example, if your station is on the is the most inner station in zone 2, you can start your journey at that station and be charged differently depending on where you go. If you travel outwards, away from zone 1 to another station in zone 2 you will be charged a single-zone fare. But when travelling inwards to a station in zone 1 you will be charged a double-zone fare because you have used two zones.

So, if your start station was on the edge of a zone, travelling one single stop in one direction would cause you to cross a zone boundary and your fare would be higher than if you had stayed within your starting zone.

For Example, a single ticket from Queensway inwards to ANY Zone 1 station would be charged a single-zone fare. But a single ticket from Queensway outwards to ANY Zone 2 (even 2 stops to Holland Park) be charged a double-zone fare.

A double zone fare is higher than a single zone fare regardless of the number of stops used.

New Combined Zone 2&3 in East London

A new combined zone 2&3 area has been recently created. It covers a small area to the east of central London around Stratford. The rise in popularity of East London after regeneration due to the 2012 Olympics has meant an increase in passenger numbers. The Westfield Shopping Centre , West Ham United’s London Stadium , The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and the ArcelorMittal Orbit are all new reasons for tourists to travel east.

As you can see from the image below, travel from Zone 3 to any station in the new 2/3 zone will be charged a single-zone fare. And travel from Zone 2 station  to any station in the new 2/3 zone will be charged a single-zone fare

Tourists in London

Most visitors to London will probably only travel inside Zone 1 because most of the main tourist attractions are in Zone 1. However, for those tourists who are staying in a hotel located outside of Zone 1, you will need to purchase the correct ticket to cover your journey through all of the zones you travel. To avoid getting caught out, simply buy an oyster card and load it with enough money for your stay. You will be charged the best ( cheapest capped ) fare based on your journeys.

Use a Visitor Oyster card?

A Visitor Oyster card is a small credit-card sized smartcard. You can buy a visitor oyster card before you leave home and have it delivered to you. It’s active as soon as you arrive in London, so no queuing at stations. It’s a quick and easy way to pay for journeys on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail, River Bus and most National Rail services in London. You can buy a Visitor Oyster Card direct from Tfl Here . Simply choose an amount you would like to add to the card, buy it online and get it sent to your home address before you travel. Any unused credit left on your card can be refunded to you in a number of ways. The Tfl website has all you need to know here . All Visitor Oyster Cards include a non-refundable £5 card fee, which is to cover the cost of the physical card.

Save money on London attractions

The London Pass® is a digital sightseeing credits package that gives you access to 80+ attractions in the city. Choose a duration for your credits package, download it to the official London Pass® app, and scan at the attraction gate to enter. Click here to find out more information.

Save money on London attractions and get a Visitor Oyster Card too

The London Pass® can also be purchased with an additional Visitor Oyster Card. Click here to find out more information.

Historically, the bus network covered 4 zones, from 1 to 4. These did not match the tube zones. Zone 4 on the bus roughly corresponded to zone 6 on the tube. Therefore, you could use a 4 zone Travelcard if you were using the outer network on the bus and the middle 4 zones on the tube. This could save you money.

Today the are no zones for buses in London. You can use any bus, anywhere in any zone, with any Travelcard or Oystercard. A valid Travelcard for zones 1 and 2 can be used on buses in any zone.

Remember, Oystercard prices can vary considerably according to how many zones you travel through. But the maximum you can be charged per day is capped .

When to Travel

The time of the day that you travel will also affect travel costs. Peak hours are generally the busiest hours of the day. The hours when commuters will be using the network. TfL charges higher fares at these times. These hours (excluding public holidays) are from 06:30-09:30 and 16:00-19:00, Monday-Friday.

It’s very easy to try and save yourself some money by travelling into London after 9:30 am when the fares are lower. But you will invariably forget on your way home.

You will have had a lovely day, seeing the sights, buying souvenirs . You will be worn out and ladened with bags, only to find out when you get to the platform that it’s the ‘ rush hour ‘. There are 100s of people on the platform, the next train is already full. And if you do manage to get on, you will be squashed in like sardines .

Then, when you get home and check your oyster balance, you will also see that you were charged a higher fare for the privilege. My advice, stay in London, get a beer or some food and come home when things calm down.

Time on the Network

TfL set maximum times for all pay as you go journeys on the Tube, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail and National Rail services. This means that you can’t travel on the network and just sit on the train going up and down all day or spend excessive time loitering at a station.

Every journey has a maximum journey time, whatever route you take. This depends on the number of zones you cross and the day of the week and the time you’re travelling.

If you spend longer than the maximum journey time, you might be charged two maximum fares. Remember to touch in at the start of your journey and touch out at the end on yellow card readers. Find out more about touching in and out .

For more info, have a look at Wikipedia .

London Christmas photo by Jamie Davies on Unsplash

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Cheap London Travel- Reduce The Cost Of Travel

At first glance, cheap London travel almost seems impossible. With a single tube journey paper ticket costing £4.90- the cost seems out of reach. BUT there are lots of ways that you can reduce the cost of travelling in London, whether you are a regular commuter or you are visiting the city.

First thing’s first- never buy the aforementioned paper ticket! That £4.90 tube journey will cost just £2.40 for a zone 1 single journey using an Oyster card or contactless payment.

Not only will using an Oyster card or contactless payment card mean that your journey is cheaper, but it will also make your journey quicker as you’ll avoid the lengthy queues at the ticket machines.

Page Contents

Cheap London Travel

Not even born and raised Londoners will know the best kept secrets about cheap London travel. The pricing system is pretty complex, so you have to do some digging to find out how to save money on travel in London, but the rewards are worth it! Luckily, this post lays out most of them for you…

Is it cheaper to use an Oyster card or contactless?

So we’ve established that you’ll want to use an Oyster card or contactless payment rather than a paper ticket. But is there a cost difference between Oyster and contactless?

Oyster Card Benefits

All told, an Oyster card can be cheaper than contactless payment as you are able to add a railcard to your Oyster card which saves you a third on off-peak travel. But if you don’t have a railcard? The prices are the same.

To add your railcard to your Oyster card, all you need to do is go to an underground station and ask the clerk to add it onto your Oyster for you- it only takes a minute or two.

If you’re a student living in London, you are likely to be eligible for the 18+ Student Oyster which offers some great discounts. With this card you can get 30% off the price of adult-rate Travelcards and Bus & Tram Pass season tickets. Check if you are eligible for the card on the TFL Website .

Contactless Benefits

If you use contactless payment for your journey (whether that’s a payment card or Apple Pay), you do benefit from Monday-Sunday capping, which you don’t get with an Oyster card.

The cap for journeys made Mon-Sun in zones 1-2 is £34.10 with a contactless card – whereas seven daily caps on an Oyster card come to £47.60.

You might also enjoy: What Is The Average Cost Of Living In London?

Where can I get an Oyster card?

If you’re visiting London, you can get an Oyster card at any tube station with a ticket office. An Oyster card will cost you £5, which acts as a deposit. You can get the £5 refunded to you when you return the Oyster card after your visit.

Do kids travel for free on the tube?

Kids under the age of 11 can travel for free on the bus, tram, DLR, overground and tube when accompanied by an adult. How’s that for some cheap London travel?

For kids aged 11-15, apply for a Zip Oyster card which will allow free travel on buses and trams, and a children’s rate on other services.

If you are visiting London with children who don’t have an 11-15 Zip Oyster photocard, they can get discounted travel for up to 14 days with the Young Visitor discount. This can be applied to any standard Oyster card and offers a 50% discount on adult fares.

For children aged 16-17, there is another Zip Oyster available which again offers free travel on buses and trams, and a 50% discount on adult fares.

How much does commuting in London cost?

The average London commuter spends around £122 a month on travelling to work. And if you commute into London for work? The average cost is around £305 a month.

This accounts for a huge portion for many Londoners’ monthly wage, so if there is a way to reduce the cost of travel in London, it’s well worth doing.

You might also enjoy: How To Live On A Budget In London

Cheapest way to commute in London

The cheapest way to commute in London is of course on foot, but that isn’t always possible. If you’re working in central London it’s unlikely that you are going to find an affordable flat nearby.

However, it’s worth considering moving closer to work if it means that your commuting costs might go down. Check out my guide on how to find an affordable apartment in London , which goes into more detail about how moving closer to work can sometimes pay off.

Take the bus

The next cheapest way to commute is probably going to be by bike, followed closely by the bus. Bus fares in London are generally cheaper than the tube, and also benefit from the Hopper Fare . The Hopper Fare means that any second bus or tram journey made within one hour of the start of your first journey will be free, if you’re using an Oyster card or contactless payment.

Buy a season ticket

If there’s no way round it, and you have to commute by train or tube, you will make large savings if you buy an annual season ticket.

The problem with a season ticket, is that the upfront cost is large- often thousands of pounds. However, there are a couple of ways around this cost.

Check if your employer offers an interest-free season ticket loan. This works on the basis that your employer will pay for the upfront cost of your season ticket, and then deduct the repayments from your monthly salary in 10 or 12 instalments.

This means that you get the cost saving benefit of a season ticket, but you pay for it monthly instead.

You might also enjoy: The Cheapest Place To Park In Central London

How can I make my commute cheaper?

Travel off-peak.

If you’re able to work flexible hours, you could save money on your commute by avoiding travel during peak times. Off-peak travel could cost up to 50% less than peak travel.

Peak time is between 6.30am and 9.30am or between 4pm and 7pm. However it is important to note that these peak times can vary slightly depending on the mode of travel and route you take. Compare prices using the TFL Fare Finder .

Remember, if you travel off-peak and use a railcard, you could save a further 30% off your journey. This would considerably reduce the cost of your commute.

Avoid zone 1

If you are able to avoid zone 1 when commuting, this could make your journey cheaper. There are a number of pink Oyster card readers, and when you tap this with your card, it will recognise that you have not gone through zone 1 to get to your destination.

For a list of stations with pink Oyster card readers, head to the TFL website .

Get organised

If you want to buy a season ticket, make sure that you buy it before the prices go up for the year ahead. Usually rail prices increase yearly in early January, so make sure that you get organised and buy your season ticket BEFORE the prices increase.

Reassess your route

Use apps like Citymapper to check if there is a different way to commute to the office. Perhaps you could take a couple of buses instead of the tube? Or maybe you could spend more time walking and combine this with a train journey?

For lots of people there will be several different modes of transport that you’ll be able to take to get into work- work out which one is the cheapest, and go from there.

Travelling in London is only going to get more expensive as the prices go up each year, but these alternative ideas are likely to help reduce your commuting costs and save you some money.

Here are some key things to remember, whether you’re a visitor or a commuter looking for cheap London travel:

• Never buy a paper ticket
• Add your rail card to your Oyster card (if you have one)
• Avoid travelling to zone 1 by tube
• Switch the tube for the bus to make a saving

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Over 50,000 people benefit from TfL’s ‘Family and friends’ travel perks – you could too

Sick of topping up your Oyster card but got a bud that drives a bus? TfL could cut your travel costs down to zero

Do you regularly travel to Tooting? Are you constantly commuting to Camden? Well, we could have some good news for you.

Our ol’ pal and Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has recently revealed that nominated friends and family members of TfL workers could get free travel.

Figures provided by the Mayor’s office revealed that 54,156 people were using ‘nominee passes’ as of March 2023. These passes grant access to all TfL, tube, bus, Overground services and even a small number of national rail services, all for free! Yep, zilch, zero!

These numbers include more than 19,000 people that have been recommended by TfL staff members, with more than 21,000 being put forwards by bus drivers and more than 10,000 friends or relatives of retired TfL staff. A further 3,000-plus people would be candidates who know a ‘third party’ worker at TfL.

So, if you’ve got a dad that works on the trains or a best bud who drives a bus, now might be the time to have the chat about your travel costs because if you could nab a free travel pass and scrap that Oyster. Why wouldn’t you?

Are London’s foxes getting bolder? We investigate .

Legendary boozer The Prince of Peckham is opening a second venue .

Been there, done that? Think again, my friend.

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TfL data reveals Off-Peak Fridays had 'negligible' impact on journeys

Three months ago it was hailed by Sadiq Khan as a 'groundbreaking' scheme.

But the London Mayor's £24million trial to cut Underground and train fares on Fridays by making them off-peak has had a 'negligible' impact on journeys.

The scheme between March 8 and May 31 reduced travel costs for passengers using contactless and Oyster cards in the Greater London area, in an attempt to get more people commuting post-lockdown and boost the hospitality and cultural industries.

But Tube ridership data from Transport for London ( TfL ) showed the 13-week trial appeared to have resulted in only a 3 per cent increase in usage compared to 2023.

Some 40.6million Underground journeys were made on Fridays during the trial - excluding Good Friday, which is always off-peak all day because it is a bank holiday.

But ridership during the same set of Fridays last year - again excluding Good Friday -was only slightly lower, at 39.4million journeys.

And the 3,330,000 Tube journeys made on the final Friday of the scheme - May 31 - was 54,000 fewer than the 3,384,000 on March 1, the Friday before the trial began.

The ridership data does not reveal the full impact of the scheme because it does not include Elizabeth line, Overground, Docklands Light Railway and National Rail services within the London area – all of which were also included in the trial.

But a TfL finance report earlier this month revealed total journeys across all services had increased by 6 per cent compared to 2013. This suggests that the 3 per cent rise on Fridays might have happened without the trial.

Tube ridership numbers also appeared to have been reduced by National Rail industrial action on two of the relevant Fridays last year.

Keith Prince, City Hall Conservatives' transport spokesman, said: 'The mayor's latest TfL experiment was nothing but an expensive election bribe.

'Off-peak Fridays will end up costing the taxpayer an estimated £24million, despite having a negligible impact on passenger numbers.'

He suggested that the cost could instead have been spent on funding new zero-emissions buses, improving the service on the beleaguered Central line or buying new rolling stock for Croydon's tram network.

Critics have also pointed out that the scheme saved some commuters heading into Central London just £1.20 a week, with those travelling from Zone Two to Zone One  saving 60p each way.

Green Party assembly member Caroline Russell told the Evening Standard that Mr Khan should reinstate free travel for older people before 9am, which was also in place during the trial. This applied to the 1.2million Londoners with a 60+ Oyster or Freedom Pass.

Jon Tabbush, senior researcher at the Centre for London think-tank, told the Financial Times that the effects and scale of the trial were limited, but it was a useful experiment and there were 'political reasons for doing it'.

He added that the reduction in costs was not enough to get people commuting again, but it was 'good for the whole country for cities to be able to test out these ideas and monitor their results'.

Nick Tyler, director of the Centre for Transport Studies research centre at University College London, told the FT that the ideal was to have a 'more civilised life by freeing up the working day, away from the 19th-century factory model', by encouraging flexible working and spreading out journeys across the day.

He added that officials should 'figure out how to make the transport system fit with the people rather than force the people to fit the transport system'.

A TfL spokeswoman said: 'We continue to analyse the impact of our trial of off-peak pay as you go fares on Tube and rail services on a Friday, which ended on 31 May 2024.

'This analysis will take into account a number of aspects including assessing changes to both morning peak ridership and overall daily ridership, as well as the impact to businesses across London.'

TfL added that the publicly-available data only shows total ridership, and therefore cannot be used for analysing changing journey habits during the rush-hour periods of 6.30am to 9.30am then 4pm to 7pm – which were the times affected by the trial.

Officials also cited how the trial covered periods around Easter, school holidays and bank holidays – when ridership can often be changeable.

TfL has previously revealed that Tube usage on Fridays is at only 73 per cent of pre-pandemic levels as many people work from home. This is compared to midweek usage at 85 per cent.

Mr Khan told the State of London Debate last week that comprehensive analysis of the trial is expected to be published within the next few months.

He said: 'The pre-election period has slowed things down a bit, but I'd hope that in the next couple of months, we'll have the results of the off-peak trial.'

Peak pay-as-you-go fares apply on Tube and rail services in London on weekdays between 6.30am and 9.30am, and between 4pm and 7pm.

Someone commuting by Tube from Zone Six in outer London into Zone One in the centre at peak times currently pays £5.60 per journey. Under the trial, this was cut to £3.60 on Fridays.

Speaking when he launched the trial on March 8, Mr Khan said: 'Off-peak Fridays are here. I'm delighted that this groundbreaking trial is now up and running and that there will also be special hospitality, business and entertainment deals taking place on Fridays.'

Examples of other London discounts introduced for Fridays included 20 per cent off the bill at Gaucho restaurants, off-peak prices to see musical Wicked and half-price tickets for the Turn It Up exhibition at the Science Museum.