Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The
Seven-Day Travelcard
is a great option if you're staying four or more days and
plan to use buses and the Tube a lot. It's issued as credit on your plastic Oyster card (de-
scribed next), and gives you unlimited travel anytime, anywhere in Zones 1 and 2 for a
week (
£
31.40 plus the refundable
£
5 deposit for the Oyster card). As with a standard Oys-
ter card, you'll touch it to the yellow card reader when entering or exiting a Tube turnstile,
or when boarding a bus. It's smart to keep an extra
£
5-6 worth of credit on your Oyster
card on top of the Travelcard to cover travel outside zones 1-2 or after your Travelcard
runs out.
Oyster Cards
A pay-as-you-go Oyster card (a plastic card embedded with a computer chip) allows you
to economically ride the Tube, buses, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), and Overground
(mostly suburban trains). On each type of transport, you simply lay the card flat against (or
sufficiently near) the yellow card reader at the turnstile or entrance, it flashes green, and
the fare is automatically deducted. (You'll also tap your card again to “touch out” as you
exit the Tube and DLR turnstiles, but not to exit buses.)
With an Oyster card, rides cost about half the price of individual paper tickets (
£
2.20
or
£
2.80 per Tube ride—depending on time of day,
£
1.45 per bus ride; the card is not
shareable among companions taking the same ride). You buy the card itself at any Tube
station ticket window for a refundable
£
5 deposit, then load it up with as much credit as
you want. (For extra peace of mind, you could ask about registering your card against theft
or loss.) When your balance gets low, simply add credit—or “top up”—at a ticket window
or machine. A price cap on the pay-as-you-go Oyster card guarantees you'll never pay
more than the One-Day Travelcard price within a 24-hour period.
