Family railcard and london underground

[phebe3]

I am going to London next week, - Monday to Thursday/Friday (am going to buy tickets today) to stay with a friend who lives in Teddington. I am taking two of my children, aged 15 and 10 with me. When I went last year I bought a Family Railcard (now expired so will have to buy a new one) I think this is the cheapest way to travel to London from Derby? Single fares work out around £30 on the internet. What is the cheapest way to travel about on the London Underground, and we also will need to use "overground" train from Teddington to central London when we go into the capital. Does the Family Railcard get me any discounts? Will be going to station later to day to buy...prefer to do it i perso, unusually for me cos I do everything else on line. Tickets came to same price as on line last year. Thanks a lot.
:j

[morg_monster]

I just wrote a great long post but then realised most of it was bobbins. see my next post below! much better!

[morg_monster]

http://www.silverlink-trains.com/templates/Generic.aspx?id=185

On the Silverlink trains site, they advertise a "Family Travelcard" where either 1 adult and 1 child or 2 adults and up to 4 children travel into london with unlimited travel within the zones.
When I searched for the fares via the silverlink site, I found that an off peak travel card from Teddington for 1 adult and 2 under 15s is just £6.80 in total with a family railcard. what a bargain!

[phebe3]

Have looked but...duhhhh..can't see how to buy one? Never heard of silver link before

[phebe3]

Would I be better off with an oyster card to use in London? It all seems very very complicated!!

[morg_monster]

Sorry!
Silverlink is the name of the company that runs the overland train from Teddington. They run many trains on a network around/in London which is mostly within the zones 1-6.

I got to their "shop" by clicking on "Buy cheap day return tickets now" about 1/3 of way down the page, under heading "Cheap Day Return". I then put in as your journey Teddington-Waterloo, but as you'll see, it comes up with the travelcard as an option with the little tube symbol.

The main reason for not getting an oyster card is that you can't use the Oyster Pay as you Go function on the Silverlink at the moment. So you would have to buy a regular paper ticket return from Teddington to Waterloo (say) and then start using your Oyster once you are there. The most you would pay for travelling offpeak within zone 1 is £4.70, and your 15 yr old would have to pay this too, on TOP of a return from Teddington, so it is much better value to just pay the £6.80.

I think on the whole the paper daily travelcard for the 3 of you will be the easiest way to do it. You don't have to worry about getting the Oystercards, topping up, getting the deposit back at the end of your trip. The only pain will be that if the travelcard is just one ticket for the 3 of you, then you will have to ask to be let in/out of the buggy/luggage gate at every underground station. (Although, if you were using an oyster, your 10 yr old would be free of charge when travelling with you but would not get their own ticket for the barriers, so you would have to be let through the gate anyway!)

Let me know if you have any more questions. I forget how confusing travelling in London is for those who aren't unlucky enough to live there!

[seftonsun]

Would I be better off with an oyster card to use in London? It all seems very very complicated!!


Teddington is not on the underground system and your quickest way in to central London will be via Overground train. You can use a paper Travelcard on overground services in the GLA area (inc Teddington) but not an Oystercard at the moment. They will slowly be putting Oystercard readers in at all Overground stations so that you will then be able to use an Oystercard, but will not be complete for about a couple of years.

You can get three day Travelcards, but they offer no saving over the price of 3 one day Travelcards. Also, you would do better to travel after 09.30 on weekdays as you then qualify for the off peak Travelcard price, which is almost half the price of a peak Travelcard. Teddington is in Zone 6. A one day Zones 1 - 6 Peak Travelcard costs £13.20 whereas the off peak Travelcard costs only £6.70. The three day versions are £39.60 and £20.20 respectively. The other benefit of a One Day Travelcard over the three day version is that up to 4 children (5 - 15 years inc) when accompanying an adult one day Travelcard holder pay just £1.00 for their Zone 1 - 6 off peak Travelcard (normally £2, but £1 saving is better in your pocket than Ken Livingstone's bottomless money pit).

Off peak Travelcards will let you travel all day after 09.30 on all London Buses, the Tube, Overground Rail Services in London Area (inc Teddington), Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and Croydon Tramlink. See the Transport for London website for more info on Fares and Tickets (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/TfL-Fares-April-2007.pdf) (see Page 10 for Travelcard info) and Zones (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/lon_con.pdf)

[phebe3]

Thanks...gosh it's expensive travelling in London!!! Mind you have just returned from Paris and it was as much if not more there. Went to train station and got tickets which with railcard came i at just under £30...not bad I thought for short notice adult and 2 children. When we do travel in London it is always after 9.30 anyway...kids not brill at getting up...and we are on holiday!

[dzug]

A Family railcard is not as such valid on the London Underground.

However if you buy a travelcard from an overground station - which will include travel on the underground! - you do get a reduction with the railcard.