Oyster Card or 'one Day pass'

socks_uk

My husband and I are going to london to take back my sister to Heathrow airport to go home to USA and then pick up my mother-in-law and her husband who are coming to visit from Canada.

We are staying at the Heston Travelodge (East or West, can't remember without looking at email but at £15 per room per night just booked them and knew they were close to Heathrow) and I don't mind driving to the underground station (probably Osterly or Boston Manor) but from there on we are planning on using the Tube. Looking into both Oyster and one day travel and I can see that it costs £5.40 for the one day pass but I can't work out the Oyster Card.

We don't yet know where we will be visiting and so we don't know how many journeys we will be making. I noticed some sort of 'capping' thing on the Oyster but I don't know enough of it to understand it. We'll be using the Tube for about 4 days (3 days for my mother-in-law).

Can anyone point us in the right direction of which to buy?

Thanks,
Jill

Bossyboots

The Oyster card caps your journey at no more than the cost of the travel card. Therefore, if your journey would have been cheaper by buying two separate tickets (for example) you will pay that price but if you do a lot of chopping and changing buses and tube you will pay no more than the travelcard price.

socks_uk

thanks Bossyboots.
So it would be best to buy an Oyster card.
Would it be one Oyster card per person? and would it be better to buy them in advance online or could we buy it at the tube station?

I know we won't be doing any peak time travel (my husband likes his lie-ins and the in-laws will be still on 'Canadian time'!) Any ideas what an early bird can do in a Travelodge room between her waking up at 6am and 10am or later when the others will wake up

Astaroth

The oyster card prepay is always cheaper than buying a paper ticket but the problem is that you cannot use them on national rail trains but can the underground, DLR etc

Bossyboots

socks_uk wrote:

thanks Bossyboots.
So it would be best to buy an Oyster card.
Would it be one Oyster card per person? and would it be better to buy them in advance online or could we buy it at the tube station?

I know we won't be doing any peak time travel (my husband likes his lie-ins and the in-laws will be still on 'Canadian time'!) Any ideas what an early bird can do in a Travelodge room between her waking up at 6am and 10am or later when the others will wake up

You will need an Oyster card per person. I should have pointed out that fares using Oyster are lower than if you pay per journey. If you have time you could get them online but I found it just as easy to get my from the tube station although I only got mine the day before I travelled so didn't really have a choice.

The thing I hate most about going on holiday is the fact that I always wake up before everyone else. I spend the time reading or I go for a walk but the latter is probably not an option for you in Heston. The bowling alley on the Bath Road might be open at that time though but I don't imagine it would be much fun going on your own.

socks_uk

Sorry for the late reply but Thanks for the reply, just got back from a weekend in Blackpool. Not sure I can even afford the trip to London so i need all the money saving tips I can get.

Thanks again,
Jill

lamnicholas

If you get an Oyster card (£3 deposit) and add credit (Pay as you go) and travel around for a day, the maximim you will be capped at least 50p less than the cost of a paper day travelcard. The fares using Oyster are also MUCH cheaper than paying cash.

Just remember to always touch in and touch out the card on the gates on the tube as you enter/exit.