Advice Needed for Family Travel In London

keasden

Can anyone advise on the best (ie cheapest) options for 2 x families of 2 adults and 2 kids travelling round London for a week. We are staying in the centre (Zone 1) and I expect we will be travelling around on the tube or buses a lot mainly in zones 1 and 2.

I am put off the Oyster card as it would mean putting money on 8 different cards and we have no idea how much to put on each card so there is a danger of money being left on the card at the end of our weeks trip, which would be wasted.

I prefer the idea of us all having a 7 day travel ticket, which are priced at £25.89 on the Tfl site (adult off-peak) which seems good value. The kids tickets are priced at £12.90 but I am sure I saw a site yesterday which said kids could get a travel card for zones 1-6 for just £1 if travelling with adults with a F&F railcard. Problem is I have no idea how we would buy the kids tickets at that price?

I have never encountered such a confusing array of travel options, lord knows what foreign visitors must make of all this!

All help greatly appreciated.

p00hsticks

keasden wrote: »

I am put off the Oyster card as it would mean putting money on 8 different cards and we have no idea how much to put on each card so there is a danger of money being left on the card at the end of our weeks trip, which would be wasted.

I thought that you could simply hand the cards back and get any unused money (plus the £3 deposit) refunded ?

richardw

The problem with the tube in central London is some of the stations are very deep and it can take ages to get down all those escalators to the platform.
I prefer buses and walking.

neilmcl

You could always try these new bicyles that's been on the news, only £1 per day I believe.

nickc1989

As p00hsticks said, any money on an Oyster card is refunded when you take it back. In my opinion, the best way you can do this is:

1. Adults get the 7-day Travelcard for £25.80. This covers all areas in Zone 1 and 2; if you want to stray, the Zone 1-6 is about £5 more each. You can either get a paper Travelcard (which can only bought from railway stations) or the easier option (as in, less likely to be lost or stolen) is to have the Travelcard loaded onto an Oyster card, and then give the Oyster back at the end to get your £3 deposit back.

2. As you say, if you have a F&F railcard, each child is only £1 per day. You only need to walk up to the Tube office and ask for this, and it won't be a problem. I don't know whether you already have a F&F railcard, but if you don't, it's probably just about worth getting one, because the 7-day ticket for kids (as you say) is £12.90, so there's £5.90 saved per child, with the railcard £24 as far as I know.

Hope this helps anyway, feel free to ask if anything doesn't make sense!

keasden

nickc1989 wrote: »

As p00hsticks said, any money on an Oyster card is refunded when you take it back. In my opinion, the best way you can do this is:

1. Adults get the 7-day Travelcard for £25.80. This covers all areas in Zone 1 and 2; if you want to stray, the Zone 1-6 is about £5 more each. You can either get a paper Travelcard (which can only bought from railway stations) or the easier option (as in, less likely to be lost or stolen) is to have the Travelcard loaded onto an Oyster card, and then give the Oyster back at the end to get your £3 deposit back.

2. As you say, if you have a F&F railcard, each child is only £1 per day. You only need to walk up to the Tube office and ask for this, and it won't be a problem. I don't know whether you already have a F&F railcard, but if you don't, it's probably just about worth getting one, because the 7-day ticket for kids (as you say) is £12.90, so there's £5.90 saved per child, with the railcard £24 as far as I know.

Hope this helps anyway, feel free to ask if anything doesn't make sense!

Thanks for the replies. I already have the F&F railcard as we are travelling down by train, so it has saved us a fair amount already.

Would we have to buy the kids tickets each day, or can we buy 7 days worth at once? If we do have to get them every day is it a case of queuing at a ticket window every day or can we use a ticket machine at the tube, seems a bit of a palava either way if that is the case.

dzug1

Whether you can buy 7 days at once depends on how well the clerk has been trained and possibly his mood.......

I would think the larger ticket machines sell them, but I've never looked that closely.