Oyster card or travel card?

fishlips

I will be in London for a week with my 17yr old. I haven't a clue about getting an oyster card or travel card! Do i get a daily card or a weekly card if so which one? It will be mostly zones 1+2 and off peak. I have a disabled persons railcard which gets discount on one day cards (i think) and my son has a 16+ card. How much will i be and whats best? Thanks for ANY help.

Mankysteve

Well they both end costing the same. Oyster cards are more convenient in my opinion.

Livingthedream

Your going to get a lot of different opinions on this question. My opinion Oyster works out cheaper and is the best option for adults only. [STRIKE]However, and this is why I choose travelcards is the fact it's a hassle to get hold of 16-18 zip photo card (which gives child rate travel), roll on when it's just me and the missus doing our trips to London.[/STRIKE]

[STRIKE]Both 16-25 and[/STRIKE] Disabled railcard discounts can be addedd to one day travelcards and will give you a £2.70 saving on an Off Peak Travelcard (1-6)

Just remembered you can also put railcard discounts on Adult Oyster cards, so you will get a discount for a disabled railcard[STRIKE]16-25 railcard but it won't be as good a saving as the 16-18 zip Oyster.[/STRIKE]

Edit: Amended due to posting by OP @5

alanrowell

How are you getting to London? If by train then you can use your train tickets to get 2-4-1 offers on daysoutguide.com - this includes if you are travelling from Gatwick, Luton or Stansted by train. Just ensure you have both outward and return tickets to hand to qualify for the whole period of your stay. If you are arriving at Heathrow or London City then you can still qualify for the offers by buying a Travelcard at a London train station.

If you aren't interested in the offers then you can use Oystercard PAYG rather than a Travelcard as by adding your disabled / student railcard to the Oystercard this reduces the daily cap by one-third.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/18343.aspx

If you are travelling from LHR or LCY then you can mix and match and use Oystercard PAYG for most of your travel BUT if you want to use the 2-4-1 offers buy a one day Travelcard for the day you use the offers

fishlips

fishlips wrote: »

I have a disabled persons railcard which gets discount on one day cards (i think) and my son has a 16+ card.

The 16+ card my son has is an oyster card not a student railcard, sorry for any confusion.

I'm travelling to London on the Caledonian Sleeper. Thanks again.

dzug1

Your son's travel seems to be taken care of. He can get a child rate (half price) 7 day travelcard

For you a 7 day travelcard for zones 1-2 for zones 1-2 is £27.60. If you have it on Oyster and add a bit of PAYG money you can cater for the occasional out of zone travel

The Oyster cap for a one day's off peak travel in zones 1-2 with a railcard enabled is £4.35 (approx).

So on the face of it if you are travelling about for 7 full days it's a 7 day travelcard - 6 days PAYG Oyster

Mankysteve

If he going for child fare make sure he has a valid Age ID.

dzug1

Mankysteve wrote: »

If he going for child fare make sure he has a valid Age ID.

Which is exactly what the zip Oyster card is.

yorkie2

fishlips wrote: »

I will be in London for a week with my 17yr old. I haven't a clue about getting an oyster card or travel card! Do i get a daily card or a weekly card if so which one? It will be mostly zones 1+2 and off peak. I have a disabled persons railcard which gets discount on one day cards (i think) and my son has a 16+ card. How much will i be and whats best? Thanks for ANY help.

Firstly the question isn't quite right. A Travelcard is a product (with various versions, 1 day, 7 day, 1 month (including additional days if required) and annual, and for a variety of different zones).

An Oyster card is a medium.

Travelcards are available on Oyster, or on paper ticket, except for the 1-day version which is only available on a paper ticket.

Pay As You Go is only available with Oyster. There is a daily cap which is the same price as the equivalent daily Travelcard.

You can mix n match, ie, get a Zones 1-2 Travelcard on an Oyster card, and if you go out of the Zones you will be charged the appropriate PAYG rate for the additional zone(s) travelled through. (In some cases there may be no additional charge)

There is a 'decision tree' here which can help determine which option is best here however it does not take into account Railcard discounts and is only accurate for full adult rates.