London Bus with a 13yo

Buzby

Coming down from Scotland, I know about tapping in when using London buses and a contactless card, but how do you pay for a child?

wealdroam

Buzby wrote: »

Coming down from Scotland, I know about tapping in when using London buses and a contactless card, but how do you pay for a child?

Read TfL's Travelling with children webpage.

Scroll down to the heading 11-15s: How to get reduced rate travel and you will see a sub-section Young Visitor discount suggesting that you get an Oystercard for him/her and get that discount set on it.

Full information on how to go about this is all there.

Buzby

There's no way (as a visitor) we can jump through hoops to get a travel card just for a child on the off-chance a bus might be used (an adult can use contactless) with abandon. Paying £15 for a day on the buses I'd hardly Moneysaving!

Is there any other way, or if I give a child my contactless card will the be valid - all things TFL don't mention on their website.

daveyjp

Its not a huge issue to buy a visitor Oyster and have it set for child fares.

jon81uk

Order an extra Oystercard (oyster.tfl.gov.uk) to be posted to you or get one from a tube ticket machine when you arrive. Then if you are bothered about getting the half price child fare you can get it set by a member of staff at a ticket machine. Or just use the Oyster card and pay the adult rate. Or if you have two seperate contactless cards (maybe one debit and one credit) then use one each. But everyone needs their own card, even if the other card is in your name, as long as both cards have different long numbers you can give one to your son and use the other one yourself.

So in summery options are
Get Oyster card by post
Get Oyster card at a tube station (and get child discount set)
Use another contactless card for their travel

Naf

Buzby wrote: »

Paying £15 for a day on the buses.

£15?

A visitor Oyster Card is £3 plus postage (https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/visitor-oyster-card). Then when you arrive get a staff member to put the young person discount on it for you.

wealdroam

Buzby wrote: »

There's no way (as a visitor) we can jump through hoops to get a travel card just for a child on the off-chance a bus might be used (an adult can use contactless) with abandon. Paying £15 for a day on the buses I'd hardly Moneysaving!

Is there any other way, or if I give a child my contactless card will the be valid - all things TFL don't mention on their website.

That's a totally uncalled for response.
I was trying to help you but you go off on an unjustified* rant.

Anyway, here's some more help:

Yes the child can use a contactless card but the fare charged will be that for an adult. You do need one contactless payment card for each traveller.

If you don't like this reply either, or you have any comments to make about the lack of information on their website, then address your complaint to:

TfL: Make a complaint.

*where does that £15 figure come from?

agrinnall

wealdroam wrote: »

*where does that £15 figure come from?

Perhaps the OP forgot to mention that they have 13 year old quintuplets :eek:.

Cornucopia

agrinnall wrote: »

Perhaps the OP forgot to mention that they have 13 year old quintuplets :eek:.

Oyster cards would be the least of their problems.

rach_k

wealdroam wrote: »

*where does that £15 figure come from?

It comes from the OP reading only the very first part of the section you linked to - it is £15 to apply for an 11-15 Oyster Zip Card. Had the OP read a little further, as you advised, he would have read about the 'Young Visitor discount', meaning he might not have felt the need to be abrasive or whinge about the lack of information provided by TFL.

The_Groat_Counter

It's already been mentioned but just to reiterate - it's one card (whether contactless or Oyster) per passenger.

From the TfL website:

You can only pay for one person per journey with contactless. That means if you are travelling in a group, each person will have to use a separate contactless card, mobile phone or other method of payment.

If the OP has two contactless cards, they can use one for themselves and one for the 13 year old.