hop on hop off London ticket info

[kc.cruiser]

What is the difference in the day ticket and the 24 hour ticket? We wouldn't need it till early afternoon. Would the 24 hour take us till the next day or do we need a 2 day pass?

[LondonTowner]

If you bought the 24 hour ticket and got on the bus at say, 13.00 then it would be valid until 13.00 the following day.

[mamkmm2]

There are a couple of different HOHO bus companies in London from what I'm seeing. The two primary companies appear to be "The Original" HOHO bus company and the one that comes with the London Pass. I looked at the reviews of both of these companies and "The Original" seemed to have a higher rate of customer satisfaction.

 

Here's what we are doing and why:

 

1. We are purchasing the 2-Day London Pass with an Oyster card.

 

2. We are purchasing 48 hour "The Original" HOHO bus passes rather than relying on the one that comes with the London Pass which comes with a Thames tour, just like the London Pass.

 

Why is because the London Pass comes with a "purse value" for each duration amount. For example a 2-Day London Pass for an adult has a purse value of 205 GBP. The HOHO bus value is listed as 22 GBP and for two days that would be 44 GBP although I've also been told it only works for one day so it is a little grey. Say basically you have a purse value of 205, minus 44 for the two days of the HOHO bus, that leaves you with 161 GBP of value on your Pass to spend over a two day period.

 

Now most people might not use that much but it isn't really that hard to do:

 

Tower of London 22 GBP

Thames River Boat Cruise 18 GBP

Westminster Abbey 20 GBP

Kensington Palace 15 GBP

Globe Theater 15 GBP

The Monument 4 GBP

London Bicycle tour 24 GBP

Take in a show at one of the Curzon's at night 14 GBP

London Bridge Experience 27 GBP

 

And that leaves 2 pounds of value. If you want to do two nights of shows at the Curzon then you give up something else. Either way, your Pass is no longer valid if you use your purse value before your pass expires time wise.

 

It is just a matter of math and how much you intend on using the card. If you are only going to use it to get into a couple of places ... maybe the Fast Track specific ones ... then probably not a big deal but we plan to use it quite a bit starting first bus of the morning and not stopping until late in the day.

 

I only mention this because some people don't realize there is a purse value limit on the Pass.

[flamomo]

There are a couple of different HOHO bus companies in London from what I'm seeing. The two primary companies appear to be "The Original" HOHO bus company and the one that comes with the London Pass. I looked at the reviews of both of these companies and "The Original" seemed to have a higher rate of customer satisfaction.

 

Here's what we are doing and why:

 

1. We are purchasing the 2-Day London Pass with an Oyster card.

 

2. We are purchasing 48 hour "The Original" HOHO bus passes rather than relying on the one that comes with the London Pass which comes with a Thames tour, just like the London Pass.

 

Why is because the London Pass comes with a "purse value" for each duration amount. For example a 2-Day London Pass for an adult has a purse value of 205 GBP. The HOHO bus value is listed as 22 GBP and for two days that would be 44 GBP although I've also been told it only works for one day so it is a little grey. Say basically you have a purse value of 205, minus 44 for the two days of the HOHO bus, that leaves you with 161 GBP of value on your Pass to spend over a two day period.

 

Now most people might not use that much but it isn't really that hard to do:

 

Tower of London 22 GBP

Thames River Boat Cruise 18 GBP

Westminster Abbey 20 GBP

Kensington Palace 15 GBP

Globe Theater 15 GBP

The Monument 4 GBP

London Bicycle tour 24 GBP

Take in a show at one of the Curzon's at night 14 GBP

London Bridge Experience 27 GBP

 

And that leaves 2 pounds of value. If you want to do two nights of shows at the Curzon then you give up something else. Either way, your Pass is no longer valid if you use your purse value before your pass expires time wise.

 

It is just a matter of math and how much you intend on using the card. If you are only going to use it to get into a couple of places ... maybe the Fast Track specific ones ... then probably not a big deal but we plan to use it quite a bit starting first bus of the morning and not stopping until late in the day.

 

I only mention this because some people don't realize there is a purse value limit on the Pass.

 

Sorry. but I have no idea what you are talking about with this "purse value" or "fast track" stuff. I'd appreciate it if you could clarify it better. Or provide a link to something that explains it more clearly. We are going to only have 1 full day in London post cruise and plan to use the original HoHo bus to see as much as we can squeeze in.

[mamkmm2]

Sorry. but I have no idea what you are talking about with this "purse value" or "fast track" stuff. I'd appreciate it if you could clarify it better. Or provide a link to something that explains it more clearly. We are going to only have 1 full day in London post cruise and plan to use the original HoHo bus to see as much as we can squeeze in.

 

If you are only using the HOHO then you can ignore me. LOL. Basically a lot of people purchase the London Pass to go along with a day in London because it is like a one-card ticket to multiple venues. One of the perks of the London Pass is it also comes with a HOHO ticket but not from The Original HOHO Company.

 

Like I said, if you aren't going to use the London Pass, ignore what I posted. But if you are interested in how it works you can go to https://www.londonpass.com/how-it-works/

 

A couple of questions in it explains what "purse value" is for the London Pass.

 

ETA: A lot of coincidence ... we are from Tampa as well.

Edited April 4, 2016 by mamkmm2

[LondonTowner]

flamomo

 

Ha, ha I am so glad you didn't understand that either. I thought it must have been me, or maybe some Americanism I didn't know about.

[John Bull]

One of the perks of the London Pass is it also comes with a HOHO ticket but not from The Original HOHO Company.

 

 

There are two well-established ho-ho operators in London, the Original and Big Bus. They offer broadly similar routes, frequencies and freebie add-ons, each has their aficionados though Original is perhaps marginally more popular.

 

But the ho-ho included in the London Pass is operated by a third operator, Golden Tours.

 

Golden Tours is well-respected for its regular coach day-trips in and beyond London, but it only started offering its ho-ho service a couple or three years back and its ho-ho service is considerably poorer than the other two.

Main complaint is the poor frequency, typically up to 30 minutes apart rather than the ten minutes or less of the other two operators.

Interestingly its website quotes "buses every 5 to 10 minutes at stops common to multiple routes" The under-lining is mine - Golden Tours wants to appear to offer the same 5 to 10 min frequency as the other operators by lumping all their routes together - a bit naughty :rolleyes:

And although its main sight-seeing route is identical to the others it has fewer add-on routes such as hotel feeders and museums. It also offers fewer freebies such as walking tours.

 

Golden Tours had struggled to make inroads into ho-ho against two well-established and well-respected operators, and their catch-22 situation is understandable. To offer better frequency they need more customers, to get more customers they need better frequency. When Golden Tours started I advised to avoid them until / unless they matched the others.

The arrangement with the London Pass is probably an attempt to get past that catch-22 impasse, but recent independent reviews (eg TripAdvisor) aren't significantly better than their earlier ones and my advice is still the same - stick to Original or Big Bus, despite their being just a few pounds more expensive.

 

Just to clarify a couple of points in mamkmm2's post

- only one 24-hour period for the Golden Tours ho-ho is included in the London Pass.

- all three ho-ho operators include a river cruise in their tickets.

 

JB :)

Edited April 4, 2016 by John Bull

[mamkmm2]

Thanks for the clarification John. Thank you John. Glad to clear up some of the mixed messages I was getting. Especially about the 1 day only HOHO with the London Pass. Saves a lot of frustration.