Oyster Card or Travel card in London

[pink845]

Going to be in London for three full days prior to our cruise in August.  Right now staying at the Crown Plaza London Heathrow Terminal 4.  But would like to go into London and see the sights during the 3 days.  LHR is in Zone 6.  What would serve us best, 3 one day travel cards per person for off peak travel 14.40 GPB each or buying an Oyster card and putting 14.10 GPB on 2 cards X 3 days totaling 42.30 GPB, upping to 55.GPB to be on the safe side.  We also want to head to Windsor Castle one of the days.  Do we have to pay a fee to purchase the Oyster Card in addition to the money we add to it (above) to cover the daily cap. 

 

Can Oyster or Travel Cards be purchased at London Heathrow Terminal 2 where we land.  I know we need to take some sort of transportation also to get to our hotel that first morning to drop off our bags.  A whole lot of confusing.   We know the commute is approximately an hour from our hotel to downtown but that is fine as we are saving loads of dollars as we are using points staying at the Crown Plaza.  My husband keeps saying we have to use those points eventually anyways and we are getting good value at the Crown Plaza.  Downtown prices are crazy expensive even with points.

[gumshoe958]

If you have credit or debit cards that are contactless enabled - ie that let you just tap and pay without having to enter a PIN or sign anything - OR you have Apple or Google Pay on your phone, you don’t need to bother with Oyster or travelcards. 
 

Just touch in and touch out at the start & end of every tube or rail journey and you’ll be charged a maximum of £14.90 a day. This is by far the easiest and most cost-effective way of getting around London.

 

Visitor Oyster cards cannot be bought in London or at the airport. You have to order them by mail before you leave home and they’re only worth considering if you don’t have contactless cards or Apple/Google Pay.

 

One-day travelcards cost more - £15.20 if you don’t use them before 9:30am Mon-Fri or £21.50 if you do - and can be bought in London or at the airport. But they’re only worth considering if you don’t have contactless cards or Google/Apple Pay and are using cash.

 

Windsor is a bit more complicated as it is outside London. From Heathrow there is a direct bus (number 8, every 30-60 mins, takes an hour) from Terminal 5 (not 4). Or from London, there is a direct train from Waterloo station (every 30 mins, takes an hour). 
 

Either way you’ll need to buy a separate ticket at the station or on the bus, using cash or contactless card, as Windsor is not part of the Transport for London network and its daily fare capping and Oyster cards aren’t valid.

 

[gumshoe958]

To add - while VISITOR Oyster cards aren’t available to buy in London, standard Oyster cards are. You can buy them with cash at tube station ticket machines, for a £7 admin fee.

 

Still much easier to use a contactless card or Apple/Google Pay to get around though!

 

If you’re arriving at Terminal 2, it’s a short walk via underground tunnel to Heathrow T2/3 tube station. Take the Piccadilly line one stop to Hatton Cross, get off and wait on the other platform for a train back to Terminal 4. That’s a free journey but you’ll need your contactless or Oyster card to get through the barriers at both ends.

[Island2Dweller]

Do not buy "visitor oyster" in advance.  It costs more than the "regular" oyster that you can buy on arrival and has less functionality.  (You'll see it heavily promoted - because the seller makes big commission).  Oyster on arrival costs £7, not refundable.  If you do decide to use oyster, it takes seconds to buy on arrival, at any underground station, there's one in each terminal.

Oyster was revolutionary when introduced, but is now "old tech".  Most fares in London are now paid by Contactless bank card or phone, which ends up being cheaper (no £7 up front fee).

Do not buy paper tickets for travel in London - they are deliberately priced high to deter use.

For Windsor, you can take the regular bus from T4 to T5 (using contactless card, phone pat, or oyster) then take the bus to Windsor.  Oyster NOT accepted on that but card or phone will be (99% of buses in the UK encourage payment by card or phone)

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, Island2Dweller said:

Oyster was revolutionary when introduced, but is now "old tech".  Most fares in London are now paid by Contactless bank card or phone, which ends up being cheaper (no £7 up front fee).

 

There must be some people in TfL who are praying that traffic levels don't recover to pre-pandemic levels because the gate lines at busy stations wouldn't cope with high numbers of phone payments at peak hours. It's simultaneously entertaining and infuriating to watch people try to get through gates using their phones to pay. The gate occupancy time per passenger - often 5, 10 or even 15 seconds per person - is huge compared to Oyster users. Oyster may be "old tech", but it is still the fastest way to get through the gate.

[ksmommy5]

On 3/19/2023 at 4:28 AM, gumshoe958 said:

To add - while VISITOR Oyster cards aren’t available to buy in London, standard Oyster cards are. You can buy them with cash at tube station ticket machines, for a £7 admin fee.

 

Still much easier to use a contactless card or Apple/Google Pay to get around though!

 

If you’re arriving at Terminal 2, it’s a short walk via underground tunnel to Heathrow T2/3 tube station. Take the Piccadilly line one stop to Hatton Cross, get off and wait on the other platform for a train back to Terminal 4. That’s a free journey but you’ll need your contactless or Oyster card to get through the barriers at both ends.

How does contactless work with multiple ppl travelling? Im going with my teen. Do I need two cards on my Apple Pay? 

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, ksmommy5 said:

How does contactless work with multiple ppl travelling? Im going with my teen. Do I need two cards on my Apple Pay? 

 

Each person needs to use a separate device or payment card.

 

Always remember to touch out using the same device/card that you used to touch in for that journey. Always use the same device/card during any single day to get the maximum benefit from fare capping. If you must use a battery-powered device, rather than a physical card, remember to make sure its battery has enough charge.

 

And at Tube station gates, always remember to touch on the reader to the right of the gate. The green arrow on the display will show you which gate is opened by its reader. (It's very funny when someone who wears their "smart" watch on their left wrist touches it on the reader to their left.)

[ksmommy5]

1 minute ago, Globaliser said:

 

Each person needs to use a separate device or payment card.

 

Always remember to touch out using the same device/card that you used to touch in for that journey. Always use the same device/card during any single day to get the maximum benefit from fare capping. If you must use a battery-powered device, rather than a physical card, remember to make sure its battery has enough charge.

 

And at Tube station gates, always remember to touch on the reader to the right of the gate. The green arrow on the display will show you which gate is opened by its reader. (It's very funny when someone who wears their "smart" watch on their left wrist touches it on the reader to their left.)

Thank you! Sounds like it’s just easiest to get us (or at least one of us) oyster card and the other uses Apple Pay. 

[Globaliser]

7 minutes ago, ksmommy5 said:

Sounds like it’s just easiest to get us (or at least one of us) oyster card and the other uses Apple Pay. 

 

If you have a teen who doesn't have their own NFC-enabled device, then I take my hat off to you as a parent.

[ksmommy5]

8 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

 

If you have a teen who doesn't have their own NFC-enabled device, then I take my hat off to you as a parent.

lol well he has a phone data only but we are not bringing it and I’m am Most definitely NOT putting any of my credit or debit cards on it lol 

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, ksmommy5 said:

lol well he has a phone data only but we are not bringing it and I’m am Most definitely NOT putting any of my credit or debit cards on it lol 

 

In all seriousness, if he is aged 11-15 then if you get an Oyster you can ask station staff to set the Young Visitor Discount on it, which basically gives him 50% off for 14 days. See here for more details: https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/11-15-zip-oyster-photocard?intcmp=55575#on-this-page-5 and https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/getting-around-london/best-ways-for-visitors-to-pay#on-this-page-3

[fruitmachine]

2 hours ago, ksmommy5 said:

Thank you! Sounds like it’s just easiest to get us (or at least one of us) oyster card and the other uses Apple Pay. 

Your specific question has been answered, but for others in a similar situation, one person with phone-pay and one with the physical card will work fine.