Question: Should I Buy an Oystercard for My Children?

"I have an 8 year old son and an 11 year old daughter. It will be two adults as well. We plan on using the tube for all of our transportation. We will be there for 1 week so planned on buying a travel card. Do our children in fact need a travel card (I think the 11 year old does for sure) but not sure on the 8 year old.

Should we buy a travelcard and is this the same as an "oyster card?"

Are we able to buy the travel cards at Heathrow to use right away?

Also, are the travelcards good for the buses as well and if so, for the children too?"-- JK

 

Answer: I do know what you mean about the tube ticketing system being confusing. Most Londoners feel like this so I don't know how a visitor is supposed to make sense of it!

A travelcard is a ticket that covers all of your travel for one day or one week, or more. This means you pay a flat rate for that day/week, etc. (See TfL information.)

A one day travelcard is available as a cardboard ticket which you can buy from a ticket machine at any London Underground station. It covers travel by tube, bus, and London Overground trains (local trains). These tickets feed into the barriers at the tube stations and pop out again.

A travelcard for any more than a day has to be bought on an Oyster card. An Oyster card is a plastic ticket, like a credit card, that you charge with money and then touch against card readers as you enter tube stations.

You can have it as a Pay As You Go card, which means it deducts the fare for each journey you make, or if you make a lot of journeys one day it will know to change the maximum one day travelcard rate and no more.

Regarding your children, I would say both are under 11 as then you simply don't pay as long as they travel with you. No-one checks so you'll be fine. (See TfL information.)

"Tube: Up to four under-11s accompanying an adult can travel free anywhere at any time without a ticket or an Oyster photocard. The accompanying adult must hold a valid ticket…"

Don't get caught up in the nightmare of a non-resident 11-15 year old Oyster photocard: Just say your daughter is under 11; I would.

As your children won't have a ticket, you'll need to ask a member of staff to open the wider gate at each station for let you all through. Some stations have a wider gate that you can operate with your ticket; you'll soon start to recognize them.

A pay as you go Oyster card may well be best for the adults, unless you plan to really use London transport for 7 consecutive days. If you'll only use it for 3 days, then a couple of trips and then the airport journey then pay as you go will be more economical. As I mentioned before, it does cap the rate when it reaches the one day travelcard rate so you won’t end up overpaying that way.

The down side of an Oyster card is that you have to queue up at the ticket window at any tube station, including Heathrow Airports London Underground stations, as they are not available from the ticket machines yet. Simply ask for two Pay As You Go Oyster cards and credit each with say £15 and then you can top them up with more credit when needed. Topping up (adding more credit) can be done from machines at any station.

I hope this helps and hasn't just made it all seem even more confusing! I also hope you have a wonderful time in London and the UK.