One day travel card for London

[mike57]

We are visiting London on Friday, and need one day travel cards (Zones 1 -6 off peak) for our onward travel to various locations during the day. In the past we have been able to buy them at our local staffed station (Bridlington or Scarborough) in advance. However we tried to buy our tickets on Saturday afternoon and the ticket office was struggling to get the correct ticket out of the system. We have done it in this way in the past, has something changed, or was it just a local problem Saturday. To be fair the person at the counter was helpful, but he just couldnt get the required ticket. (we already have our travel tickets to London, these were bought in advance sometime ago). Is it worth trying a self-service ticket machine?

 

[swt_passenger]

I think it’s been suggested before that a local ticket office having problems should look for a journey from a London Terminal, eg Kings Cross, to location code “0035”.

 

[mike57]

I think it’s been suggested before that a local ticket office having problems should look for a journey from a London Terminal, eg Kings Cross, to location code “0035”.

OK thanks, I will have another try. Thing is neither of our staffed stations are local (as in car or rail journey needed) so it has to be combined with something else if possible.

 

[JonathanH]

Is it worth trying a self-service ticket machine?

While not familiar enough with Northern self-service machines to know if they will issue a travelcard from a remote station, in boundary travelcards can be bought on most booking engines for pick up from a TVM. Just pick a station in London and the London Terminal - the mixing deck websites (eg TPE) even allow 0035 as a destination.

 

[Haywain]

You could just buy them in London on Friday. Or, even easier, use contactless payment for the day.

 

[transportphoto]

You could just buy them in London on Friday. Or, even easier, use contactless payment for the day.

I’d concur with this, don’t worry about getting these in advance. If you’d like, the guard onboard your train to London will most likely be able to assist you in selling these too.

 

[Statto]

You could just buy them in London on Friday. Or, even easier, use contactless payment for the day.

I've never used contactless for the full day in London, might do this next time i visit, i see the daily cap, is the day Travelcard price, & think you only have to tap in & out on Tube & Rail.

 

[Watershed]

If you’d like, the guard onboard your train to London will most likely be able to assist you in selling these too.

Unfortunately nowadays, many TOCs (even those which serve London) only issue their staff with "bog roll" ticket stock - which cannot be used for Travelcards.

 

[mmh]

I've never used contactless for the full day in London, might do this next time i visit, i see the daily cap, is the day Travelcard price, & think you only have to tap in & out on Tube & Rail.

And DLR. It's easy to be caught out by that as the vast majority of DLR stops have standalone readers not gates, and sometimes in non obvious locations.

Basically you have to tap out on anything that isn't a bus or tram.

 

[jfollows]

If your onward travel in London is for railway interests and may involve your staying on platforms for extended periods of time, you might be advised to buy a paper Travelcard. There is plenty of discussion on why on this forum but essentially comes down to being "timed out" and charged a maximum fare if you don't exit the system within a certain amount of time. Otherwise, contactless is much simpler and hassle free. If you want a record of your travel, you can register your contactless card with TFl to create an account with them, but you don't have to.

 

[mike57]

While not familiar enough with Northern self-service machines to know if they will issue a travelcard from a remote station, in boundary travelcards can be bought on most booking engines for pick up from a TVM. Just pick a station in London and the London Terminal - the mixing deck websites (eg TPE) even allow 0035 as a destination.

Just tried KGX - London Travelcard Zones 1-6 in TPE mixing deck, no ticket, however changing KGX to Old Street and the travel card is available to buy and collect...

 

[Haywain]

I've never used contactless for the full day in London, might do this next time i visit, i see the daily cap, is the day Travelcard price, & think you only have to tap in & out on Tube & Rail.

To be honest, the only reasons for not using contactless are that you have a railcard or that you intend to spend most of your time inside the system (sitting on platforms or going round the Circle line multiple times).

 

[Watershed]

To be honest, the only reasons for not using contactless are that you have a railcard or that you intend to spend most of your time inside the system (sitting on platforms or going round the Circle line multiple times).

Or a staff travel discount. But that is very niche.

 

[Haywain]

Or a staff travel discount. But that is very niche.

And is a sort of a railcard (and too damn complicated for me to bother with it).

 

[mike57]

Had another go on the tpe mixing deck, and success, I've managed to get 2 travel cards with rail cards, from origin London Terminals to London Travel and Zones 1-6, put in Old Street as start, and then selected second option on tickets which changed origin to London Terminals. Not intuitive, but I've got my rail card discount. Its. £10 saved on two travel cards.

 

[Western Sunset]

I always get a Travelcard. I like to have an orange bit of card in my mitt.

 

[PeterC]

And DLR. It's easy to be caught out by that as the vast majority of DLR stops have standalone readers not gates, and sometimes in non obvious locations.

Basically you have to tap out on anything that isn't a bus or tram.

I forget which station but at least one DLR station has the readers hidden under the staircase,behind the passenger as they make their way out.

 

[mike57]

Just cycled up to Bempton station and was able to collect tickets even although Bempton isn't recognised by tpe. I had put Bridlington in when giving collection station. Thanks to @JonathanH for the 0035 code, this was part of the key to the puzzle.

On a wider note Mr&Mrs Average Traveller don't stand a chance.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Just cycled up to Bempton station and was able to collect tickets even although Bempton isn't recognised by tpe. I had put Bridlington in when giving collection station. Thanks to @JonathanH for the 0035 code, this was part of the key to the puzzle.

On a wider note Mr&Mrs Average Traveller don't stand a chance.

Unless they live in the South East where outboundary Travelcards are a thing (typically slightly cheaper than the relevant return ticket plus Travelcard), anyone not knowing the "ins and outs" is probably best served using contactless.

 

[blakey1152]

I forget which station but at least one DLR station has the readers hidden under the staircase,behind the passenger as they make their way out.

It's not Woolwich Arsenal is it? There is a very odd yellow Oyster reader just as you leave the DLR going onto the National Rail platform 2 heading towards Kent.
I am baffled as to why it's there as initially I thought it may be to show which route you took but its not a pink reader and you'd need to tap in at either the gateline at Woolwich Arsenal NR OR DLR to gain access to that platform in any case!

If you do use contactless and are choosing to use the Waterloo and City line from Waterloo to Bank don't forget to tap in before heading down the stairs to the W&C line. it's so easy to walk past that reader and forget to tap in particularly if you've travelled via the Tube as you assume you are continuing your journey and then get a maximum fare for not tapping in when you get to Bank!

I really think that there should be more signage pointing this out at Waterloo - I bet they get loads of people with max fares every day!

 

[Kite159]

It's not Woolwich Arsenal is it? There is a very odd yellow Oyster reader just as you leave the DLR going onto the National Rail platform 2 heading towards Kent.
I am baffled as to why it's there as initially I thought it may be to show which route you took but its not a pink reader and you'd need to tap in at either the gateline at Woolwich Arsenal NR OR DLR to gain access to that platform in any case!

If you do use contactless and are choosing to use the Waterloo and City line from Waterloo to Bank don't forget to tap in before heading down the stairs to the W&C line. it's so easy to walk past that reader and forget to tap in particularly if you've travelled via the Tube as you assume you are continuing your journey and then get a maximum fare for not tapping in when you get to Bank!

I really think that there should be more signage pointing this out at Waterloo - I bet they get loads of people with max fares every day!

Or would the system be clever enough to put 2 + 1 together to get 4, that a touch out at Waterloo followed by a touch out at Bank ~ 10 minutes later was the same journey?

 

[blakey1152]

Or would the system be clever enough to put 2 + 1 together to get 4, that a touch out at Waterloo followed by a touch out at Bank ~ 10 minutes later was the same journey?

Sadly not! I got caught out last month but fortunately the Oyster helpline refunded it after I explained to them what happened and what my actual full journey was.

 

[Hadders]

What you'll notice travelling around London is that if you use a paper ticket you'll be in a significant minority. Almost everybody uses contactless or oyster.

It feels weird when you alight from the DLR or use an unbarriered station with a paper ticket as everyone touches out on the validator as you exit the station With a paper ticket you don't touch out so you can just walk past the validator, which does appear as though you're fare evading!!!

 

[blakey1152]

Absolutely, unfortunately although paper tickets are nice to have - especially if you intend on doing some train spotting - as there is no maximum journey times to worry about you do pay a premium for having one.
Even more of a premium if you purchase a paper all day one day Travelcard during the week as the contactless/Oyster is capped at the off peak price (which is lower than the paper ticket off peak price!)

 

[JonathanH]

What you'll notice travelling around London is that if you use a paper ticket you'll be in a significant minority. Almost everybody uses contactless or oyster.

Part of the reason for that as well though is that Oyster and Contactless is how simple point to point journeys are made in London. As capping and travelcards are zone 1 centric, a lot of journeys have to be made outside zone 1 to reach a cap, let alone justify a travelcard.

For holders of Network Railcards, for as long as the railcard continues to exist, travelling at the weekend means a paper travelcard is cheaper than capping and for any weekday journey from outside the zones.

 

[MikeWh]

I've never used contactless for the full day in London, might do this next time i visit, i see the daily cap, is the day Travelcard price, & think you only have to tap in & out on Tube & Rail.

The daily cap is less than the travelcard price, sometimes significantly. Zone 1-6 off-peak day travelcard is £14.40 whereas the daily cap is £14.10. If you only use zones 1-2 then the same travelcard price applies but the daily cap is only £7.70.

I forget which station but at least one DLR station has the readers hidden under the staircase,behind the passenger as they make their way out.

It might be Heron Quays.

It's not Woolwich Arsenal is it? There is a very odd yellow Oyster reader just as you leave the DLR going onto the National Rail platform 2 heading towards Kent.
I am baffled as to why it's there as initially I thought it may be to show which route you took but its not a pink reader and you'd need to tap in at either the gateline at Woolwich Arsenal NR OR DLR to gain access to that platform in any case!

Initially it was pink but they changed it to yellow soon afterwards saying it was a mistake. It's only real use is if you want to start/end an Oyster journey there and use paper tickets on Thameslink to/from beyond Dartford.

If you do use contactless and are choosing to use the Waterloo and City line from Waterloo to Bank don't forget to tap in before heading down the stairs to the W&C line. it's so easy to walk past that reader and forget to tap in particularly if you've travelled via the Tube as you assume you are continuing your journey and then get a maximum fare for not tapping in when you get to Bank!

I really think that there should be more signage pointing this out at Waterloo - I bet they get loads of people with max fares every day!

Or would the system be clever enough to put 2 + 1 together to get 4, that a touch out at Waterloo followed by a touch out at Bank ~ 10 minutes later was the same journey?

Sadly not! I got caught out last month but fortunately the Oyster helpline refunded it after I explained to them what happened and what my actual full journey was.

It is fixed the other way because entry at Waterloo NR is treated as continuation entry if you're already in the system.

 

[tomuk]

Unless they live in the South East where outboundary Travelcards are a thing (typically slightly cheaper than the relevant return ticket plus Travelcard)

You can get them in the far West Midlands. How far away can you get them? Is it Network Card area only?

 

[jfollows]

You can get them in the far West Midlands. How far away can you get them? Is it Network Card area only?

No, you can get them from Crewe also, and in the past there was a Saturday ticket from Manchester which required an outbound seat reservation (so was quota controlled) but return on any train, plus a Travelcard. Not quite the same I know.

 

[Class800]

What you'll notice travelling around London is that if you use a paper ticket you'll be in a significant minority. Almost everybody uses contactless or oyster.

It feels weird when you alight from the DLR or use an unbarriered station with a paper ticket as everyone touches out on the validator as you exit the station With a paper ticket you don't touch out so you can just walk past the validator, which does appear as though you're fare evading!!!

To avoid this perception, I personally have my paper ticket in my hand as I walk past the validators. I do this regularly on long distance rail journeys that end in suburban London at ungated stations

 

[miklcct]

To be honest, the only reasons for not using contactless are that you have a railcard or that you intend to spend most of your time inside the system (sitting on platforms or going round the Circle line multiple times).

And to split ticket without changing trains, e.g. if the intention is to go to Brighton direct from zone 1 at the end of the day - using contactless you are forced to exit the train at East Croydon to tap out or buy a full-length ticket from Victoria.