The Travelcard is a paper ticket valid 24 hours that allows you unlimited travel on all London Transport services.
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As a general rule a Travelcard is more expensive than an Oyster card or Contactless payment card. The exception is if you make 3 or more journeys for 6 days or more within a 7 day period. In this case a 7 day Travelcard works out cheaper than an Oyster or Contactless payment card.
When buying a 24 hour Travelcard, you can choose a Day Anytime, which can be used at any time of the day and is valid until 4:30 am the next day. Or you can get the Day Off-Peak, which only allows you to take public transport after 9:30 am and is also valid until the next day at 4:30 am.
The One Day Travelcard is printed on a paper ticket (you may also want to consider using PAYG on Oyster or Contactless instead, as the daily cap can work out cheaper). Travelcards for 7 days or longer can only be added to your Oyster or train company smartcard.
Off-peak Day Travelcards - use for the whole day from 09:30, Monday to Friday, or anytime on Saturdays, Sundays or public holidays (for the date printed on your ticket), and for journeys starting before 04:30 the next day.
There is no price difference between the Oyster card and contactless card. What is this? Every time you travel on London's public transport, your contactless payment card is charged the same fare as your Oyster, including cap prices (the maximum amount you'll pay daily and weekly to travel throughout London).
Your Travelcard will be date stamped for the dates you wish to use it — so once you've received your Travelcard by post — it's ready for use as soon as you arrive in London! Simply show your Travelcard to bus drivers, and put it through the ticket gates at stations.
Within London, all London Underground, National Rail, London Overground, TfL Rail and Docklands Light Railway stations are assigned to six fare zones. Fare zone 1 covers the central area and fare zones 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 form concentric rings around it.
Pay as you goYou don't have to work out the cost of your journey in advance. You can pay as you go using contactless (card or device), an Oyster card or a Visitor Oyster card. It also offers great value as pay as you go is cheaper than buying single tickets and you get daily and weekly capping.
If you want to travel beyond the Zones permitted by your Travelcard or Pass then you can purchase a Boundary Zone ticket to or from stations outside of London.
You will have been charged an extension fare, taken from your pay as you go balance. If you didn't have any pay as you go credit on your Oyster card, your balance will be negative and you will need to top up your card before you can travel again - even if you have a valid Travelcard.
Oyster fares and caps are the same whether you use a standard Oyster or a Visitor Oyster, a common misconception. Visitor Oyster cards you pay an activation fee (£5 in 2023) which is non-refundable. If you buy a standard Oyster card in London or online after 4 September 2022 you now have to pay £7 for the card.
You can't buy a Visitor Oyster card in London. Go to the Visitor Shop website to buy your card before you leave home and it will be delivered to your home address.