Travel Inside London

TRAVEL INSIDE LONDON :-

Note: To travel on tube and buses in london you will need to buy an Oyster Pay As You Go Card from TubeStation or other TFL ticket Counters. This card will always charge you minimum fare on your local travel in london and so you don’t have to worry about calculating prices and fares of your local travel inside london. If you plan to use National Rail (Overground) to see London/UK during your stay here or if you plan to use Oyster Pay As You Go Card for more than 12days in london then you will save even more if you buy a national rail young person’s (age < 25 yrs) rail card (Costs £25 for an year) from a national rail/overground station and linking it with your Oyster Pay As You Go Card. You will save around £2 on your daily off-preak travel in london and 33% on your off-peak national rail travel outside london. Check this http://IAmNewToLondon.com/tips/TFLOysterFaresJan09Onwards.html to see how much you can save.
Check out www.LondonTravelPlanner.mobi, www.journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk to plan your journey From Point A to Point B, inside london on Train/Tube/Bus/DLR etc. Its a very useful website. It tells you the total expected journey time PLUS the Start and Destination Maps with walking route (If a walk is part of your route to reach an address) in green color.
NOTE:
1)The TransportForLondon Dept runs a very helpful and little known Mobile-SMS service for people lost in london and trying to get to somewhere from somewhere. When you are lost in london, at any time of day or night, type a Text Msg(SMS) on your mobile like “A to B” (Where A and B can be name of Bus Stop/Tube Station/Post Code) to 60835 and in few seconds you will receive back a Text Message from TFL telling you about the best/fastest route to reach your destination. For Ex “Holborn to Baker Street” MORE HERE.
2)TfL has launched a new service to help you get home. When you’re out and about, just text CAB to 60835 and the telephone numbers of your two nearest (Your Mobile’s Location) licensed minicab operators will be sent directly to your mobile phone.
3) If you have a Network RailCard or Student Railcard (Both Cost Just £20/Year), always link it to Oyster to save £1/day on your offpeak pre-paid travel.
To find out any location in UK based on postcode or street name click www.maps.google.co.uk. It also is useful to find out prominent businesses, restaurants, bars, clubs, tourist attractions in london and UK

Most people don’t know that travel in London is the 2nd costliest part of your expenses after accomodation. Travel per mile in london costs more than travel cost per mile on a CONCORDE plane(now discontinued). Depending on which zone you live in, your monthly travelcard can cost
zone1=£93, zone1-2=£93, zone1-3=£109.10, zone1-4= £132.90,zone1-5=£159.00, zone1-6=£171.30. Students get 30% discounts on travelcards. If you don’t take tube/train to work everyday then your best option is Pay-As-you-Go Oyster Card. It costs less than paper tickets and It will never cost more than one-day-travelcard if you use it for multiple journeys.

Note:
You can top up the credit on your Oyster card and check the balance remaining (or see what amounts have been charged) in the following ways:
– by placing it on the Oyster card reader on one of the ticket machines in a Tube station (when you are adding credit, you must finish by placing your Oyster card on the reader a second time)
– by asking at the ticket office of a Tube station
– Auto-Topup – by going to the Oyster card website: http://www.oystercard.com. If you have a credit or debit card you can arrange for your card to be topped up automatically every time that the balance falls below a certain level

The advantages of having an Oyster card are:
– you save time, because you do not need to queue to buy tickets each time you want to travel
– it is simpler
– fares are cheaper if you use an Oyster card
– you should automatically pay the cheapest fare if you make several Tube or bus journeys, even if you change your travel plans

Note that currently only a few of the National Rail stations in London accept Oyster cards. If you plan to use some local London Overground train services as part of your journey it may be cheaper to buy a one-day travelcard (a paper ticket) from a ticket office, because these are valid on trains, bus or Tube services within the zones shown. There are plans to introduce Oyster card readers at all train stations in London in 2009.

Off-peak Travelcards can only be used after 9:30am on Monday-Friday, or any time on Saturday, Sunday or on a Bank Holiday. The Oyster daily price cap is the maximum you will pay if you use your Oyster card to make journeys during the day.

# Cheaper fares are available if you don’t need to travel through zone 1 (the cost depends on the number of zones through which you need to travel), or if you are a child, 16-17 or a senior citizen.
## If you have a Student Oyster Photocard you can buy travelcards for 1 week or longer at a cheaper price. These cost about 30% less than the equivalent adult prices (there are no special student discounts for single or 1-day tickets). Note that these are only available to people who are studying in London and requires a special card (you cannot get a discount with an ISIC or NUS card). For details of how to apply for a Student Oyster Photocard, see: Travel/Transport/London/Guide.
### If you have a National Rail Railcard (a Young Persons Railcard or a Disabled Persons/HM Forces/Senior Railcard) and you register this Railcard on your Oyster card (by showing it at the ticket office of a Tube station), your Oyster daily off-peak cap is reduced by about a third. A Young Persons Railcard can be bought by anyone aged 16-25 or by any full-time student (even if you are aged 26 or over), and this railcard also allows you to get a third off off-peak travel on the UK train system. The daily price cap is not reduced if any of your travel is during peak times.

For more details, see: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/singlefares/6769.aspx