London and Paris Travel Advice

[Haydn1971]

Being a novice about London, I'm looking for some fares help. I've travelled a few times in the last six months for my job, so simply used an Oyster and claimed back the costs.

However, next week I'm off on holiday with my wife for six nights in London and five nights in Paris. Fares, between home, London and Paris are all sorted, but I'm unsure about daily fares. I had planned to use my oyster and get another for my wife, however saw something about daily off peak travel cards, which look cheaper overall for our needs of travel after 9:30am.

Firstly, I'd like to clarify if the daily travel cards cover all modes, tube and rail in particular, second, there are daily caps on Oyster, but do these agragate, so that you could pay say £8.40 on rail, plus £4.40 on bus, plus whatever on the Emirates Line ? I'm staying in Zone 5, don't intend to go outside Zone 5 at this time.

Thirdly, is there an Oyster type system in Paris and do I just grab one at the Gare de Nord ?

Comments would be most welcome

Thanks in advance

 

[telstarbox]

Oyster PAYG will always work out the cheapest overall price for all of your travel, but not until the end of the day.

 

[daniel78]

Firstly, I'd like to clarify if the daily travel cards cover all modes, tube and rail in particular, second, there are daily caps on Oyster, but do these agragate, so that you could pay say £8.40 on rail, plus £4.40 on bus, plus whatever on the Emirates Line ? I'm staying in Zone 5, don't intend to go outside Zone 5 at this time.

The (off-peak) daily cap on Oyster is £8.50, which covers rail, tube and buses. Once you've paid the cap the rest of your journeys are free that day.

You can buy a paper travelcard for £8.90 if you prefer, which again covers rail, tube and buses. If you know you're doing a lot of travelling round London then personally I prefer this option. If you fail to touch in/touch out properly with an oyster card that's a £5 maximum fare for the incomplete journey (which doesn't count on the cap). It can be easily done if you are unfamiliar with the system.

 

[Track Basher]

There are various visit Paris passes available.

See below.

http://www.ratp.fr/en/ratp/r_61654/parisvisite

I found it easier to go to the metro station at Gare de Nord on arrival. You just go to the ticket office and buy them. Do not attempt to purchase them from the machines as they do not sell them. They are valid on Metro, SNCF trains, buses and trams. There is a travel guide showing the zones on the RPTR site.

Enjoy.

 

[Polarbear]

Personally, I'd go for the zone 1-6 paper Travelcard @ £8.90. Valid after 09:30 on weekdays, it's valid on all red London buses, most underground/overground services (only a few restrictions on the Met beyond Moor Park) and most "main line" services within the London area. You also get discounts on the Emirates Air Line and the Thames Clipper river service.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/london-rail-and-tube-services-map.pdf

Oyster is useful, but as mentioned above, if you forget to touch in/out at any point, you can end up paying more than you need to. Additionally, there's always the risk of meeting an RPI at just the moment you're not correctly touched in - an expensive mistake!

As for Paris, a Paris Visite seems to be the best bet. You'll need a pass that covers zone 5 if you want to go out to Versailles. The ticket covers all metro, RER & bus services within the purchased zones.

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/

 

[barrykas]

One key difference between Oyster PAYG and a paper Travelcard is that you can't get an extension ticket to go to a station outside the Travelcard Area with the former, but you can with the latter.

So if, for example, you wanted to go to Beaconsfield to visit Bekonscot Model Village, you'd have to buy a ticket from London if you were using Oyster PAYG, but could get one from Boundary Zone 6 with a paper ticket (there being no day Travelcard for Zones 1-5).

If your six nights in London are consecutive, it'll almost certainly work out cheaper to buy a 7 Day Travelcard. For Zones 1-5 that works out to £51.80 and is valid at any time of day, not just after 0930. 7 Day Travelcards are available on paper or Oyster, but you need to provide a passport size photo to get one on paper if you don't already have a season ticket photocard.

 

[radamfi]

As for Paris, a Paris Visite seems to be the best bet. You'll need a pass that covers zone 5 if you want to go out to Versailles. The ticket covers all metro, RER & bus services within the purchased zones.

http://www.ratp.fr/plan-interactif/

Mobilis is a cheaper option if you just want a travel ticket for one day. Visite may only be worth it if you take advantage of the discounts on attractions.

Mobilis fares:
Zones 1-2: 6.60
Zones 1-3: 8.80
Zones 1-4: 10.85
Zones 1-5: 15.65

Visite fares:
Zones 1-3: 10.55
Zones 1-5: 22.20

Visite can be bought for multiple days at a lower cost per day which might be cheaper than several Mobilis tickets.

Visite does allow rail travel to Orly and CDG airports, unlike Mobilis, although you can use the local stopping bus to the airport for free with a Mobilis.

http://www.ratp.fr/fr/ratp/c_21148/mobilis/
http://www.ratp.fr/fr/ratp/c_22599/paris-visite/

 

[island]

Navigo (Paris's Oyster equivalent) is only available as/with a photocard and for season tickets. I don't think it does PAYG.

If you will be travelling irregularly on the Métro and within zone 1, a carnet of ticket t+ may be most useful. They are far less dangerous than FCC carnets.

 

[transmanche]

Oyster PAYG is the way to go. There's no point in paying more for a paper card on the off-chance that you might forget to touch in - you're obviously familiar with the system.

Secondly, Oyster PAYG will offer you the best fare; so if you travel off-peak only in Z1& Z2 (or anywhere on TfL buses), the cap will be £7 - whereas if you buy an all-zones off peak Travelcard, you will have wasted 2 x £1.90.

Literally millions of people use Oyster every day without worrying about 'forgetting' to touch in/touch out.

 

[bb21]

The sky bubble (or whatever it is called) doesn't count towards the cap nor is it covered by the Travelcard. You will have to pay separately.

If you will be travelling around quite a bit then I also recommend using the Travelcard. If you do not intend to travel before 0930 Mondays - Fridays then purchasing separte Off-Peak Day Travelcards will be best value, otherwise it might be better to purchase a weekly Travelcard. You can check the price of Travelcards on the TfL website.

Another difference is that you can use Oyster PAYG at certain outboundary locations such Dartford and Grays, whereas you will be charged a Penalty Fare if you do not purchase an extention ticket prior to arriving there on an inboundary Travelcard (wholly within Zones 1-6).

You might find the RailUK Fares & Ticketing Guide Sections 5.9 and 5.10 useful.

I found that in Paris, walking is probably the best way to get around, supplemented by Metro and bus trips at times. They do a carnet ticket (10 individual journeys/journey segments for €13.30 currently) which is very good value if you don't require constant travel on the network.

 

[30907]

They do a carnet ticket (10 individual journeys/journey segments for €13.30 currently) which is very good value if you don't require constant travel on the network.

And you can get these at the numerous ticket machines (which can be set to English!) downstairs in the Metro/RER part of Gare du Nord - rather than paying the Eurostar price for them at the bar on your way.

 

[island]

Literally millions of people use Oyster every day without worrying about 'forgetting' to touch in/touch out.

Well, I read somewhere that 2% of Oyster journeys are incomplete...

The sky bubble (or whatever it is called) doesn't count towards the cap nor is it covered by the Travelcard. You will have to pay separately.

But for clarity, you can use the pay as you go credit on your Oyster card to pay for the Emirates Air Line.

I found that in Paris, walking is probably the best way to get around, supplemented by Metro and bus trips at times. They do a carnet ticket (10 individual journeys/journey segments for €13.30 currently) which is very good value if you don't require constant travel on the network.

Yes I said that in post 8 These tickets are valid on any Metro service (irrespective of zone) with unlimited connections until you exit the gates and on buses (I think one transfer is allowed). They can be used on RER services within zone 1 only.

 

[bb21]

Yes I said that in post 8 These tickets are valid on any Metro service (irrespective of zone) with unlimited connections until you exit the gates and on buses (I think one transfer is allowed). They can be used on RER services within zone 1 only.

Didn't see it there.

I remember last time I was there that interchanges between the Metro lines and RER lines are permitted on the same ticket, and interchanges between buses and trams are permitted on the same ticket, but not between the two "sub-systems", ie. from bus to RER, etc. Is that arrangement still the same or has it changed?

 

[island]

That sounds about right. Basically you can go on as many Metro and RER lines as you want as long as you don't exit the gates or use RER outside zone 1.

 

[Haydn1971]

Thanks for the replies folks !

 

[Searle]

When I got into Gare du Nord, I had to wait +30 minutes to get to the ticket machines. If you're wanting to go straight on the metro, I'd get two tickets off of the Eurostar and then buy some carnet tickets at a quieter station (which is any station!).