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TfL Child fares

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Russel

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Evening,

I understand from a previous thread that children travel for free on London Underground and DLR, does this also extend to the Elizabeth Line?

I recently did Tottenham Court Road to Canary Wharf and went straight through the wide barrier with my 7 year old as I'd been doing on LU all day but then on the train home I started to question weather he should have had a ticket for this journey as it isn't obvious if it's classed as National Rail or TFL...

Is there a definitive guide available that states what services within London kids travel for free on?

Thanks
 
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CarrotPie

CarrotPie

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Russel said:
Evening,

I understand from a previous thread that children travel for free on London Underground and DLR, does this also extend to the Elizabeth Line?

I recently did Tottenham Court Road to Canary Wharf and went straight through the wide barrier with my 7 year old as I'd been doing on LU all day but then on the train home I started to question weather he should have had a ticket for this journey as it isn't obvious if it's classed as National Rail or TFL...

Is there a definitive guide available that states what services within London kids travel for free on?

Thanks
Click to expand...
There's some information here: https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/5-10-zip-oyster-photocard
 
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talldave

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Get him a Zip Oyster card. It adds to the fun of travelling even though it's not strictly necessary to get free travel. You can also add PAYG credit to it for things you have to pay for like the cable car.
 
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Thames99

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For some seven year olds I know the chances of losing a card in short order are pretty high. You need to assess a child to consider whether paying £15 is a good investment!
 
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Russel

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Thames99 said:
For some seven year olds I know the chances of losing a card in short order are pretty high. You need to assess a child to consider whether paying £15 is a good investment!
Click to expand...

Exactly this, it's a good suggestion in theory, but in practice, travelling with a 7 year old through London can be stressful enough without giving him a card he may loose and sending him through a ticket barrier on his own and getting separated at busy stations.
 
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talldave

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Russel said:
Exactly this, it's a good suggestion in theory, but in practice, travelling with a 7 year old through London can be stressful enough without giving him a card he may loose and sending him through a ticket barrier on his own and getting separated at busy stations.
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We've never experienced a problem. Son always goes through the barrier first, unless both parents are travelling in which case we pass through as a "son sandwich". As he's only 8 he passes his zip card back to one of us for safe keeping.

As well as a "grown up" feeling, it's stimulated an interest in the travel system. Whilst to be very clear the situation would never intentionally arise, I know that even at 8, he could find his way home on his own from anywhere in London by tube/train/bus. In an emergency he would know how to travel to granny's house and at home he knows where his zip card lives and has grandparents phone numbers on an "emergency" note.

If that all sounds too grown up, rest assured he's still a kid at heart, insisting on stuffing his favourite cuddly toy (an enormous whale!) into his suitcase when we went on his first overseas holiday last year!
 
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talldave

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Getting back on topic, the 5-10 Zip card is only £10. The 11-15 Zip card is £15. The 16+ Zip card is £20.

Replacing any of them after loss costs £10.
 
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Russel

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talldave said:
We've never experienced a problem. Son always goes through the barrier first, unless both parents are travelling in which case we pass through as a "son sandwich". As he's only 8 he passes his zip card back to one of us for safe keeping.

As well as a "grown up" feeling, it's stimulated an interest in the travel system. Whilst to be very clear the situation would never intentionally arise, I know that even at 8, he could find his way home on his own from anywhere in London by tube/train/bus. In an emergency he would know how to travel to granny's house and at home he knows where his zip card lives and has grandparents phone numbers on an "emergency" note.

If that all sounds too grown up, rest assured he's still a kid at heart, insisting on stuffing his favourite cuddly toy (an enormous whale!) into his suitcase when we went on his first overseas holiday last year!
Click to expand...

At 8 years old, that's impressive! I'd like mine to have that level of knowledge, without going into too much detail mine is on the Autistic spectrum, so being aware of his surroundings and other aspects of travelling are more of a challenging for him and we're a couple of years away from the point where he'd be able to make his own way home.

Regarding emergency notes, I don't know if you're aware of them or not but we've got a LittleLife Safety Wristband, they are a little wristband with a pull-out tab that you write emergency contact details on, they go for around £5 on Amazon and come in all sorts of kiddie friendly designs, dinosaurs etc, for the price I'd recommend them to anyone.
 
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