Travelcard versus Visitor Oystercard

[Razor1967]

Hello there !

My wife and I are visiting London for 3 days in August to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary departing Sat 20/8/16 and returning Monday 22/8/16.
Just booked the rail tickets for £45.50 both ways (with 2 Together Railcard).

We are booked into a Hotel in Kingston on Thames (zone 6) and we will be doing a few trips on Saturday in zones 1 and then to and from Hotel.

On Sunday again into London, various sightseeing in zone 1 and back out to Hotel in evening. On the Monday check out, into London more sightseeing in zone 1 and the home.

I have always bought Offpeak zone 1-6 Travelcards in the past but at £12.10 each over 3 days it gets very expensive.

I suspect it will be cheaper to get 2 preloaded Visitor Oystercards for the lowish number of trips we will doing.

Am I right in thinking this and if so, if I buy online I can preload it with money (plus a £3 activation ).

Your help in this matter is greatly appreciated.

 

[richw]

If you have contactless debit/credit cards I wouldn't bother with the visitor oyster.
Use your contactless card in the same way and uses the pay as go oyster tariffs, saves the £3 activation fee.

 

[Razor1967]

Yes we both have Contactless Credit Cards, excuse me for being a bit silly, do we need to register the cards anywhere first with TFL, or merely just hover the card over the yellow readers til it beeps green and that's it !

 

[Dent]

No need to register.

 

[Razor1967]

Great, this seems the easiest way then as we hardly ever go to London.

Why does TFL go on about getting Oyster Cards if you can just use your Contactless Credit Card.

I have noticed that with Oystercards it mentions a daily cap when you don't pay over a certain amount. If I paid via my Santander Credit Card does this also give me this daily cap ?

 

[richw]

Just hover the card over the oyster pad until it goes green. Optional to register, I registered mine to be able to see all my usage online.

 

[thebigcheese]

If I paid via my Santander Credit Card does this also give me this daily cap ?

Indeed it does. Also a weekly cap but doubt that'll come in useful.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Oyster is usually cheaper than Contactless if you have a Railcard, as there's no way to apply the discount to a CPC, but there is for Oyster. Also, you can't put Monthly and longer Travelcard seasons on Contactless, but you can on Oyster.

Another advantage of Oyster over Contactless is that station staff should be able to resolve any issues with incomplete journeys on Oyster, but for Contactless you have to wait 'til the following day and then contact the Helpdesk.

 

[MikeWh]

I hope CyrusWuff and I aren't too late to this thread. If you have a TwoTogether railcard and will always be travelling together then your zone 1-6 off-peak day travelcards will only cost £8.00 each. With a contactless card you are looking at £2.50 x2 (zone 3-6 NR single) plus £6.50 zone 1-2 cap making a total of £11.50 each for the day.

Granted, the £11.50 will save 30p over the likely £11.80 Oyster cap for zones 1-6, but it's still way over the £8.00 discounted travelcard.

 

[Razor1967]

No you are not too late and that is great news. I didn't know i could get a discount on the Off peak Travelcard using my 2 Together Railcard.

it seems the £8 card each for 3 days is the cheapest option then.

I have tried to buy them today but none of the Rail sites allow me to buy past June. I assume I will have to wait til later in the year to buy for 20-22 August.

Many thanks again for your advice !

 

[cool110]

I have tried to buy them today but none of the Rail sites allow me to buy past June. I assume I will have to wait til later in the year to buy for 20-22 August.

The sites won't sell anything until seat reservations open, but a ticket office will be able to sell them now.

 

[PeterC]

Why does TFL go on about getting Oyster Cards if you can just use your Contactless Credit Card.

People without contactless cards
Couples with only one card between them
Overseas visitors who would be charged for each card transaction
Somebody else picking up the bill for the fare
People paranoid about using contactless cards

Plenty of reasons to keep Oyster going not to mention that the technology is required to support other TfL cards.