Author: Bob Handford
The Public Transport Pass Of Choice For Groups Of 10 Or More
A little publicised ticket option for public transport in London is the Group Day Ticket.
If you are a group of 10 or more, this ticket should be what you benchmark any other alternatives against.
The Key Restrictions Of The Group Day Ticket
First lets get the negatives out of the way.
This ticket is for groups of 10 or more and are not valid on the buses, just Underground, DLR and some rail services (see below).
The group day ticket is for one day only. For 3 days you would need a separate ticket for each day.
You cannot buy this ticket in advance, before arriving in London. Once in London you can buy up to 7 days in advance from Underground Stations.
What’s The Difference In Coverage To Oyster or Travelcard?
The ticket is almost identical with regards what the ticket is valid for to both Oyster and Travelcard. You can use on the London Underground, Overground and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and some railway services.
The main difference with the Group day Tickets is you cannot use them on the red London buses.
The group day ticket operates like the Travelcard with unlimited travel for a fixed price each calendar day. Unlike Travelcard, the smallest zone coverage you can get is zones 1-6, which covers as far out as Heathrow Airport. But despite this wider coverage it is still cheaper than a single Travelcard for just zones 1 and 2.
A Much Simpler Travel Option For Teenagers
For those with kids, one of the most frustrating aspects if you have children between 11 and 17 is getting child fares. They are there, but a system of Photo ID Cards and fees defeats many who don’t find out about the requirements until they arrive in London. The Group Day Ticket is simple, if you are under 18 you pay a child rate, full stop.
Where Can I Buy A Group day Ticket
Buy the tickets at London Underground Stations. From the ticket machines you can only buy them on the day of travel. From the manned ticket office counter you can buy them up to 7 days in advance.
Prices & Comparison With Travelcards (2012)
Costs of the Group Day Ticket per person are detailed below.
In comparison to the nearest product, the Travelcard as you can see it works out much cheaper. Though when comparing do factor in that if you never travel outside the central area where all the main sights and hotels are you only need coverage for zones 1-2. The group ticket is valid at all times, so is equivalent to the peak Travelcard product – though remember all Saturdays and Sundays are off-peak. The Travelcard is valid on the buses, group tickets are not.
Children under 11 travel free anyway on the Underground and Buses when accompanied.
| Group Ticket Zones 1-6 | Travelcard Off Peak 1-6 | Travelcard Peak 1-6 |
| Adult £4.50 Child £1.70 | Adult £8.50 Child £3.40 | Adult £16.40 Child £8.20 |
London Rail Services Valid For Group Ticket
Amersham to Marylebone
Finsbury Park to King’s Cross/Moorgate
Stratford to Liverpool Street
Tottenham Hale/Seven Sisters to Stratford
Upminster to Fenchurch Street/Liverpool Street via Barking (but not at Forest Gate/Maryland)
Walthamstow Central/Tottenham Hale/Seven Sisters to Liverpool Street
Watford Junction to Euston
Watford Junction to Clapham Junction
West Hampstead Thameslink to Moorgate/Elephant & Castle/London Bridge
West Ruislip to South Ruislip
Travelcards Explained – How they work, costs and conditions
Oyster Cards – How they work, costs and conditions
74 Comments
Hi!
I have a question I come to London with 23 kids (age 14/15) and 2 adults.
I reckon the travel card is the best choice.
Is it right that it´s only 1.70 a day? I can´t believe it´s that cheap!??
Can we only use the ticket together or can the kids travel in groups?
Thank you!
Robert
Ok i think you are referring to the Group Day Ticket, not a Travelcard which is a different and more expensive product.
The Group Day Ticket offers outstanding value compared to other products, something you have indeed spotted.
The only real downside is that you can only use the tickets on the Underground and DLR and some train services, but not London’s red buese.
Everyone gets a ticket so if the group wants to brak up after purchase they can.
hi bob. firstly hat off for a really good website and super service you offer.
I,m an ex serviceman living in germany and i,m planning a school trip with 15 kids under 15years old and 2 adults. it.s just for 1 day on a saturday to show them a bit of super city. i,m planning obviously buckingham palace and covent garden and maybe trafalgersquare. is this group ticket the best thing for me or is there something cheaper.and will it cover the areas i want to visit.
thanks again for a great service
Dave
From your description the Group Day Ticket seems designed just for a group like yourself.
The only downside is that you have to buy on the day from an Underground Station ticket office and you cannot use them on the buses, just Underground, DLR and trains.
If any of your kids are under 11 they travel free without a ticket.
If you want to use the red buses the next ticket up suitable for 11-15 year olds would be a zone 1-2 child Travelcard and an Oyster or Travelcard for the adults.
Is there any peak time restrictions with the group ticket? Thanks
No
Hey bob,
We are planning to travel to London this coming August 2013. Which one would you suggest for us…
Travel card or oyster card? 1x adult, 2x kids 13-15 years old and we got room rent in Chingford.
I need a cheap transportation ticket for us 3
… 6 days (6th day is departure) we end
THANKS!!!
Chingford is a faiirly wide area in the outer suburbs of London, so I’ll assume you are near the rail station.
Your best deal will be a 7 Day Travelcard zones 1 to 5 (Chingford is in zone 5)
Each of you will need a passport size photo of yourself so the ticket counter staff can make up an id card.
As well as being the cheapest option it gets around the Oyster Id Card requirements costing 10 GBP for each of your children to get child fares and taking weeks to process and also qualifies you for the 2 for 1 railways admission promotion in London.
Price is £51.80 adults, half that for your kids
Bob,
I am coming with 10 people with a 12 hour layover at Heathrow on our way to Uganda. We plan to go see some main sites. This group pass sounds like the deal! Just want to make sure we can purchase at Heathrow terminal 5 station?
Thanks!
Yes you can buy it at Heathrow Terminal 5 Underground Station.
Note you can only use it on the Underground from Heathrow, not Heathrow Connect or Heathrow Express trains
Hello Bob, I have for the past 5 years bought my group underground tickets in advanced through East Coast trains for my school trip to London (we travel from Newcastle to London). They have always been individually printed tickets. This year they have issued me with one ticket for the staff and one ticket for the kids (which would required hassling a member of the underground system to open a gate for us causing grief!) I have told East Coast that it should be individual tickets and they have told me that they have never sold tickets in this manner, which is a lie. My dilema is we used to split the group to do different activities and at times to ease the number of kids through busy stations (groups of 10 are easier to move than 30) one ticket for all will no longer allow us to do that. Should I just wait and get to London and buy my tickets this way or will I be given individual tickets or one ticket for all like East Coast are telling me? Also East Coast are refusing to refund the sale of my tickets as I am supposed to have agreed to this which I have not as I did not even know you could get one ticket for all!!!! Any help with this would be gratefully recieved.
I am not familiar with East Cooast trains and the products they sell so am unable to comment or advise on that aspect.
All I can say is that group ticket purchased in London from the Underground Station say at Kings Cross consists of an individual ticket for every member.
Still a little confused. We are 18 adults coming to London. If we buy group tickets, do we have to stay together all the time on the tube?
No you get individual tickets
Hi Bob after reading everything I’m still confused !
We will be visiting London in November – 6 adults 3 children aged 12-15 and 1 child aged 10. We’ll have half a day Friday, full day Saturday and part of a day Sunday depending on what train we catch home (Euston). We will only require zones 1 & 2 and most likely only use the underground. What is the best option please ? A combination or just one thing to cover all ? We will probably do our own thing seeing different places etc throughout our stay, but not outside zones 1 & 2. Help ……. !
Yes, your itinerary and group brings together lots of different factors that makes it very complicated.
Its the children that really complicates things …
Your 10 year old travels free on the Underground and buses but I think it makes sense to buy a ticket just so your group size gets up to the minimum 10 that qualifies you for a group ticket.
If my brain is working properly 6 adults at £4.50 and 4 kids at £1.70 is £33.80 per day.
The alternative best option is 6 Oyster cards for the adults with a daily cap of £7.00 and 3 x 1 day child Travelcards zones 1&2 at £3.40 which I make £52.20 per day
The group ticket is not valid on the buses but you say you are just using the Underground
On the part days the Oyster will come in cheaper if you make less than 4 journeys on that day. A single adult journey on the Oyster is £2.20 until you hit the dayly cap of £7
Hello there,
I am a Polish teacher and I will be visiting London between 18 – 21 May. There will be 37 students aged 13 to 16 and three teachers. We will be staying with host families in Catford area. Is a group ticket a sood solution for us? Is Catford in the scope of a group ticket?
Thank you for your help.
Kate
I think the key aspect is going to be exactly where you are accommodated in Catford.
The Catford area is in zone 3 of the London public transport network.
The Group Day Card covers the London Underground and Overground plus many train lines in London in zones 1 to 6. But not London’s buses.
However none of the train lines in that part of London are covered, this includes Catford Station.
If you are within walking distance of Forest Hill or Honour Oak stations Overground Stations then you can use the Group Day Tickets to these and the Group Day Ticket would work for you.
Dear Bob,
I am a teacher and I will be visiting London in May with 22 students all aged 15-17 and one colleague. We will be staying in families in Orpington. The group day ticket seems to be the best alternative for us to get around in central London. I am not sure, however, whether we will be able to go from Orpington station to central London and back each day with this ticket. I would really appreciate if you could help me in answering that question! Thank you!
Orpington Station is in Zone 6 so is within the scope of the group ticket.
I’m doubtful you can actually buy them at Orpington Station, maybe you can get one of the host families to check this out for you.
You can buy the tickets up to 7 days ahead from London Underground ticket offices so with a bit of planing ahead you should be able to get around this problem if it exists.
Thank you very much, Bob, especially for the hint that I might not get the tickets at Orpington station!
Hi Bob,
We are two teachers and thirteen 11-12 year old students visiting London for 3 days.
Would be a good idea to buy Oyster cards for the teachers and a group day ticket for the children? Or in this group it is necessary an adult?
Thank you in advance.
Jorge
unless I’m missing something you should get a group ticket each day for everyone including teachers.
Bob,
when explaining the conditions of the group day ticket you said that it could not be used on London buses, but in this blog entry you say that it is possible (entry on May 2, 2012). What is true?
Katrin
Group tickets cannot be used on buses.
Hi Bob, I´m a teacher travelling with 9 students. We´ll be getting group travel cards in advance for a whole week. We are going to HP studios, but Watford Junction is out of zone 6. What would be the cheapest option?
Thank you, Ann
You can buy a special slightly more expensive group ticket to the standard one which covers just zones 1-6.
There is another one that covers zones 1-8 plus Watford Junction.
You can only purchase group tickets on the day, you cannot buy them in advance.
Thank you Bob for your answer about Watford Junction.
But you say we can only purchase group tickets on the day, when in another answer you said it is possible to do so in advance. I quote you:
“You can buy group tickets up to 7 days in advance from Underground Station ticket offices.” Has there been a change in regulations?
Ann
My apologies, you can buy group tickets from Underground ticket offices up to 7 days in advance.
Many thanks for your answer of yesterday. It has helped a lot!
If I may ask a second question. What is the cheapest way to get from Southend airport to Upminster or other stations on the same line?
Thanks again,
JC
From Southend, train is just about the only viable way of getting into London
You can get an idea of fares at the train utility below:
http://www.londontoolkit.com/affs/london_trainline.htm
We will be coming to London in late June from Alicante, There will be 3 teachers and 25+ students all under 16. We have used Group Day Tickets before but have had difficulty where the network involved has not been DLR, Overground or Unhderground. My question is this: which airport would be best suited to using this ticket option? Can I use it for example from Southend Airport?
You can only use Group Day tickets on the Underground, Rail Network and DLR in the London public transport zones.
The only London airports that are covered by the Group Day Ticket is Heathrow and City Airports
Hello
we are a group of 25, (22 students under 18 and three teachers) . Imagine we split in two groups:
Group A one teacher and nine students and group B two teachers and thirteen students.
If at one point one teacher and three or four students of group B drop from the group to visit the Chelsea stadium ( they pay for their indiviudal tickets to get there), can the rest of group B go on travelling around London?
Everyone gets an individual ticket for the day, its not one ticket per group.
Hello Bob,
I will be arriving in London in on 1st May for 4 nights with a group of 26 people. (23 adults and 3 children under 18) I have understood that each adult pays £4.50 and child £1.70 but there will be one ticket issued for a group of at least ten people, so I will split the groups up into 2 groups of 13. My question is how does getting in and out of the underground work with group tickets? I immagine that each group has to ask the station personnel to pass through the manned barriers?
Thanks in advance for your help,
Lucia
Each person gets their own ticket
Hi Bob
We are a student group of 50 living close to crystal palace. Is the group ticket valid from crystal palace to the center of London?
Kind regards
Haaning
Yes, Crystal Palalce is mostly in Zone 3 of the London public transport system
One more question visited me: what if after buying the Group Travel card it happens that one member won’t go with us? Will other 9 members be able to use this card?
Dear Bob,
I am trying to detect about peak/off-peak time. We do not have such a system in Moscow. Could you help me? Our group of 10 (3 adults and 7 children of 12-16) people will explore London for 5 days. Two of them will be Saturday and Sunday. Besides, on working days, I am not sure what time we will go by metro. How is it better to buy a Group Travel card? Thank you! Angela
The Group Day Ticket is only valid for one day and requires 10 people as the minimum number purchased each day.
For the group ticket there are no peak/off peak restrictionss.
You can buy group tickets up to 7 days in advance from Underground Station ticket offices.
If one person drops out making the number 9 you either still buy 10 tickets or purchase an alternative ticket. Looking at your party it will be cheaper to buy 10 group tickets and not use one than buy 9 individual tickets
There is a similar sounding ticket called a Travelcard which is not for groups.
On the 7 day Travelcard there is also no off peak/peak restrictions
On the 1 day Travelcards peak is if you travel before 9:30 a.m. Monday to Friday.
Just to let you know, these are the answers to our questions to the visitbritainshop
Group day tickets: are they also valid on buses? No, and they can only be purchased upon arrival – not online in advance
Does each group member get an individual ticket? Yes.
Yes, you are right.
You can buy up to 7 days in advance in London
Hi
I just wanted to check but am I right in thinking that when you buy a group travel card you get just the 1 ticket valid for all the people in the group?
cheers
Yes, which means the group cannot split up into smaller groups after purchasing the ticket.
hi, I am an Italian teacher, we are travelling with a group of 56 students and 4 teachers in London in March, we are alla staying in families around Gants Hill station, but 5 students need to take the bus to reach the station; we are thinking about using group tickets for the rest of the day, but should the five students buy a separate ticket for their bus journey from home to the tube station and back?
thank you
With the group ticket you do not get individual tickets, you buy a single group ticket that covers a minimum of 10 people and you buy it on the day of travel.
60 people is a large group to be travelling around as a single group on the buses and Underground., presuambly each teacher will have a group of 15 with one group ticket each?
Given the above the 5 individual students will not be covered joining the group each day.
Depending on the age of these students it might be worth looking at seeing if its worth investing in ID Cards for an individual Oyster for each person, this will largely depend on the age of the students and how long you are staying.
If they are in the 11-15 age bracket it might be looking at the economics of buying Child Travelcards on-line which do not require any ID Cards from the TFL on-line ticket shop.
thank you a lot!
Hello there!
We’re coming to London from 16th to 23rd March with a school group of 53 students plus four teachers. We have the following urgent queries:
Group day tickets: are they also valid on buses? Does each group member get an individual ticket?
Child rate 7-day travelcards: the students are fifteen years old. Does the child rate apply until the day before their sixteenth birthday? If we order the travelcards by email today, will we get them by 15th March? If not, is there anywhere we can collect them in London?
We’re looking forward to hearing from you asap.
Kind wishes,
Velia Bertozzi
Group tickets are valid on buses and underground
The ticket is per group not individuals (i.e. you can’t split up and go your individual way).
Minimum group size is 10 on one ticket
Child rate for Travelcards is up until before their sixteenth birthday on day of travel.
If you order from the TFL on-line shop you do not need photo id, if you buy in London from anywhere but a railway station you need an Oyster 11-15 Photo ID card for each person.
When you order on the TFL on-line shop it will say expected delivery time for your country
http://www.londontoolkit.com//affs/tfl_visitorshop.htm
Hi, thanks for sending me this link and info. We’ll take a group ticket. Can we use the group ticket from Stansted to the centre of London? or is stansted too far away?
Thanks!
Stansted is well outside London so London based transport tickets are not valid.
Hi Bob. We are a group of 23 people travelling to London from the 22nd March to 25th March. We are 3 teachers and 20 students under 18. Do we have to buy one card for all the group everyday? Thank you very much. Teresa
The group ticket is only for one day. You can buy group tickets up to 7 days in advance from manned Underground ticket offices.
The minimum number one one group ticket is 10, so you’re probably best getting 2 tickets for the group for 23 people
Hi,
I need your help with group tickets (quite common, isn’t it?). 3 teachers + 17 students aged 17 + 16 students aged 18 + 9 students aged 19. Do the teachers pay for their travel cards? is it better to split into three groups in order to avoid problems if a part of the group misses the train?
Thanks
Sonia
The group day tickets are fairly simple. Anyone under 18 goes at the child rate of £1.70, the rest are adult at £4.50.
So you have a group of 28 adults and 17 children on the group day ticket.
Minimum number on each group ticket is 10 so it would be prudent if each teacher had their own group, a group of 35 is sure to be broken up in the busty times of day.
This is a group ticket you can only buy on the day and everybody must travel together.
If you use any other form of ticket all your party will be classified as an adult.
Hi. I am an Italian teacher and I will be visiting London from April 8 to April 11. We will be 34 people all together ( 2 teachers and 32 students who are under 18). I have understood a group ticket would be the best solution for us but it is not so clear how much it would cost for one single day.
Thank you for your help
Doriana
Sorry about that – I had both 2012 and 2013 prices on this page.
I’ve deleted the 2012 prices so the prices displayed are valid for 2013
Ok. So does that mean that buying a daily group ticket the teachers will spend £ 4.50 each and the students £ 1.70 each ( for zones 1.-6 ) ?
Yes
Thank you so much!
Hi Bob
All very informative.
We are dealing with a group travelling to Cricket together but may use underground for some purposes seperately on an evening.
We will have 2 groups in the summer
1. 250 people
2. 450 people
It will be over a 7 day period.
We are keen to take advantage of low cost deals if applicable?
Any advice welcome.
Thanks
Dave
The group day ticket is only going to be workable if your group can be broken down into groups of 10 or more that are happy travelling around together. Once you get about 20 people there is a good chance they will bcome broken up on the Underground and lose members of the group. The other downside is that you can only buy these tickets on the day.
If you’re comfortable with this then the Group day ticket sounds the ticket.
Otherwise each memmber will have to get their own Oyster Card, the cheapest way to get around London.
If an individual is going to take more than 2 journeys, in 5 or more days within a 7 day period, just in the centre of London then a 7 day Travelcard zones 1&2 ticket will work out marginally cheaper.
The only concessions on age is if you have people under 16.
We are a family of 4 people planning to visit london next month.If we buy a group ticket daily are we going to pay 4,5 or 4,5X4 pounds?
I’m afraid you need a minimum of 10 people for a group ticket.
Prices are per person within the group.
Hi,
We are two Danish teachers, who will be arriving at Heathrow in March together with 32 students (around 50/50 17 and 18 years old). As far as I can see a Day Group ticket would be ideal for us. We are going to The Royal National Hotel close to Russell Square Station. But the big question is: is there a ticket office at Heathrow, so that we can buy that kind of ticket? Hope you can help us
Best regards
Inge
If it makes any difference, we will be on British Airways and so we will probably arrive at terminal 5
Inge
You can buy the group tickets at Terminal 5 Underground Station ticket office.
The London Underground trains start from here so the carriages should be empty when you board. By the time you get to Earls Court it will probably be standing only so best prepare your students for that and not to spread out too much.
Thank you so much for your quick answer. Do you also know something about other railways companies (Midlands). We will be going to Bletchtley Park during the week, and I found out that there are group tickets/discharges, only you have to call them. Do you know how that system works?
Thanks
Inge
Afraid I cannot help you with rail tickets. The UK has lots of different rail operating companies who all seem to do their own thing.
I would have thought with 32 people it might be more cost effective and convenient overall to charter your own bus for the day door to door when you want to travel.
A 50 seat touring bus for the day I would guestimate would be around 600 GBP.
If you want to pursue this, send me an email and I’ll forward it onto somebody who specialises in student groups.
Again thank you. I’ll look into it and get back to you if relevant
Right now I find it difficult to figure out what the rail tickets would cost. A max of 600 GBP for a bus might be OKAY, but I think that is the absolute max for the day. Please send my request on to some bus companies
OK, I’ll get somebody to contact you who specialises with student groups like yourself.