The London Underground - Fares And How To Use
Official Web Site of London Underground
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| London Underground |
For the visitor to London the underground or Tube will probably be the transport of choice to get around town.
There is invariably an underground station nearby where you want to go, (there are currently 12 underground lines) and finding yourself around the system really is very easy.
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| Local Buses |
| London Underground |
| Rail Services |
| River Services |
| Coach Services |
| Public Transport Maps |
| Transport Passes |
| Oyster |
| Travelcard |
| Oyster or Travelcard ? |
| Trips Outside London Rail Passes Only Available To Visitors |
| BritRail London Plus Pass |
| BritRail England & GB Rail Pass |
| London Underground Map With Zones Marked | |
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London Underground Journey Planner
Use the TFL (Transport For London) journey planner linked from icon on the left to plan your journeys. The journey planner covers all public transport not just the London Underground enabling you find the quickest route, often combining Underground with bus or even by foot.
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| London Tour Options |
| Original London Tour Bus |
| Big Bus Hop On Bus |
| Open Top Red Bus Tour |
| Amphibious Duck Tour |
| Black Taxi Tour |
| Rock Tour |
| Airport Transfers |
| Heathrow |
| Gatwick |
| Stansted |
| Luton |
| Cruise Port Transfers |
| Southampton |
| Dover |
| Harwich |
| Day Trips From London |
| Coach Tours |
| Private Tours |
| Stonehenge |
| Bath |
| Windsor |
| Oxford |
| Stratford Upon Avon |
| Cotswolds |
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Zones
The London public transport system is divided up into zones that radiate from the centre. Nearly all the hotels and the main sights are in Zone 1.
The fare you pay is related to the number of zones you travel through.
The Underground Map (link above) has the stations and their zones marked. Some stations like Turnham Green are in two zones, you use whichever zone for these stations is most beneficial in working out your fare.
Using the Underground
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| Underground Ticket Machines |
There is a manned ticket office at all stations. The ticket offices accept credit and debit cards and also sell the Travelcard travel pass and Oyster Cards most people will want to use.
Next to the manned ticket offices are always at least one bank of automatic ticket machines (see picture right).
These can you save you a lot of time if there are queues at the manned ticket office. They take credit and debit cards as well as cash. There are also machines to top up your Oyster Cards or again you can get the ticket office to do this.
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| Ticket Barrier |
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To gain access to the platforms, and again to exit a station you have to pass through automatic barriers, (pictured left).
If you have a single ticket, the barrier at your destination will not return your ticket. There is a manned side gate by the barriers.
If you have a Travelcard the barrier will check that your Travelcard is valid for both date traveled and zones traveled.
If you have an Oyster Card on exiting through a barrier it will work out the fare and deduct it from your Oyster Card.
If you change trains during your journey you do not have to pass through barriers when connecting at a single station.
You are not able to break journeys on a single fare. e.g. If you were going from St Pancras to Victoria on the Victoria Line, you cannot get out at Oxford Circus and resume your journey after viisting the shops.
You can change trains as many times as you like on a single fare, the key is that as soon as you go through a ticket barrier that signifies the end of the journey.
The blog entry (link left) has a small video clip of people using the ticket barriers for bothy Oyster Cards and paper tickets, which includes some Travelcards.
The Passenger Cabin Of A Typical Underground Train
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Frequencies
All Underground trains run at about 1-5 minute intervals between around 05:00 and 24:00.
On Sundays, trains will start later.
When the Underground is closed, in Central London at least, there is an effective night bus network.
Docklands Light Railway (DLR) Trains
To the east of London in the Docklands region you will see a region covered by something called the DLR (Docklands Light railway). You can treat this network as just another Underground line.
The trains themselves are very different, but ticketing and access is totally integrated with the Underground system and their fundamental role as a high frequency mass transit transport is the same.
Underground Fares
You can see from the table below there is big financial incentive not to purchase individual tickets and use an Oyster card.
The other main way of paying is purchasing a Travelcard, which is a pass giving you unlimited travel for a set time period. The cost goes up with the coverage of zones required. The more zones you require the more expensive the Travelcard.
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| London Underground Fares (from 2 Jan 2012 ) | ||||
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| Zones | Adult | Child | Oyster Pay As You Go Fare | |
| Peak | Off Peak | |||
| 1 | £4.30 | £2.10 | £2.00 | £2.00 |
| 1 - 2 | £4.30 | £2.10 | £2.70 | £2.00 |
| 1 - 4 | £5.30 | £2.60 | £3.60 | £2.60 |
| 1 - 6 | £5.30 | £2.60 | £4.80 | £2.90 |
London Transport Children's Fares (Children Less than 18 Years Old)
Free Travel For Children On Buses & Underground And The Need For Photocards
Under-5s.
Children under five can travel free at any time on the Tube, DLR, buses and trams as long as they are accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket. Children in this category do not need Photocards.
Children 5-10.
Under-11s can travel free at any time on buses and trams without the need for a Photocard.
They can also travel free at any time on the Tube and DLR when they are traveling with an adult who has a valid ticket. Up to 4 children under 11 years old accompanied by a paying adult travel free on the London Underground.
Unaccompanied children between 5 and 10 must have a valid Photocard.
Children 11-15.
Children aged 11 to 15 years must get an 11-15 Oyster photocard to travel free on buses and trams and at child-rate on Tube, DLR and London Overground services.
You can get around the photocard requirement by purchasing a 1 day Travelcard for the child, (longer length Travelcards do require a photo card) or paying the cash fare.
Children 16-17.
All 16 to 17-year-olds can travel at child-rate on bus, Tube, tram, DLR and London Overground services with a 16+ Oyster photocard.
Obtaining a Photocard.
Visitors to London can order a Photocard in advance for their children and collect on arrival at a travel centre. (There is a Travel Centre at Heathrow Airport as well as in Central London).
Note you need to apply (online) at least 3 weeks prior to arrival.
Note: non-London residents have to pay a non-refundable £10 administration fee
Advance application for Child Photocard
Senior's Fares
There are no special Senior's fares on London's public transport.
If you have an English senior's bus pass then you can travel free on London's red buses free.
If you're a permanent resident in a London borough aged over 60, you can apply for a Freedom Pass for traveling around London. The Freedom Pass entitles you to free travel on London's public transport - Tube, buses, trains, Docklands Light Rail (DLR) and trams.
In addition to the freedom pass you can also buy a senior railcard (some local authorities offer these as an option instead of bus travel). This gives you 1/3 off travel after 09.30 on National Rail services. You can also get the card registered on an Oyster card which gives you 1/3 off all London off-peak single rail fares (inc tube and dlr) and the off-peak price caps. Note that in the evening peak you won't get a discount, but your travel will contribute to the off-peak cap.
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