London Travel Forum

i am confused...on the octopus card, can you get a 7 day rate? Is that rate good anytime? we shall be starting from chigwell each day to see the sights of london. what is the 11-15yeart old card and hbow dso we get it? how can we usze yhe 1 pound fare for off hours for over 11s kids? Can we use it with a 7 day7 pass? e-mailed transit authority got no reply.

Thanks

I assume that you're asking about the Oyster card, which is a card one buys (and tops up) at any Tube station and pre-loads with money. It offers substantial discounts over normal full fares, and is valid indefinitely.

You can get an Oyster card with a preloaded 7 day travelcard, Chigwell appears to be in zone 5 so you will need to get a travelcard that covers up to zone 5 or ask when you buy the travelcard whether it would be cheaper to get a zone 1-2 and add on the journey to and from Chigwell by adding some extra money to the Oyster.

If I remember correctly the 11-15 year old £1 card was good in all zones on the tube for off peak times (after 9:30am during the week, all day Sat/Sun) but we could use buses at all times of the day. If you plan on leaving before 9:30 am every day you might look to see if there is another option, buses are typically a much slower mode of transport in central London but that might not be the case further out. There are also child Oysters and child travelcards

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/fares-and-tickets-zones1-6.pdf

The child Oyster and 11-15 cards are photocards and, I think, only available for London residents.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/1020.aspx

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/1063.aspx

I can find no information about the one pound off-peak fare for children and, even if it exists, I am pretty sure they would need a photocard anyway.

Travelcards come in two types: those which can only be used off-peak and those which can be used at any time. You can also buy child travelcards. Travelcards for travel within different zones costs different prices:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/seasontickets/4805.aspx

Oystercards can be pre-loaded with 7-day travelcards, but I do not think you will be able to pre-load a child travelcard (because of potentially fraudulent use). I may be wrong about this. It seems most sensible to buy a zone 1-5 child-rate travelcard for your children to use, and either Osyter or 7-day travelcards for the adults.

On page 10 of the website I gave you in my 1st response, we did not have to get a photocard for the kids. I'm 99% certain that they could travel in all zones with it even though the adults had a zone 1-2 travelcard

"Up to four 11-15 year olds can get an Off-Peak
Day Travelcard for £1 when travelling with an
adult with a valid Travelcard."

When I originally looked at our options, there was an Oyster Photocard that you could get for them as overseas visitors but we had to get a photo and apply for it and I didn't see the sense in doing all that as I assumed we wouldn't need to travel before 9:30am or if we did, we were perfectly fine walking or taking a bus.

Also from page 10:

"11-15 year olds pay child fares on Tube, DLR and
London Overground services – an 11-15 Oyster
photocard is needed for pay as you go and
Travelcard season tickets. However, photocards
are not needed for child-rate cash single, Day and
3 Day tickets."

You might also find this useful (or confusing), this tells about the Oyster Card options for 11-15 year olds, there is a link for getting a travelcard if
you live outside the UK

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/faresandtickets/1020.aspx