Paying for your journey

Oyster and contactless payments

One of the easiest and cheapest ways to travel around London is to use Oyster or contactless payment. 

You can use Oyster and contactless to travel on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, the Cable Car, Elizabeth line, London Overground and National Rail services in London. London is divided into nine fare Zones. Zone 1 covers central London and the City of London, with the zone number increasing the further you travel from central London. You can check your fare on the TfL website. 

You can also use your Oyster or contactless to travel on Thames Clippers River Bus services but these journeys do not count towards daily caps. You can also travel on all suburban trains stopping in Zones 1 – 9 and further afield – check the latest list of stations accepting Oyster and contactless.  

Another advantage of using an Oyster or contactless to travel around London is that it allows you to take advantage of capping. Capping is a limit on how much you pay to travel either in a single day or over one week. All you need to do is tap in and out whenever you travel – regardless of if you have already reached the minimum journey threshold for that day or week.  

If you’re travelling across London but not through Zone 1 and you see a pink card reader when changing trains, touch your card or device on it and it will ensure you pay a cheaper fare as the system will know you didn’t travel through Zone 1. 

Oyster cards 

The Oyster card is a smartcard that allows people to travel around London. You can load credit onto the card with cash or credit/debit card. Each time you use the card your credit will reduce until you need to top it up again. 

You can buy an Oyster card from ticket machines at most London Underground, Overground and DLR stations, and at many local shops across London that display the Oyster logo. You can also order an Oyster card online through the TfL website if you live in the UK. If you create an account for your Oyster card you can set up auto-top up to ensure that you never run out of credit. If you have a railcard for discounted train fares, you can add this to your Oyster card to make sure you always get your discount when using Oyster. 

If you are visiting London from other parts of the country or from abroad and don’t have a contactless payment card, it will probably work out much cheaper to use an Oyster card. 

Contactless payment 

You can use a contactless payment card or device to pay for travel on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground and most National Rail services in London. You benefit from all the features of Oyster (although you can’t add railcard discounts to a contactless card) as well as being able to take advantage of monthly, daily and Monday to Sunday capping.  

Further information on contactless payments can be found on TfL’s website. 

It is always cheaper to use Oyster or contactless than to pay by cash.  

For more information, visit TfL’s dedicated webpage about contactless and Oyster payments. 

Travelcard

A Travelcard allows unlimited travel within specified zones. These tickets range in price according to zone. The cheapest is off-peak (which can be used after 9.30am Monday to Friday and all weekend). Find out more about Travelcards and how much they cost on TfL’s website. 

If you want to travel outside the area covered by your Travelcard, you must purchase an extension ticket. 

Travelcards are not accepted on the Elizabeth line between Iver and Reading. 

Free and discounted travel

TfL provides free and discounted travel on its services (subject to eligibility) to some groups of people such as  

– Under 18s
– Students, apprentices and care leavers over 18
– Unemployed people looking for work
– Older people, Disabled people and veterans
– National Railcard and Annual Gold Card holders
– Some groups of Santander Cycle users and some bus/tram passengers 

You can view the full list of people who may be eligible, and more details on how to apply, on the TfL website.