Oyster Card In England.

London Underground: Which oyster card is the best?

As far as I can work it out, a Weekly Travelcard is better value than Pay As You Go if you use it for five or more days out of seven. The 7-day Travelcard is £32.40, while a Visitor Oyster Card is capped at £6.50 per day. (Zone 1 & 2 prices.) So using your Visitor card for five days will cost you (5 x 6.5) £32.50.So if you know you're going to be in London for a whole week, and you'll be travelling in the central district every day, then a Travelcard is cheaper.If you're there less than a week, or if you won't be using public transport every day (maybe some days you're going to walk instead, or take a guided tour, or laze around in the park all day, or go out of London) then the Visitor card is cheaper.If you have a Travelcard for, say, Zones 1 & 2 and you want to go to Zone 4 one day, your Travelcard won't cover it and you'll have to buy a separate ticket at full price. With a Visitor card, however, you can use it normally as long as you've got enough credit left on the card, and you'll pay the Oyster discounted fare not the full-price cash fare. So the Visitor card is much better in this situation.In practical terms, the Visitor card is a contactless smartcard, you just press it against the yellow reader on the ticket barrier. Quick and easy.A Travelcard is a paper ticket, which can get creased or bent in your pocket. You have to mechanically feed it into a slot on the barrier, then take it when it pops out again. It's slower and can be fumbled if you're in a hurry.(If you have an Oyster card already you can put a virtual Travelcard onto it and use it instead of a paper ticket.)Travelcards are basically legacy tickets. They were introduced back in 1983. The Oyster system was launched in 2003, and TfL has been trying to get everyone to switch over. (Though in turn Oyster is be replaced by just allowing people to use their bank debit card instead.)The Visitor card is a special offer for tourists. It's cheaper than a normal Oyster card, but you can only buy it online. It's not sold in London itself.

Does London’s Oyster Card only work in zones 1 to 6?

The Oyster card works across the entirety of Greater London on:* All bus services* All Croydon Tramlink services* All London Underground servicesFor National Rail (NR), TFL Rail, and London Overground services, Oyster can be used on any journey within the dotted black Pay As You Go boundary (PAYG) on this map:http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/lo...As can be seen, there are actually nine Zones, but while Shenfield (TfL Rail), Watford Junction (Overground), and a number of stations out towards and including Gatwick Airport are not Zoned, they are still covered by PAYG.If a person has a Zone 1-6 Travelcard on their Oyster, they can still travel to or from Zones 7-9, Shenfield , Watford Junction, or Gatwick et al, as a Zone Extension will be deducted from any PAYG credit also held on the card. If there is no such credit, the card can be used to complete the journey, but will have a negative balance that has to be cleared before further use. This should not be an issue, as NR station ticket machines can be used to top-up PAYG Oyster credit (or load Travelcards), even if the station ticket offices cannot.Similarly, if a person has a specific Zones Travelcard and wishes to travel from a covered Zone to a station outside the PAYG area, they can buy a paper ticket covering the journey from the boundary of the last Zone they have on their Oyster to their final destination. For example, I usually have a Zones 1-4 Travelcard for my usual commute to work, as I live in Zone 3, but travel from there via Zone 1 out to my workplace in Zone 4. I often visit my wife's family in Tunbridge Wells, so will usually get a paper ticket from the boundary of Zone 4 to Tunbridge Wells, which works out a few pounds cheaper than a NR-only ticket covering the same journey.

Why is the London tube card called an Oyster card?

According to Wikipedia, the advertising company asked to come up with a name by the people behind the technology thought:i) Akin to the Octopus card in use in Hong Kong;ii) Oysters/pearls regarded as a store of value;iii) Oysters are associated with the River Thames; andiv) With one of these 'the world is your oyster'......or at least zones 1-6 and a few other places.

I am planning my first overseas trip to England. Which UK airport would be easiest to fly to (around London)?

Colin’s ranking is good. I’d add- it depends on where you’re going after you land. If you’re going into London, Heathrow (LHR) and Gatwick (LGW) but more trans-Atlantic flights go to LHR. From LHR, you can get the underground to all parts of London. It’s not the cheeriest of journeys but it works. Don’t get the Heathrow Express unless you are very short of time or want to be near its terminal Paddington. It’s a train journey from LGW, which I think is more pleasant than the underground, but will probably cost more and will be somewhat less frequent. If you’re going elsewhere, Heathrow is better for the west side of Britain and Garwick for the south and east. London City is my favourite but the routes in and out are limited.