Underground
The Tube is the most popular transport link in central London. Divided into nine zones, London underground is served by 11 Tube lines. Your fare will vary dependent on how far you travel, the time of day, and how you pay. Services usually run from 0500-0000hrs, with a train departing on average every 10 minutes. The Central, Northern, Jubilee, Victoria & Piccadilly lines operate a 24-hour service on Fridays and Saturdays. Visit the Transport for London website for information on routes, fares, accessibility information and first & last Tube times.
Credit and debit cards can be used to make contactless payments for single fares. If you are looking to purchase an Oyster card for your London travel, you may want to look at a Visitor Oyster card which can be reused and never expires.
It also comes with a variety of special offers and discounts to be used at restaurants, shops and entertainment venues across London. Visitor Oyster cards are purchased online and delivered to your home address before you travel, and cannot be bought when you arrive in London. Alternatively, regular Oyster cards can be bought at London train stations, visitor information centres, online and at Oyster ticket shops (usually newsagents) – just look for the blue Oyster card symbol in the shop window. Both cards can be used across most London Bus, Tube, Tram, DLR and Overground services.
Overground
Single fare tickets and rail Travelcards can be purchased from all London Overground stations. Contactless credit or debit card payments are also accepted for single fare journeys, in addition to both visitor and regular Oyster card payments.
Tip: when making a contactless travel payment, remember to touch your credit/debit card or Oyster card on a yellow card reader on both your way in and out of the station on all Overground, Underground and DLR services, to avoid being issued with a penalty fare.
Bus
When using an Oyster card or contactless payment card on London buses, you can benefit from the ‘daily cap’. No matter how many bus journeys you take in a 24-hour period, you will stop being charged once you have reached the daily cap of £4.50 (three journeys), which is cheaper than buying a 1-day bus Travelcard.
Tip: you cannot pay your London bus fare with cash. Simply touch your Oyster card/contactless payment card on the yellow card reader as you board the bus, or show the driver your paper Travelcard ticket. Do not touch the card reader again when you disembark.