Earlier this month, Transport for London (TfL) increased fares on the London Underground, Overground, Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and Elizabeth line. We all bemoan yet another increase to the cost of living, but there’s a lesser-known trick that can help you beat the hikes – at least, during off-peak times.
Some good news is that the price of Travelcards – paper tickets that offer unlimited travel within specific zones – are frozen until 2027. Adult pay-as-you-go caps, which are limits on the total amount you’ll pay daily or weekly, also will not rise until next year at the earliest.
However, peak pay-as-you-go fares for Zone 1 journeys increased from £2.90 to £3.10 on Sunday 1 March.
Before you hop onto a Lime bike, there is a way you can bring down the cost of your Tube travel overall, maybe even by hundreds of pounds a year. Here’s everything you need to know.
Read more: 8 railcard hacks that can help you save on train travel
You can save a third on off-peak Tube journeys with a railcard
By linking your railcard to an Oyster card, you can save a third on fares on the Tube, Elizabeth Line, Overground and National Rail in London during off-peak times.
To do this, you’ll need to order an Oyster card or register yours online if you already have one. Then, you’ll need to take both your railcard and Oyster card to a Tube, Overground or Elizabeth Line station and ask a member of staff to link the two.
Once this is done, you’ll automatically get a third off off-peak journeys when you use your Oyster card. Unfortunately, this doesn’t work for contactless payments, though I hope TfL will look to introduce this function.
If you don’t already have a railcard, it’s probably worth investing in one, if you can, even if you don’t live or work in London. You’ll get a third off most train fares, so it pays for itself in just a few journeys. Last year, my railcard saved me around £163 on national train travel – and that’s without factoring in the money I’ve saved travelling within London.
Note that you can only add the following railcards to an Oyster account: 16-25 railcard, 26-30 railcard, senior railcard, HM Forces railcard, veterans railcard and disabled persons railcard.
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