Let’s start with the no-brainer: the paper Travelcard for Zones 1-2. If you buy it at a station (yes, the same machine I sweated at), it’s £8.10 for a single day. That covers the Tube, buses, trams, Docklands Light Railway, and National Rail within those zones.
Sounds simple, right? Wrong. If you’re paying with contactless or an Oyster card, the cap is £8.10 per day anyway. So the paper ticket is basically a paperweight. Unless you’re a collector of vintage transport memorabilia, skip it.
Oh, and pro tip: after 9:30 AM, the off-peak single is £3.40 vs. peak at £5.30. But for a full day of hopping around? The cap is your friend.
