Oyster Card vs Travelcard

[abdgeek]

I will be in London for a week and can't decide whether it is more cost effective to get an Oyster Card when I arrive or buy a 7 day Travelcard. I don't want the Visitor Oystercard because the deposit fee isn't refundable. I've read all the info on the internet and am still thoroughly confused at this point. I will mainly travel in zones 1-3. However, I am also going to Warner Bros Studio which I know is near Watford Junction. I know that I can get a train from Euston Station there, but don't know if getting the Oyster Card is a better bet because I could use it to pay for my train ticket to Watford Junction. My understanding is that the Travelcard won't cover my travel there. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dimplenose]

I'm not an expert on Oyster cards but from what I know the oyster card will cap your fare to the cheapest available for the week. However, I'm not sure if the system is intelligent enough to realise that most of your journeys have been in zones 1-3 and the one off journey to zone 9 might move the goal posts.

Personally, I'd use an oyster card for zones 1-3 and buy a return ticket from Euston to Watford Junction.

I don't use an actual Oyster card myself as my debit card can be used for contactless payment for the rare times I need one. (For a daytrips from where I live a train ticket including travel card works out best value.)

P.S. When you are at Euston remember that this is the station that JK Rowling was thinking about when describing Kings Cross, she confused the names.

 

[tennisfan]

As Libby stated above the Oyster card is capped at cheapest rate for the journey, and you will not pay more then a travel card for the day. For example if a daily travel card is £9 then that is the maximum you will be charged with an oyster card.

The only advantage of an Oyster card is that you can top it up as & when you need to. I have an Oyster card but will usually get a train ticket including travel card on it if I coming from my hoe town as I can get the high speed but I use my Oyster card if i'm going from my sisters house as she is on the oyster card network.

So no real difference of Oyster card or Travel card except one you pay out in one go for or the Oyster you can top up as you go, which may work out cheaper.

 

[A Small World]

I use an Oyster card or more recently my contactless payment card most times when I go to London but have used the travel cards in the past as well.
Ive found these are better when travelling with my DD as I have a Family and Friends Railcard as well so this gives a discount on the travel card but I can only use that when she is with me.

The advantage of an Oyster card is that somedays you may not reach the cap and so only pay for what you use whereas if you had bought the travel card its an up front payment so you pay that amount whether you use it or not.