Where can you Buy Tickets for The London Underground?
Knowing where to buy tickets for the London Underground is simple. The only problem you have is that there are ticketing choices. You will have to decide what’s best for you.
Underground Ticket History
When the London Underground first opened, you would start your journey by entering the ticket hall of the station. The ticket hall is an area within the entrance to the station before you get to the platforms. In the ticket hall, you would find journey maps and other relevant travel information. You would also find the ticket kiosk.
Buy your Ticket from the Ticket Kiosk
You would then purchase your ticket from the ticket kiosk. The ticket kiosk is a point of sale window for customers to buy tickets. The kiosk was manned by a member of staff who would be able to help with your ticketing needs. Simply approach the kiosk and talk to the member of staff. Tell them where you want to go and they will advise you on your options.
The Introduction of Automatic Ticket Machines
At peak times, queues for tickets at the kiosk could become very long. In 1968, automatic ticket machines were introduced to speed up the process of buying a ticket. As with all forms of automation, as time went by, the ‘need’ for a member of staff manning the kiosk was seen as a luxury. These days, kiosks are now manned during peak hours and at major stations. Stations with few passengers will rarely see anyone in the kiosk.
Automatic Ticket Barriers
In 1968 automatic ticket barriers were launched. As you can see from the video below, the public needed to know how to use the new system. Ticket barriers also helped reduce fare evasion.
Click here to read more about the ticket barriers
The London Underground Travelcard
On the 22nd of May 1983, the Travelcard was launched. A Travelcard allows for unlimited travel on the London Underground, London Overground, TfL Rail, Docklands Light Railway, Tramlink, London Buses and National Rail services in the Greater London area. You can purchase a travel card for one day, one week, one month or one year. You can choose between an anytime Travelcard or an Off-Peak Travelcard, the latter allowing for travel after 9.30 am.
Where to buy your Underground Ticket
A physical paper (card) ticket can be purchased from ticket machines on the Underground, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rail and National Rail stations. Fares are clearly visible and payment can be made with cash or card.
You can only buy a paper ticket for a single / return journey or a one-day Travelcard. Return tickets cost twice the price of a single ticket. If the return fare costs more than a one-day travelcard, you will be issued the cheaper option.
In addition to paper tickets, London Underground now uses a variety of different and modern ticketing methods including, Oyster Cards and Contactless payment.
TfL now encourages you to use the Oystercard or contactless system. Whichever of these systems you choose, you must touch the yellow card reader with your card or device, at the start and end of each tube journey. On your bus journey, you only need to ‘touch in’.
Pay for your Travel with an Oystercard
Simply purchase an Oystercard at the tube station, add some credit and you can start using it straight away. You can also buy one online, simply set up an account, add some credit and get it delivered to your home.
With an Oystercard, you can top-up your balance with a debit/credit card as needed. Or you can set up a direct debit from your bank to add funds when your balance drops below a certain threshold. The direct debit option is good for those people who have a habit of losing things because your Oystercard will never have a large balance so you won’t lose that much if you lose the card. It is also good because the top-ups are managed automatically.
You can use the Oystercard on a Pay-As-You-Go basis and it will never charge you more than the cost of a daily Travelcard if you use it all day. Weekly, Monthly and Annual Travelcards can be purchased and loaded onto your Oystercard to reduce the cost of travel if you are a heavy user.
If you live in the UK, you can buy an Oyster card, online or at Oyster ticket stops in many newsagents in London, at all Tube, London Overground and most TfL Rail stations, some DLR stations. You can also buy an Oystercard at visitor centres and at the Tramlink shop in Croydon.
Use Contactless to Pay for your Journey
There’s no need to set anything up with TfL if you want to use contactless to pay for your travel. Simply touch the debit/credit card or your mobile phone on the yellow reader when you start and end your tube journey. Or touch in only, on your bus journey.
Be careful to use the same card for all travel on each day to avoid being charged more.
It is a good idea to set up an account with Tfl and add your payment methods to your account. This way you can see your journeys and balance. You can also check to see if you have correctly checked in and out for each tube journey
What is Card Clash
Watch out for ‘Card Clash’. Card clash is when the yellow card reader has multiple cards in range of its sensor. The reader cannot decide which card to use. So, keep your other contactless and Oyster cards away from your chosen method of payment. This way you will only pay for your travel with the right card or device.
If you use 2 methods, Tfl may think that you are in fact 2 passengers and charge 2 fares.
Why would you even need a physical paper ticket?
You might need a paper ticket if you forget your oyster card on the day of travel. If you are travelling for work, rather than for personal reasons, you may also decide to buy a paper ticket. You would then be able to submit the actual ticket for reimbursement from your employer.
In Conclusion
We advise that you use an Oystercard for your travel on the underground. It’s good to keep things separate. There’s no way you can get your travel contactless card mixed up with the numerous other contactless cards you have.
It’s safer this way because you will be constantly getting the card in and out of your pocket/wallet/purse. It’s better to use the Oystercard rather than your credit or debit card. If you lose it, you only lose the Oystercard. You can always buy an Oystercard wallet/holder!
Set the top-up amount to £20 and set it to trigger the top-up when your balance falls below £20, this way there’s never more than £40 on the card. If you have a Tfl account, and you lose your Oystercard, you can transfer the balance from the old card to the new card.
Links
General London Underground ticketing information can be found here.
Current London Underground fare information from Tfl can be found here.
Everything else you need to know about tickets from TfL can be found here.
In a nutshell…
Where can I buy paper tickets for the London Underground?
