London 🇬🇧

Yes, on nearly everything — and what changes from mode to mode is how you tap. On the Tube, the DLR, the London Overground, the Elizabeth line, the River Bus and the London Cable Car you touch in and touch out on the yellow readers, even when the gates are standing open. On buses you touch in only, and on trams you touch the reader at the stop before you board; touching out on either can cost you money rather than save it. On the trains beyond TfL, and on the one coach that takes a tap, it depends on the operator. Use your own card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay or a Fitbit or Garmin — and use the same one all day, because a journey opened on one card and closed on another never closes.

The cap is what makes tapping the cheapest way to pay. Inside Zones 1–2 the day stops charging at £8.90, and buses and trams have a ceiling of their own at £5.25 across the two together. That covers the Tube, the DLR, the Overground, the Elizabeth line, most National Rail inside the pay-as-you-go zones, and the buses and trams. It does not cover the river: Uber Boat by Thames Clippers takes a contactless touch in and touch out at the pier and states plainly that river journeys are not capped. Nor does it cover the airport expresses.

On the trains the differences are worth money. Thameslink and Greater Anglia both want a touch in and a touch out, and a missed one is charged as an incomplete journey at a maximum fare of up to £30.40, which never counts towards a cap; travelling with no valid ticket at all can bring a Penalty Fare of £100 plus the fare, reduced to £50 if you pay within 21 days. Greater Anglia's Stansted and Southend airport stations sit outside the London cap area, so those journeys are ordinary singles that cap nothing. Heathrow Express is a flat £26.00 contactless single, outside pay-as-you-go altogether. East Midlands Railway takes contactless to Luton Airport Parkway at the ordinary rail fare — and stops there: the Luton DART shuttle on to the terminal is a separate £4.90 tapped at its own barriers, and going through them without a valid ticket carries a £25 penalty fare under the DART's own byelaws.

The two coaches disagree with each other. Arriva's Greenline 757 takes a contactless tap on the reader on board as you get on, at its own commercial fare that no TfL cap touches. National Express sells at the coach station, at a Payzone shop, online or from the driver, and has nothing on the vehicle to tap at all. So pick one card or one device and stay on it, touch in and out everywhere except a bus or a tram, touch out even when the gate is open, and register that card at tfl.gov.uk — it is optional, and it is what lets you claim a wrong charge back.

Yes, and it is the cheapest way to ride the Tube. Touch your contactless card, phone or watch on the yellow reader at the gate on the way in, and touch it again on the way out — always both, always the same card or device, and even when the gate is standing open. The fare is worked out from the zones you crossed, and inside Zones 1–2 the day stops charging at £8.90.

The touch out is where it goes wrong. If you never touch out, TfL cannot work out what your journey was and charges a maximum fare instead; it does not publish that as a fixed figure, because it depends on the journey and the zones. If the gap between your touch in and your touch out runs past the maximum journey time set for that trip, you are charged two maximum fares rather than one. A maximum fare never counts towards the cap — but it can be claimed back within 8 weeks of the journey, and a severe delay can trigger that refund without your asking.

The DLR, the London Overground and the Elizabeth line work identically and share the same fares and the same cap, so a journey across all four is one fare. Register the card or device at tfl.gov.uk before you travel: it is optional, and it is the thing that lets you see your journeys and get a wrong charge put right.

Yes, and it takes one touch. Every London bus has a yellow reader by the doors: touch your contactless card, phone or watch on it as you get on, and that is the whole transaction. There is no touch out on a bus — touching the reader again as you leave risks paying twice rather than saving anything — so nothing can go wrong at the far end. One touch pays a flat £1.75, and every further bus or tram you board within 60 minutes of it is free.

Buses and trams have a ceiling of their own, £5.25 across the two of them together in a day, which is separate from the £8.90 Zones 1–2 cap that the trains run on. It builds on the card rather than on you, so use the same card or device for every touch: switch to the phone halfway through the day and the two halves never add up. Trams work the same way, except that the reader is at the stop and you touch it before you board rather than on the tram.

One coach here takes a tap too: Arriva's Greenline 757 from Luton has a reader on board that you touch as you get on, though that is its own commercial fare and counts towards nothing. Nothing on a London bus takes cash and the driver has no ticket to sell, so touch once as you board, keep the same card in the same pocket all day, and let the £5.25 ceiling do the rest.

The Oyster card is Transport for London's own travel smartcard: you load credit onto it and touch it at the reader instead of a bank card. It costs £10.50 and that fee is not refundable. It is not a card that reaches further than contactless does — it charges the same fares under the same ceilings, and the day still stops at £8.90 in Zones 1–2 either way. Buy one for a reason: a bank card you would rather not use abroad, or a Railcard, which loads onto an Oyster card and takes a third off off-peak fares and off-peak caps.

Know where it stops before you rely on it. An Oyster card is not valid to Stansted Airport or to Southend Airport; Greater Anglia says so outright, and it only lets you touch in on the Stansted Express between London Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale. Ride past the edge with one anyway and you get the worst of both: a maximum entry charge already deducted, nowhere to touch out, and no valid ticket, which is a Penalty Fare of £100 plus the single fare waiting on the train. Get off inside the pay-as-you-go area, touch out, and buy a ticket for the rest. National Express coaches take no Oyster card at all, because their conditions of carriage only recognise a ticket National Express itself issued. On the Heathrow Express an Oyster card does work, at a flat £26.00 a single, and that fare sits outside the caps.

Buy it at a counter, not online: ordering a standard Oyster card online runs through a UK contactless and Oyster account. In person it is sold at every Tube station, most London Overground and Elizabeth line stations, London City Airport DLR station, TfL Visitor Centres, Oyster Ticket Stop newsagents and the Tramlink Shop in Croydon. The pre-loaded Visitor Oyster card works the other way round — it cannot be bought in London at all, and has to be ordered for delivery before you fly.

Yes, and it is the same ceiling whether you touch a contactless bank card, a phone or an Oyster card. Travel as much as you like inside Zones 1–2 and the day stops charging at £8.90. Reach further out and the ceiling rises with the zones you touch: £10.50 to Zone 3, £12.80 to Zone 4, £15.30 to Zone 5, £16.30 to Zone 6. Buses and trams have a ceiling of their own at £5.25, and that one figure covers both together.

The cap builds on one card, not on one person. Pay with your phone in the morning and a plastic card in the evening and the two halves of the day never meet, so neither of them caps. Use the same card or device for every single touch.

Some rides sit outside it altogether. Uber Boat by Thames Clippers takes contactless and Oyster at the pier and its river fares are not capped, so four crossings cost four fares whatever else you have spent. Both airport expresses take a contactless touch in and out like anything else, but what they charge stays outside the ceiling: Transport for London's own fares leaflet states that Heathrow Express journeys are not included in caps or Travelcards, and Gatwick Express fares are best budgeted the same way, because the operator's page and Transport for London's do not agree on it. On the Gatwick corridor you can sidestep the question at London Victoria, where the gateline you touch decides the fare: use the Southern and Thameslink gateline rather than the Gatwick Express one and you pay the lower fare. And a maximum fare charged because you missed a touch never counts towards the cap, so claim that back rather than letting it stand.

It depends on the brand on the card, and the list is a closed one. Transport for London accepts Visa, V Pay, Mastercard, Maestro and American Express, and names Diners Club, JCB and Union Pay as not accepted. If your card carries one of those three, it will not pay your fare at any reader in London, so plan on buying a ticket rather than tapping.

On any of the five that are accepted, the ordinary answer is yes. Most contactless cards issued outside the UK work on TfL's network: you tap your own bank card at the yellow reader, with nothing to buy, register or top up first. What gets added is your bank's charge rather than TfL's, because overseas transaction and currency-conversion charges may be applied by the card issuer, and TfL's own advice is to check with yours before you travel.

The phone is the part that catches people out. Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay, Garmin Pay and Barclaycard Contactless Mobile are all accepted here, but a mobile payment linked to a non-UK bank card may not work at all, or may cost an overseas transaction fee on top. TfL says that in terms, and tells you to ask the card issuer first rather than find out at the gate.

So carry the plastic as well as the phone. Whichever one opens the gate on your first journey, use that same one for every touch of the day: the fares and the caps build on a single card or device, so switching halfway splits the day in two.

On the Tube in London, missing a touch is not a fine. Transport for London charges a maximum fare instead of the fare the journey earned, and does not publish it as a fixed figure: it depends on the journey and the zones, and it is the same whether you tapped a contactless bank card or an Oyster card. If the gap between your touch in and your touch out runs past the maximum journey time set for that trip, you are charged two maximum fares rather than one. Buses and trams take one tap as you board and have no touch out, so on those there is nothing to miss.

A Penalty Fare is a National Rail matter, and the two operators that record one here are Thameslink and Greater Anglia. On their trains, travelling with no valid ticket or tap can bring a Penalty Fare of £100 plus the full single fare, reduced to £50 plus that fare if you pay within 21 days, and it can be appealed. Simply missing a touch on Thameslink is a different charge again: an incomplete journey of up to £30.40, which never counts towards a cap.

So the thing to do is claim, not pay. A TfL maximum fare can be claimed back within 8 weeks of the journey, and a severe delay can trigger that refund without you asking. A Penalty Fare notice is handed to you on paper: read the amount, the deadline and who to pay off the notice itself before you pay anything.

Piccadilly line (London Underground) trains are the cheap way in: an ordinary Tube fare from £5.50 to central London, about 55 minutes, paid with the same contactless or Oyster touch as the rest of the network, because Heathrow sits inside the zonal area. Three other ways cost more. The Elizabeth line does it in about 45 minutes for £13.90 to Zone 1, running direct to Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street. The Heathrow Express takes 15 minutes to Paddington and charges £26.00 — and if you touch a contactless or Oyster card at its gates, £26.00 is exactly what comes off, with no daily cap to catch it. The National Express coach to Victoria Coach Station takes about 40 minutes and starts at £9.50 including a £1.50 booking fee, on its own ticket bought before you board.

One rule applies whichever train you pick: a Tube or Elizabeth line journey to or from Heathrow is charged at the peak rate if it starts in, ends in or passes through Zone 1, whatever time of day you travel.

Which terminal each of these leaves from, and what else runs, is set out on the Heathrow Airport (LHR) page. If you want the cheapest thing that also needs no preparation, walk to the Piccadilly line gates and touch the bank card already in your pocket.

Under 11, yes, and with nothing to buy. Up to four children under 11 travelling with a fare-paying adult ride free on Transport for London's buses and trams at any time, and free on the Tube, the DLR, London Overground and the Elizabeth line when they are with that paying adult. No ticket, no card and no photocard is involved at all: you take them through the gate with you. Nothing has to be shown, though staff may form their own view of a child who looks older than ten.

From 11 a child needs something of their own, and there are two ways to get it. The 11-15 Zip Oyster photocard is applied for before you travel, and it carries free bus and tram travel, child-rate fares on the Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth line and the London Cable Car, child-rate fares on most National Rail services in London, and 50% off adult-rate Uber Boat by Thames Clippers fares. It is for children aged over 10 years 11 months and under 16 on 31 August, and the application asks for a colour digital photo of the child plus a colour image of the photo page of a valid, machine-readable passport.

The other way suits a short trip and needs no application. A visiting family staying in London for up to 14 days can ask for the Young Visitor discount: 50% off adult-rate pay-as-you-go fares and off the daily caps, for 14 days from the day it is applied. Each child aged 11 or over needs a Visitor Oyster card of their own, and the child has to be standing there when a member of TfL staff adds it, at most Tube stations or at a TfL Visitor Centre. So walk the under-11s through with you, and on the day you arrive take an older child and their card to the staff window at the first Tube station you use.

No gate or card reader in London takes coins or notes, and no Transport for London bus driver sells one. Cash buys a ticket or tops up a card somewhere else first, and it is that ticket or card that carries you through.

Where it does buy one: ticket machines at Tube stations and at most London Overground and Elizabeth line stations sell and top up the Oyster card, TfL's own travel smartcard, but only the machines labelled for cash and card take money, so a machine can turn your notes away. Oyster Ticket Stop newsagents across London take coins and notes outright. National Rail ticket offices take cash for a paper ticket; National Rail's own self-service machines take it at some and not at others. At the London Cable Car the ticket office counter is itself where you pay for the crossing, and a National Express coach ticket office takes cash for a coach ticket.

Three places take nothing at all. London buses have been cash-free since 2014, tram stops have no cash-accepting machine or counter, and Uber Boat by Thames Clippers answers the question in one line: card payments only, at the pier and on board. So get your cash onto an Oyster card at a station machine or an Oyster Ticket Stop before you set off, and keep a card for the river and the buses.

No, and there is nothing to buy on board either. London buses have taken no cash since 2014 and the driver has no ticket to sell you: the only thing on the bus is the yellow reader by the doors.

Touch it once as you get on, with a contactless bank card, a phone, or an Oyster card, Transport for London's own travel smartcard. That is the whole transaction. There is no touch out on a bus, so nothing can go wrong at the far end. One touch pays a flat £1.75, and every further bus or tram you board within 60 minutes of it, on the same card or device, is free — but only while the buses and trams follow one another. Ride the Tube, DLR, Overground, Elizabeth line, Cable Car or River Bus in between and that chain breaks, so the next bus or tram charges £1.75 afresh. Either way the day stops charging at £5.25 across buses and trams together.

If cash is what you are holding, put it on an Oyster card before your first bus: Oyster Ticket Stop newsagents take coins and notes outright, and station ticket machines do too — but only the ones labelled for cash and card, so read the machine before you queue at it.

Your phone pays for the Tube, the buses and the trams, but not as a ticket inside an app. Held to the yellow reader it is simply contactless: Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay, Fitbit Pay, Garmin Pay and Barclaycard Contactless Mobile are all accepted, and the fare comes off the card behind the wallet. There is no Transport for London app ticket to buy. TfL Go tops up an Oyster card and loads Travelcards onto it; it does not issue a ticket you show at all.

Where a phone ticket is a real thing in London, it belongs to one operator and works only on that operator. The Heathrow Express sells an e-ticket in its own app and scans its QR code at the gates — and its advance single from £10, booked 30+ days ahead, exists only on that ticket and never on a tap. Uber Boat by Thames Clippers sells tickets in the Thames Clippers Tickets app and through the Uber app. The London Cable Car sells a timed advance booking on its own site. National Express coaches, Flibco's Stansted coach and the Luton DART shuttle each issue a QR e-ticket you show to the driver or scan at a barrier.

So install an app only for the specific operator you are about to travel with, and for everything TfL runs, use the phone the other way: tapped, not opened.

Fares yes; journey times only for airports. Fares, caps and penalties are printed where an operator publishes them, with the source beside each figure. Journey times appear only on the airport pages, as the rough time from the airport to the centre where one is published; there are no timetables here. For a live departure or a door-to-door route, use the operator's own journey planner.