How to Pay for a Single Bus Ride in London
Jul 17, 2015, 7:21 pm
#1
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How to Pay for a Single Bus Ride in London
Will be staying in London for a day and just need just a roundtrip ticket from my hotel to Victoria Station using the #73 bus. The buses don't accept cash. An Oyster Card bought locally apparently entails fees. I don't want to pay for a one day pass as I could take a taxi for that amount. How do I best handle this. Can't one just buy a one way ticket for GBP 1.50 somewhere?
Jul 18, 2015, 12:14 am
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Will be staying in London for a day and just need just a roundtrip ticket from my hotel to Victoria Station using the #73 bus. The buses don't accept cash. An Oyster Card bought locally apparently entails fees. I don't want to pay for a one day pass as I could take a taxi for that amount. How do I best handle this. Can't one just buy a one way ticket for GBP 1.50 somewhere?
Last edited by Jimmie76; Jul 18, 2015 at 8:10 am
Jul 18, 2015, 2:12 am
#5
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Quite a lot of duff info in this thread....
They were ripped out some years back.
The only way I can think of paying cash would be not to buy a ticket, get caught & pay the fine in cash. You're right though, that would be MUCH more expensive.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/cash-free-buses
The only way I can think of paying cash would be not to buy a ticket, get caught & pay the fine in cash. You're right though, that would be MUCH more expensive.
https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/buses/cash-free-buses
Jul 18, 2015, 2:20 am
#6
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Best option I think would be a one day bus & tram pass. IIRC they're £5 and are sold at tube/Overground ticket machines, they can be issued as a paper ticket so no need to have or acquire an oyster.
Another option is to use Apple Pay if you own an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus or Apple Watch, these will work like a contactless card if you don't have one to use.
Another option is to use Apple Pay if you own an iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus or Apple Watch, these will work like a contactless card if you don't have one to use.
Jul 18, 2015, 8:10 am
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Well you can still look out for them, you'll just never find one. I've never used them and don't work in zone one anymore so easy not to miss them. Thanks for the correction though.
Jul 18, 2015, 8:24 am
#8
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Thanks so much to everyone for their advice. I didn't even see that a one day bus pass was available. That will work perfectly.
Unfortunately, we here in the U.S. don't have contactless credit and debit cards available to us. Europe is always so far ahead with consumer technology. ApplePay sounds great, but I have a Samsung smartphone.
Unfortunately, we here in the U.S. don't have contactless credit and debit cards available to us. Europe is always so far ahead with consumer technology. ApplePay sounds great, but I have a Samsung smartphone.
Jul 18, 2015, 8:39 am
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Thanks so much to everyone for their advice. I didn't even see that a one day bus pass was available. That will work perfectly.
Unfortunately, we here in the U.S. don't have contactless credit and debit cards available to us. Europe is always so far ahead with consumer technology. ApplePay sounds great, but I have a Samsung smartphone.
Unfortunately, we here in the U.S. don't have contactless credit and debit cards available to us. Europe is always so far ahead with consumer technology. ApplePay sounds great, but I have a Samsung smartphone.
According to this page on the TFL website cards issued outside the uk some USA cards are contactless.
Jul 18, 2015, 2:11 pm
#10
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What I have found is that as I've gotten new cards that have chips, they don't have contactless as well.
If your Samsung smartphone has NFC (Galaxy S2/3/4/5/6, most if not all Note versions, etc), then anywhere that accepts Applepay will accept Google Wallet.
Jul 18, 2015, 2:53 pm
#11
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This is not true. I've had contactless cards in the US for years. Visa calls it Paywave, Chase calls it Blink, etc. Look for the wave symbol on your card.
What I have found is that as I've gotten new cards that have chips, they don't have contactless as well.
If your Samsung smartphone has NFC (Galaxy S2/3/4/5/6, most if not all Note versions, etc), then anywhere that accepts Applepay will accept Google Wallet.
What I have found is that as I've gotten new cards that have chips, they don't have contactless as well.
If your Samsung smartphone has NFC (Galaxy S2/3/4/5/6, most if not all Note versions, etc), then anywhere that accepts Applepay will accept Google Wallet.
I will look into Google Wallet. Even ApplePay is accepted in only a very few places. We can't even get our banks to change to Chip & PIN which Europe has had for years.
I'll be happy with the one day bus pass. Meets my needs exactly. I understand I can get these from the ticket machines at any Tube station - right?
Jul 18, 2015, 3:31 pm
#12
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Chase has eliminated Blink. Visa offers Paywave with only about 6 institutions, none of which are mine. AMEX appears to offer it only in the UK. There are almost no merchants in the U.S. who have readers that will accept those cards.
I will look into Google Wallet. Even ApplePay is accepted in only a very few places. We can't even get our banks to change to Chip & PIN which Europe has had for years.
I'll be happy with the one day bus pass. Meets my needs exactly. I understand I can get these from the ticket machines at any Tube station - right?
I will look into Google Wallet. Even ApplePay is accepted in only a very few places. We can't even get our banks to change to Chip & PIN which Europe has had for years.
I'll be happy with the one day bus pass. Meets my needs exactly. I understand I can get these from the ticket machines at any Tube station - right?
Apple pay is accepted by TFL - there is even a thread about it on this very board. Apple Pay has just had a massive roll out in the UK. Full bells and whistles in the press and on the news etc. I personally got at least 10 emails from various companies saying they were now accepting it.
But yes you can get a one day bus pass from a ticket machine.
Jul 18, 2015, 11:11 pm
#13
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The link I posted clearly states that AMEX does issue contactless cards. You may not have an AMEX card or the one you have isn't contactless but that's not the same as them not issuing them at all. And people (even Americans) have posted on this board that they have used them on London transport services.
Apple pay is accepted by TFL - there is even a thread about it on this very board. Apple Pay has just had a massive roll out in the UK. Full bells and whistles in the press and on the news etc. I personally got at least 10 emails from various companies saying they were now accepting it.
But yes you can get a one day bus pass from a ticket machine.
Apple pay is accepted by TFL - there is even a thread about it on this very board. Apple Pay has just had a massive roll out in the UK. Full bells and whistles in the press and on the news etc. I personally got at least 10 emails from various companies saying they were now accepting it.
But yes you can get a one day bus pass from a ticket machine.
Jul 19, 2015, 1:49 am
#14
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Thank you. I called AMEX re my particular card (Starwood) and they said no. ApplePay is accepted more widely in a few large American cities such as New York, Chicago, etc. But outside of that, few merchants in the U.S. accept or even know about it. As I said, only a few merchants such as Walmart even accept a chip card, let alone a chip and PIN or touchless. Hopefully we will catch up soon. Thanks for the advice.
Regarding Google Wallet mentioned above, I'm not sure TfL accepts it yet, at least seen no mention.
Jul 19, 2015, 11:11 am
#15
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Chase has eliminated Blink. Visa offers Paywave with only about 6 institutions, none of which are mine. AMEX appears to offer it only in the UK. There are almost no merchants in the U.S. who have readers that will accept those cards.
I will look into Google Wallet. Even ApplePay is accepted in only a very few places. We can't even get our banks to change to Chip & PIN which Europe has had for years.
I'll be happy with the one day bus pass. Meets my needs exactly. I understand I can get these from the ticket machines at any Tube station - right?
I will look into Google Wallet. Even ApplePay is accepted in only a very few places. We can't even get our banks to change to Chip & PIN which Europe has had for years.
I'll be happy with the one day bus pass. Meets my needs exactly. I understand I can get these from the ticket machines at any Tube station - right?
I have it on my both my Gold and Aeroplan Gold cards.
For some reason the US is waay behind the rest of the world with chip and pin and contactless cards.
Anyways, I'd suggest getting the oyster card like everyone else and then getting the refund of £5 after you're done with it.
Although I could've sworn that I remember seeing people pay by cash on the bus in the past...
