Expert: Michael - 3/4/2008

Question
QUESTION: Hello Michael.
How much is a day long ticket on the London Underground ? We are travelling to London in about a fortnight to visit some places discovered in our family tree. They are not the usual tourist areas, so we'll need to get around the centre and south of the City by Tube. And can we buy the ticket as soon as we get off the train at Euston ?
Thanks
Mark

ANSWER: Hello Mark,

Travelcards for travel within London are relatively cheap, but it pays to know exactly where you'll be going. If you plan to stay mainly in central London, then a Zone 1&2 travelcard can be purchased for £6.80 for all-day travel, or £5.30 for travel after 9.30am on weekdays, or at any time on weekends.

If you plan to travel further out, then you will need a Zone 1-6 Travelcard, costing £13.80 at peak times, of £7.00 after 9.30/at weekends.

Underground tickets are available from any tube station, and several mainline rail stations, so you could buy one at London Euston. Of course, if you're travelling from within the south of England it may well be possible to buy a ticket to London which includes a travelcard, so it's worth asking at your local station, or checking on one of the train fare websites.

If you want a more detailed answer, I can probably provide one if you let me know which station you are travelling from, and which tube stations you would need to reach (or which is the furthest out of London you'd need) and the time you'd expect to be travelling.

I hope that this answer has been helpful

Michael

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks. We're coming from Staffordshire. Glancing at a map of the Underground Faringdon is the closest station to where we want to vist first, then south to Brixton, which appears to be the end of the line. What would be the best way to connect the two ?
Mark

Answer
Hello again Mark,

Well, coming from Staffordshire, the chances are you would need separate tickets for the underground as you are travelling such a distance.

If Brixton is the furthest you'll be travelling from the centre of London, then a Zones 1-2 travelcard will suffice for your journeys, as you can see from this map:
http://www.intolondon.com/images/intolondon/transport-maps/london-undergound-tub

To get from Euston to Farringdon you can either take a tube on the Northern line (black) changing at Kings Cross/St Pancras to the Circle/Metropolitan/Hammersmith&City (Yellow/Purple/Pink) lines, or you can take the short walk to either Kings Cross/St Pancras or Euston Square tube stations to pick up the C/M/H&C lines there for a direct journey to Farringdon.

To travel from Farringdon to Brixton, you need to take a tube back to Kings Cross/St Pancras where you can change onto the Victoria line (light blue), which will take you right through to Brixton.

I hope that this has been useful - and that the addition of colours did not appear patronising. I am aware that many folk who travel to London from long distances are unaware of the colours used for the lines, where those of us in the SouthEast take it for granted that everyone knows them!

Best of luck in your research - I know having spent some time at the FRC in London, and exploring my own family residences in the capital, it's a great experience!

Michael