no free travel on trains for kids

[Tanza]

Are people aware that you are supposed to buy tickets on the train for your child once they are five? I was stopped at London Bridge yesterday and made to pay. (fortunately I wasn't fined). I hadn't realised this was the case, as travel is free for kids on tubes and buses. Turns out that the train operating companies aren't part of London Transport so free travel doesn't apply once a child is five on trains.

I paid up, but felt fed up. Oyster cards have finally made it south of the river, but free travel for kids - seemingly not.

[womanofdulwich]

is it free for kids on tubes? i thougth it was just buses.

[Tanza]

Travel is free on tubes for the under 11s according to London Transport Website below. I guess my irritation stems from the fact that getting anywhere from South London often takes multiple public transport links including the non-free-for-kids trains. Now that Oyster cards have made it to South London, the inconvenience of having to stop and buy a kid's ticket instead of sailing through quickly with a swipe-card through is more obvious.

London Transport for 5- to 10-year-olds

Children aged five to 10 can travel free at any time on buses, Tube, DLR, trams and London Overground as long as they travel with an adult who has a valid ticket. Up to four children can travel free with one adult.

Children aged 5 to 10 who are travelling unaccompanied on the Tube, DLR or London Overground will need a 5-10 Oyster photocard to travel free. Find out more about 5-10 Oyster photocardon the Transport for London website.

London Transport for 11- to 15-year olds

Children aged 11 to 15 years can travel free on buses and trams and at child rate on Tube, DLR and London Overground services, provided they have an 11-15 Oyster photocard.

[redjam]

It is a bit rubbish, as it feels like we're being penalised for living in south London with its bad tube connections. If we lived anywhere else in London, we'd be able to get in and around town easier for free with kids as we'd all be on the tube. I tend to feel that if we can use an Oyster card here it should be free for kids like all the other methods of transport that use Oyster cards.

Let's march on SMB Jones with our Bugaboos and scooters.

[ludoscotts]

hi forest hill is now on overground tube so if you can join the network there maybe you can bypass having to use trains?

[civilservant]

Note that Overground is NOT the same as the train network - it's 'the suburban network of rail services in London managed by TfL' according to the TfL website and mainly serves North London.

It's not hard to get an Oyster card for children - you get a form at the Post Office. More details on http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/default.aspx

I got my 6 year old an Oyster card so that we didn't have to wait in ticket queues to buy her a ticket. She uses it Pay as you go and it costs just over a pound per train journey.

Other bonuses are that it makes her feel quite grown-up to have her own ticket, it squawks when she wands it over the reader, and it also works on the Tube so that she can get through ticket turnstiles on the Tube by herself - she isn't charged to get through. And of course it takes all the guesswork out of knowing when and where to pay because it doesn't get debited on buses and Tubes.

I didn't mean this to sound like a free puff for kids' Oyster cards, but they really do help if you travel a lot on public transport with children.

[ludoscotts]

hi civilservant so does "Note that Overground is NOT the same as the train network - it's 'the suburban network of rail services in London managed by TfL' according to the TfL website and mainly serves North London. " mean that it isnt free on overground? sorry been long day and very confused.

[Tanza]

Thanks civilservant - I hadn't thought/realised you could get an Oyster card for a child. That's a good idea. Also thanks to Ludoscotts for the Overground advice at Forest Hill. I always forget it goes through there, will investigate for good days out using that route.

[civilservant]

no, ludoscotts, it's not you that's the problem at all!

I was confused myself until I found this web page http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/15359.aspx

so Forest Hill is served by the Overground, but East Dulwich is not. And according to the map on the above link, Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill are also on the Overground.

However, I think that Overground refers to to the train operator and not the station, so that some trains through Forest Hill, Peckham Rye etc. may be Overground (and hence free to kids), but not others...

Sorry, my head's beginning to hurt now! You can see why I just trust to my Oystercard to work it out for me

[Tanza]

Hello - Anyone travelling from East Dulwich or Denmark Hill has to pay for kids because the train operating companies aren't part of London Transport.

The service going through Forest Hill is, as CivilServant points out part of London Overground which is either run by or is part of London Transport (and therefore is free for kids) - this is the new-tube-like service, which isn't scheduled to pass through Denmark Hill or Peckham Rye until 2012 according to the TFL website. So presume we will have free travel for kids by 2012 at Denmark Hill/Peckham Rye, although East Dulwich will presumably remain a paying-for-kids station as this new service won't run through it.

I reckon we should definitely march on somewhere with our Bugaboos, waving our organic vegetables.

civilservant Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> no, ludoscotts, it's not you that's the problem at

> all!

> I was confused myself until I found this web page

> http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes

> /15359.aspx

>

> so Forest Hill is served by the Overground, but

> East Dulwich is not. And according to the map on

> the above link, Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill are

> also on the Overground.

>

> However, I think that Overground refers to to the

> train operator and not the station, so that some

> trains through Forest Hill, Peckham Rye etc. may

> be Overground (and hence free to kids), but not

> others...

> Sorry, my head's beginning to hurt now! You can

> see why I just trust to my Oystercard to work it

> out for me