Travel in London: daily and weekly Oyster and contactless caps by zone

Travel in London costs different amounts for the same week depending on which card you tap and when you leave the house. The system caps what it takes from you: there is a daily ceiling and a weekly one. Here is what they cost by zone, when peak hours start, and why the cap sometimes fails to apply.

What is the daily cap and when does it start?

The daily cap is the most you will be charged in one day, however many journeys you make. The day here does not start at midnight: it runs from 04:30 to 04:29 the next morning. A journey at one in the morning therefore belongs to the previous day and counts towards yesterday's cap rather than opening a new one.

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There are two caps and they are counted separately: a combined one covering Tube, rail, DLR, London Overground, the Elizabeth line, National Rail inside London and buses, and a cheaper one for buses and trams only. The daily cap is applied automatically — you do not have to ask for it.

How much is the daily cap by zone?

For an adult paying as you go the rates are: zones 1-2 — £8.90 a day, zones 1-3 — £10.50, zones 1-4 — £12.80, zones 1-5 — £15.30, zones 1-6 — £16.30. These figures were confirmed in the Mayor of London's decision on fares from 1 March 2026 and were left unchanged in that revision.

The practical point is simple: if you make more than three or four journeys a day across zones 1-2, the rest of the day is effectively free. The fourth journey is usually the one that pushes the meter into the ceiling.

How does the weekly cap work?

The weekly cap runs over a fixed Monday to Sunday period and matches the price of a 7 Day Travelcard for the same zones. Zones 1-2 — £44.70, zones 1-3 — £52.50, zones 1-4 — £64.20, zones 1-5 — £76.40, zones 1-6 — £81.60. Without zone 1 it is cheaper: zones 2-3 — £33.50, 2-4 — £37.10, 2-5 — £44.50, 2-6 — £55.90.

There is a trap the operator itself warns about: the week is tied hard to Monday. If you arrived on a Thursday, a Thursday-to-Wednesday stretch will not reach a weekly cap, and a 7 Day Travelcard, which can start on any day, is better value.

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One more difference: the daily cap applies immediately, while the weekly cap is checked towards the end of the week. Oyster users may get the overpayment refunded retrospectively.

How much is the bus, and what is the Hopper?

A single bus or tram journey costs £1.75 regardless of distance or zone. That £1.75 includes the Hopper rule: within one hour of your first tap you can change from bus to bus and to trams as many times as you like at no extra charge. The number of changes is not limited.

A Tube or rail journey inside that hour is charged separately at the standard fare, but the Hopper hour does not burn: the next bus within the hour is still free. If your Oyster balance went negative after the first journey, however, the Hopper will not apply — you have to top up within that same hour.

The separate daily cap for buses and trams is £5.25, and the weekly one is £24.70.

When is peak time and what does one journey cost?

Peak on the Tube, DLR, London Overground, the Elizabeth line and National Rail inside London means weekdays other than public holidays, from 06:30 to 09:30 and from 16:00 to 19:00. Night Tube and London Overground night services are always charged at the off-peak rate.

A single journey in zone 1 costs £3.10 at peak and £3.00 off-peak. Zones 1-2 — £3.60 and £3.10. Zones 1-3 — £3.90 and £3.30. Zones 1-4 — £4.80 and £3.60. Zones 1-6 — £5.90 and £4.00. Outside zone 1 it is cheaper: two zones cost £2.50 at peak and £2.30 off-peak.

Why might the cap not apply?

The main condition is the same card on every journey. If you tapped a phone on Monday and a plastic card on Tuesday, the system treats that as two different passengers and neither set of journeys adds up to a single weekly cap. The same goes for Apple Pay and Google Pay on different devices.

The second condition is tapping both in and out on Tube and rail journeys. An unfinished journey is charged at the maximum fare and counted towards the cap incorrectly.

And third: paper Group Day Travelcards, for parties of ten or more, are a separate matter with their own prices — zones 1-6 cost £10.50 per adult and £5.20 per child under 16, zones 1-9 cost £11.10 and £5.60.