London bus tickets: everything you need to know

Before taking the bus in Londonyou'll need to buy a ticket.

Today I'm talking about everything you need to know about paying for buses in London.

Here we go!

London bus tickets: article summary

London bus tickets: how do I pay on a London bus?

As with the Underground, there are several ways to pay for a journey on London buses. It sounds a bit complicated, but the short answer is that the best way to pay for London buses is with a Oyster Card.

However, it is useful to know the standard bus fares if you choose to pay per use.

Make a contactless card payment

You can no longer use cash to pay for your bus tickets in London, so you have to pay by card, whether it's a bank card or an Oyster card.

If you are paying by credit card, all you need to do is place your card on the reader when boarding the bus to pay the fare.

Using an Oyster Card

Buses automatically deduct the rate of £1.55 of your Oyster Card balance if you are travelling with a balance, but there are a daily ceiling of £4.65 on the Oyster Card. It's a very practical solution for reducing costs.

Of course, if you have a ticket, the journey costs nothing, since the ticket covers it. If you'd like to find out more about the Oyster Card, please take a look at the article I wrote on this subject.

London bus tickets: take advantage of the Hopper fare

The Hopper fare makes bus journeys even more reasonable if you pay on balance.

Thanks to this, all journeys within 60 minutes of your first rate of £1.55 are free.

So, if you make a transfer or take several different buses to reach your destination, they will all cost just £1.55 if they take place within an hour of your first departure.

How to use London's buses

If you're not familiar with buses, the idea of taking a public bus can seem frightening. Buses in many cities are not a pleasant experience, but that's not the case in London.

Determining bus numbers and timetables

First of all, you may need to familiarize yourself with the bus timetable before setting off. Generally, it's pretty straightforward: the bus runs according to a schedule, so if you find the next available time after you arrive at the stop, the bus should be nearby by now.

What's more, there are many different bus numbers in London, so it's important to know which one you want to take, as several buses may stop at the same time.

To be honest, the easiest way to find out bus numbers and timetables is to use an app.

During your vacation in London, you can save a lot of money by knowing in advance the prices of the different bus tickets. You'll enjoy your vacation in the English capital.

What to do in London in 1 day, 2 days, 3 days, 5 days, a week?

Whatever the length of your stay, I invite you to download my special London guide.

It's free and in PDF format.

All you have to do is tell me below which e-mail address you'd like to receive it at.

EDIT: you can't enter your email?

Take the quiz at the top of this article and you'll be able to register your email address to receive the special London guide!