It is worth therefore looking at a map of where you are going, alongside the Tube Map Zones. Money can be saved by getting off a stop or even two before the one you want, if it is in a lower zone. In many cases, there is not too much distance between tube stops, and, you can save 50p or more by enjoying a short walk.

For example, Euston station is in Zone 1 and Mornington Crescent is in Zone 2. The distance between the two stations is less than half a mile, taking on average about 10 minutes to walk. Alighting the tube at Euston would mean you would not be paying the Zone 2 price on your Oyster – saving you money. Another slightly longer example is between Archway Station and Highgate Station, the first being in Zone 2 and the second being in Zone 3. At under a mile, this 15 minute walk can save you up to £1 for a return journey…every little helps!

Keeping fit and saving money – what could be better than that?!

This theory can also be applied to travel cards. If you get a weekly Zone 1-2 travel card (£27.60) but want to travel outside of Zone 2, get off the tube at the end of the zone and use local buses to reach your final destination. With your travelcard you are entitled to unlimited bus travel, which does not fall into the zone system. Rather than paying the additional fare on top of your travelcard, this keeps everything within one weekly cost.

Peak services are those at the busiest times of the day, mainly during the commuting hours. These journeys are the most expensive, as TFL want to optimise their earnings. Off-Peak services are cheaper ways to travel, as they tend to be at the least popular times of day.

Peak services run between 06:30-09:30 and 16:00-19:00 Monday to Friday, with all other times being Off-Peak. A Peak Single ticket (with Oyster Card) between Zones 1-2 costs £2.50, whereas the same ticket during off-peak hours costs only £1.90.

The time recorded is based on the time you touch in to the Oyster reader, rather than when you touch out. Next time you are travelling, it is worth looking and your watch and if you need to, wait a few minutes in the station before touching it. It could save you over £1 a day!

Many people under 25 don’t know that with a Young Person’s Railcard you can not only save 1/3 off ticket prices on trains around the country but you can also save 1/3 on single tube fairs and the daily cap. For those travelling on off-peak services (10am-5pm, 7pm-11.30pm weekdays; all weekend) the cost of a single tube journey in Zone 1 comes down from £1.90 to only £1.25, and only 85p on the London Overground Service. The daily cap is also reduced by 1/3, meaning you can have unlimited daily travel for little over £5.  This is a remarkable saving, and well worth taking advantage of.

How do I save money on the London Underground? I hear you ask. All you have to do is sign up for a young person’s railcard, which you can do online or at any railway station nationwide: http://www.16-25railcard.co.uk/

An extra sneaky tip – the railcard is intended for those 25 years old and younger. Sign up for the card a week before your 26th birthday and enjoy an extra year of fantastic discounts…! Once this has been processed, take your railcard to a TFL station along with your Oyster Card (which must be registered to your name), and within 10 minutes it will be set up and ready to use.

So to summarise – linking your Young Person’s Railcard with your Oyster Card can:

• Reduce the price of single tube journey’s during off-peak times by 1/3
• Reduce the price of the single London Overground Journey during off-peak times by 1/3
• Reduce the daily cap on an Oyster card by 1/3
• Save you lots of money!