Londoner with a railcard? It could save you £100s on Tube, DLR and Elizabeth line fares

Due to how TfL's systems are set up, this trick only works with Oyster cards (not contactless, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and so on). And only certain individual railcards give the discount – I've listed them below.

I've been doing this for years, saving £100s in the process. But when I mention it to people, very few know about the discount or bother to claim it. So I'm spreading the word again in the hope of saving you some cash. Click on the links below to go to the relevant info:

• Which railcards does this work with?

• What does 'off-peak' mean?

• How much could I save? (Spoiler: A LOT!)

• How do I claim the discount?

• How many Londoners could be missing out on this discount?

PS. My editor agreed to let me add some fun photos of London's public transport to this blog. Hope you enjoy them as you scroll through.

Which railcards does this work with?

Any of these:

• 16-25 Railcard (including the four-year Santander version)

• 26-30 Railcard

• Disabled Person's Railcard (this one gives you a 33% discount on PEAK fares, too!)

• HM Forces Railcard

• Senior Railcard

It DOESN'T work with the Network Railcard, Family & Friends Railcard, Two Together Railcard or Veterans Railcard.

Got an Annual Gold Card or Gold Record Card after buying a yearly travelcard? You can get a similar 33% discount on off-peak fares without a separate railcard – just follow the steps below to add your Gold Card to your Oyster.

What does 'off-peak' mean?

In a nutshell, any time outside the weekday morning and evening rush hours. Crucially, this means Saturdays and Sundays are ALWAYS off-peak. Here's the full breakdown:

How much could I save?

It depends on the number of off-peak journeys you make and which zones you travel to and from. Here are some example savings for a single journey based on my own recent travel around the capital:

The savings quickly add up – looking at my journey data, in eight weeks between 2 April 2025 and 28 May 2025, I saved a total of £18.95. Transport for London (TfL) doesn't let you access journey history older than eight weeks, so I couldn't calculate an exact annual saving – but it's likely in the £100 to £200 range, as that eight-week period was fairly representative of my travel patterns throughout the year.

To put these numbers into context, a one-year railcard usually costs £35 – but can often be had for less. For example, you can currently get a railcard for £17.50 using Clubcard vouchers, or for £26.25 using discount codes. I got mine for £20 (before the March 2025 price rise) using a similar discount code I saw in the MSE weekly email.

That means my railcard has nearly paid for itself already – and that's before factoring in a single National Rail journey.

How do I claim the discount?

You need to get the railcard discount applied to your Oyster card to get the cheaper fares.

The first step is to register your Oyster by creating an account on the TfL website (if you haven't already).

You'll then need to visit a Tube or London Overground station (or certain Elizabeth line stations) with your railcard in hand and ask a member of staff to apply your railcard discount. You can only do this in person. In my experience, it's easiest to do at Zone 1 stations, where there are more staff about.

Once the discount is applied, it'll stay on your Oyster until your railcard expires. If you then get a new railcard, you'll need to get the discount added again.

How many Londoners could be missing out on this discount?

OK, I'll be honest here. What I really wanted was irrefutable data showing how many people were missing out. Sadly, that proved impossible to get in this case – even when I submitted a Freedom of Information request.

Still, I reckon as many as half a million people could be missing out. Here's why: