I save £500 a year with this one Tube trick — and it’s about to get even easier

There’s nothing more humbling than waking up in the morning and realising TfL has taken money for your daily commute at 3am. Goodbye, life savings.

But there’s one little-known hack that could save Railcard holders a considerable amount – and that’s by connecting it to an Oyster card.

Noting that none of her friends had heard of the hack before, TikToker @noaminlondon decided to do the maths – and realised it could shave off ‘£500 per year’ in TfL fees.

‘Every friend in London literally has no idea what I’m talking about and is so upset that I haven’t told them before,’ Noam said of the hack in a TikTok video.

Remember Oyster cards? Launched in 2003, they were a lifesaver for countless Londoners who were frankly sick of carrying around paper travel cards and hoping not to lose them before they got paid again.

Another payment revolution came in 2012, when commuters in the Big Smoke unlocked the power to use their contactless bank card to tap in, rather than topping up their Oyster card beforehand. Recalling that feeling of being declined at the gates? Embarrassing.

Those in the know will be aware that countless Gen Zs (and a handful of Millennials) can unlock 1/3 off during off-peak travel (and a reduced daily cap) if they have a Railcard – but never before have they been able to access it only using their bank card.

Until now, at least, as the Mayor of London has revealed plans to potentially connect the discount with contactless cards as well as Oysters.

To qualify for the discount, all Railcard holders need to do is bring either their 16-25 Railcard or their 26-30 Railcard with them – just as they would when getting on a train out of London.

Then, they can ask any TfL staff member to connect it for them – which can be done in mere seconds at an Oyster top-up station.

But it isn’t just young people who qualify for the discount: it also works on the Senior and HM Forces Railcards.

At present, the daily cap for various zones stands at £8.50 (Zones 1-2), £10 (Zones 1-3), £12.30 (Zones 1-4) and £14.60 (Zones 1-5).

While the Railcard discount won’t save any money on the daily commute (as it doesn’t work during peak times), it’ll reduce the price of an off-peak journey worth £2.80 (between Zones 1 and 2) to just £1.87.

And, once it’s connected to contactless cards, shaving off a few pennies will become even easier – though we don’t yet have a date for its launch.

‘Transport for London (TfL) is always looking at how it can improve the pay-as-you-go system and this includes looking at whether National Railcards, which are a Rail Delivery Group-led product, can potentially be associated to customers using pay-as-you-go with contactless in the future,’ a response on the TfL website from Mayor of London Sadiq Khan reads.

‘TfL is working closely with the Department for Transport and Rail Delivery Group to progress work to allow us to implement this in the future as part of our wider work to expand pay-as-you-go with contactless in the South East. TfL has not yet agreed a date when this will be delivered.’

Elsewhere, while not every Tube station is a work of art, there are more than enough that are worth seeking out. And so, Metro recently ranked the 13 most beautiful stations on the London Underground.

Westminster ranked in first place, while there were also honourable mentions for Southwark, Leytonstone, and East Finchley.

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Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

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