Great question! For buses and trams, there’s a separate, lower daily cap. It’s a flat rate—no zones, no nonsense. You pay per bus ride until you hit the magic number, and then you ride for free. Perfect for those days when you miss your stop and decide to just see where the 73 bus goes. (Spoiler: usually just more traffic.)
Explained: Why Sadiq Khan's Tube fares hike contains unexpectedly great
Pro tip: If you mix Tube, bus, and tram in one day, your total cap is the highest applicable one for your journey. So don’t think you can dodge the Tube cap by adding a bus ride. TfL is smarter than that. They have computers. And spreadsheets. Scary spreadsheets.
But What About Contactless vs. Oyster Cards?
Honestly, they work almost identically for daily caps. Contactless is slightly magical because it tracks your Monday to Sunday automatically for the weekly cap, too. Oyster does that, but you have to pre-load money like a responsible adult. Contactless is more “set it and forget it,” like a slow cooker for your commute costs.
One tiny warning: Don’t use two different cards in the same day. If you tap in with your Oyster in the morning, then use your phone’s contactless at lunch, TfL thinks you’re two different people. You’ll pay two separate caps. That’s how they get you—double the cap, double the pain. Stick to one method per day. Your bank account will thank you.
