This offer has now ended
Update, 1 September 2026: the £1.75 weekend cap finished on bank holiday Monday, 31 August 2026. Weekends are back on the normal £5.25 daily bus and tram cap. I have kept the full details below so you can see how it worked, and my guide to the London bus fare caps covers what applies now.
London got a properly good daily bus cap this summer. From 25 July to 31 August 2026, your entire day of bus and tram travel on a weekend was capped at £1.75. Not £5.25, which is the normal daily cap. One fare, and every bus after that was free until the end of the day.
The £1.75 daily cap at a glance
- A whole day of bus and tram travel cost a maximum of £1.75
- Applied on Saturdays and Sundays from 25 July to 31 August 2026, plus bank holiday Monday (31 August)
- Automatic with Oyster or contactless. Nothing to register or activate.
- Now ended. The normal £5.25 daily cap is back.
How did the £1.75 daily cap work?
It worked exactly like the normal daily cap, just much lower. You tapped in on your first bus and paid £1.75. After that, every bus and tram you took for the rest of the day was free. TfL called it the Weekend Hopper.
The cap followed TfL's fare day, which runs from 4:30am to 4:29am the next morning. So a night bus home at 2am after a Saturday out still counted as Saturday, and still cost you nothing extra.
Two things you had to get right:
- Use the same card all day. Oyster, contactless card, or phone, it did not matter which. But if you tapped with your phone in the morning and the plastic card in the afternoon, TfL saw two different people and charged you twice. This rule still applies to the normal caps today.
- It was buses and trams only. The Tube, Overground, Elizabeth line and DLR were not included. A Tube journey was charged separately under the normal Tube caps.
When did it apply, and when did it not?
The £1.75 daily cap ran on Saturdays and Sundays from 25 July to 31 August 2026, and also on bank holiday Monday, 31 August. That last weekend of August was three capped days in a row, and it was the final flourish: the offer ended with it.
On weekdays it never applied, and now that the offer is over the normal caps apply every day: £1.75 per journey with free changes for an hour, and £5.25 for the day. I explained those in my guide to the London bus fare caps.
How much did you actually save?
| Bus journeys in a day | Normal daily cost | With the £1.75 cap |
|---|---|---|
| 1 journey | £1.75 | £1.75 |
| 2 journeys | £3.50 | £1.75 |
| 3 or more journeys | £5.25 | £1.75 |
So from your second separate journey onwards, you were saving money. A day out with four or five bus rides cost £1.75 per adult instead of £5.25, and children under 11 travel free anyway.
It made summer 2026 a brilliant season for sightseeing by bus. I have written before about why regular TfL buses beat hop-on hop-off tours, and with the whole day capped at £1.75 it was not even a contest. The buses are still the better deal at £5.25, just less of a steal.
Why was it only for one summer?
It was a summer-holiday offer from the Mayor and TfL, on top of the single fare being frozen at £1.75 until 1 November 2026. It was always billed as a limited run, and it ended on schedule on 31 August. TfL has not announced whether it will come back in future summers. If it does, I will update this page.
Frequently asked questions
Is the £1.75 weekend bus cap still running?
No. The offer ended on bank holiday Monday, 31 August 2026, and TfL has not announced a return. Weekends now use the normal £5.25 daily bus and tram cap.
Did I need to register for the £1.75 daily cap?
No. Pay as you go with Oyster, a contactless card, or your phone, and the cap was applied automatically at the end of the day. The normal caps still work the same way: just keep every tap on the same card or device.
Did the cap include trams?
Yes. It covered London buses and the trams in south London together, the same way the normal bus and tram caps do.
Did it work on night buses?
Yes. Night buses charge the same fare as day buses and counted towards the same cap. Because the fare day runs to 4:29am, your late bus home was part of the same day you went out.
What applies now the offer has ended?
The normal caps, every day of the week: £1.75 per journey with free changes for an hour, and £5.25 for the day. Then from 1 November 2026 fares are expected to rise, with a single going to £1.85 and the daily cap to £5.55. Always check TfL's site for the latest prices before you travel.
By the way, I have turned tricks like this one into a little game. The London Dilemma gives you 20 real London fare decisions and shows you how much a smart pick saves. The Hopper is in there, of course.
Out late this weekend?
Cap or no cap, check the exact time of your last bus home before you head out, so a cheap day does not end with an expensive taxi.
Find My Last Trip →The £1.75 weekend offer ended on 31 August 2026. Other fares are correct as of September 2026 and can change. Always check the TfL website for the latest prices.