Oyster Card

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

[TW]Fox

Man of Honour
Joined
17 Oct 2002
Posts
160,309
I need to make a quick and simple journey in London next month - just the one. Not enough to justify a one day travelcard.

However I noticed the cash fare is 3 times the price of the Oyster fare.

I visit London perhaps 3 times a year. Is it worth me getting an Oyster card? The Oyster fare is only a quid - are they free? Can I get one, put a quid on it, and.. thats it?

TFL website is about as useful as Red Ken.
 
An Oyster card was £5 when I got one about a year ago, whether or not it's increased I'm not sure.

I'd say it definately is worth it, you save money on the Tube/DLR and you get half price bus fares.

Btw just incase you didn't know, you can't use pre-pay on any national rail services.

You can put any amount on it as long as the shop you top-up from lets you (some have a minimum top-up of £5 or so).
 
[TW]Fox;11526607 said:
It's a literally two stop tube ride between Zone 5 and 6.
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As long as it's an Underground/DLR service you're fine, but companies like South West Trains don't let you use Oyster pre-pay on their services.
 
weringo said:
Btw just incase you didn't know, you can't use pre-pay on any national rail services.
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I think some rail services you can use pay as you go, Chiltern springs to mind as one which takes it.
All of them have come to an arrangement to take pay as you go in the future as well.
 
The 3 pound fee is refundable as far as I know. You should be able to get it, and then return it when you're done with it.
 
£3 deposit. I don't think there's a minimum amount you can put on it. If you're going 3 times a year it's probably worthwhile having one anyway just to save you the hassle next time.
 
Alternatively you could sign up for a Barclaycard OnePulse and have the benefit of a credit card with an oyster chip built in and wave and pay technology which allows you to pay for items under £10 just by waving your card over a sensor.
 
It's the principle, I hate daft pricing structures. It just strikes me as odd that the other week I paid £8 for return travel from Watford Junction to London and unlimited underground/bus/train travel in all zones yet to go one stop on the tube is 3 quid?
 
[TW]Fox;11527060 said:
I paid £8 for return travel from Watford Junction to London and unlimited underground/bus/train travel in all zones yet to go one stop on the tube is 3 quid?
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Where's that image of picard with his head in his hands?

Single tube journey within a single zone on an PAYG oyster is only about £1.50 ...

The £3 fee is a refundable deposit for the card when getting the PAYG version.
 
[TW]Fox;11527060 said:
It's the principle, I hate daft pricing structures. It just strikes me as odd that the other week I paid £8 for return travel from Watford Junction to London and unlimited underground/bus/train travel in all zones yet to go one stop on the tube is 3 quid?
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Been a while since you last stopped by London?

It's £4 now!

You could argue that forcing Oyster cards on people is wrong but I would disagree. I believe the idea is to speed things up & get rid of paper tickets. This is especially important in buses. Had to pay in cash at some foreign airport last summer and it was a royal pain in the rear waiting for everyone to pay and get on. Atleast you can get a full refund if you don't want to keep the Oyster.
 
daz said:
The £3 fee is a refundable deposit for the card when getting the PAYG version.
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I was reffering to the fact that according to the TFL website, the cash fare for the journey I wish to make is £3. It's simply a co-incidence that its the same amount as the deposit on the card :)
 
[TW]Fox;11527116 said:
I was reffering to the fact that according to the TFL website, the cash fare for the journey I wish to make is £3. It's simply a co-incidence that its the same amount as the deposit on the card :)
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Ah, sorry. :o

They're basically trying to artificially push everyone across to using Oyster by making cash totally uncompetitive pricewise.

You know what does suck though - trying to get a bus without knowing whether your oyster card has money on it or not - especially if it's a nightbus. You can wait for a nightbus for say, 30 minutes... one comes along and you get the red light when you present your oyster card (no credit) so the bus driver orders you off, so you try to rummage around for some cash to use the ticket machines (you can't pay a cash fare for a bus in zone 1) and as your ticket is popping out... the bus drives away.

There should be a way to check your balance at a bus stop. :mad:
 
The Oyster bus fare is now 90 pence. So, while the Oyster system itself isn't great, I can now get from Heathrow to Maidenhead for 90p..
 
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