What is Oyster?

Hello,
I am preparing for a move to London from NYC in August of this year and am trying to demystify as much as I can prior to this big change. I was trying to figure out the transportation system and came upon upon Oyster.

What is the purpose of Oyster? How is this different from a basic travelcard? Basically my husband will be riding the tube from Hendon in Barnet to Charing Cross stop Monday thru Friday. Is this a cheaper option? Thank you very much!
:)Abby

Oyster is the pre-pay programme for London Transport.  It's cheaper than buying a daily travel card.  On Oyster, you can do either a prepay or a week/month/year pass for a set price.  For your husband, getting a monthly or annual Oyster will be much cheaper than getting a daily card (and it saves time at the station too as you won't have to queue up for the ticket machine!)

Oyster is also a plastic card which is a lot easier to use when you're going through the turnstiles - you can just touch it on the card reader rather than taking the flimsy paper cards out and putting them through the machine every time.  I'm thinking of getting another Oyster for guests for that reason alone. It is so easy to lose those paper cards too!  And you can register Oyster online so if you lose it (like I have done and a few of my coworkers too) they can automatically switch it off and send you a refund of the money you had on it.

I love having my Oyster card...I put some money on it for pre-pay as well as have my annual zone travel on it...that way I can both travel to work and travel outside the work zones whenever I want!  Definitely invest in Oyster cards!  You save boatloads of money!

We visit London quite often.  Can you have an Oyster and only top it up when you need to?  Is there a time limit on when you have to spend the credit or can it just be an indefinite account that you use when you need to?

oyster cards are really useful, but only work for tube, bus and dlr. they don't work for above ground london trains, which depeneding on where you move to in london, may be your primary transportation option.

for more info: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tickets/2006/oyster/general.asp
 

Can you have an Oyster and only top it up when you need to?  Is there a time limit on when you have to spend the credit or can it just be an indefinite account that you use when you need to?

yes

i don't think the money expires - i usualy work from home so my transport needs are really irregular, which is exactly why i use a pay-as-you-go/top-up oyster card option.

Abby - the cheapest option for your husband will be to get a travelcard - weekly, monthly or yearly.  Obviously the longer ticket he gets, the more it will cost, but the more it will save him.  It can be put on an Oyster, whihc is kind of like a swipe card, which will make it quicker going through the barriers at rush hour.

MrsP - I am pretty sure there is no expiry day on pre-pay.  It is certainly worth getting, even if you are only in London ocassionally.  A single tube ticket in zone 1 costs £3 - on Oyster it is £1.50.

Some rail companies do accept Oyster on parts of the lines.


Victoria

Some rail companies do accept Oyster on parts of the lines.

i saw that on the website as well, but my experience has not been great on this issue so if overland trains are your main mode of transport defo check it out before going for oyster

I'm thinking of getting another Oyster for guests for that reason alone.

I have one for work and one for me. You can get as many as you like is what I was told. I've shared it with guests who come to visit. £1.50 for the bus or 80p... hmm, difficult descion!

South Eastern doesn't take Oyster. 

I think the Britishrail trains that operate along Underground lines, like some of the Chiltern line that co-shares the Metropolitan stations accepts Oyster but that's only because the turnstiles are Oyster-ready.

I used to have an annual Oyster card a while back but whenever I wanted to go to a different zone they always gave me paper tickets and insisted that I couldn't put the top-up amount on my annual Oyster card.
Has this changed recently?  I always thought it a big pain to have to use the ticket when they should be able to apply it
to the card.

You can now top up to supplement your travelcard.

The SE line near me is Oyster friendly for those with travelcards on them but not if you only have a PAYG card. I think the plan is to make them friendly for all Oysters one of these days.

That's the plan, but the rail companies aren't playing ball.

The ones which do accept it are the ones where Transport for London run the lines.  It will soon count on the North London Line as TfL are going to start running it soon.

(Sorry to be a geek...one flatmate works for TfL, the other for Chiltern Rail, so I know this stuff by osmosis!).


Victoria

You've been very helpful, Victoria.  Thanks for the info!