Oyster Card Question

When you get near the price of a one day travel card the Oyster caps the price so you don't pay any more.  The Oyster PAYG is always cheaper then a one day travel card.

When you get near the price of a one day travel card the Oyster caps the price so you don't pay any more.  The Oyster PAYG is always cheaper then a one day travel card.

I didn't know that! Thanks! 

The deal is that the total fare over a 24-hour period caps out at a certain limit - I think it's £4 or so- and so if you're planning to take several journeys by tube and/or bus, especially over several zones, it'd be cheaper to pay the flat fee than to buy an all-day travelcard.  Oyster cards are designed to make sure they're cheapest - from page eight of this document:

If you use Oyster to pay as you go on the
Tube, DLR, London Overground and some
National Rail services, the system will look at
your journeys in a 24 hour period (from 0430
and before 0430 the next day) and the amount
you pay will be less than the price of an
equivalent Day Travelcard. If you also use buses
or trams during this period these trips will be
included in this price cap. Our aim is to ensure
that Oyster always charges the lowest fare.
Where it doesn’t we will refund the difference.

Edited to add: Whoops, crossposted with PR.

The more replies, the merrier! Thanks, Meg! 

I'm reviving this thread! I have an Oyster card question. I know you pay a £3 deposit (refundable) for a card, then you top up as much as you want. Right? And then the fare drops to something like £1.50? Do I have that right? So what's the advantage over a 1-day pass thing? I mean, if you're sightseeing and are going to be taking 4-5 tube rides over the course of the day, wouldn't it cost more to use an Oyster card? Or am I missing something? Help!

Okay.  The Oyster card is very smart and will ALWAYS cap itself at the price of a daily travelcard.  So if you choose to use your Oyster around the city all day, it will never charge you more than if you bought a 1-day paper ticket.

Using your Oyster for single journies is cheaper than a paper ticket.  A paper ticket is £4.00 for a journey within Zone 1, whereas the Oyster card will only charge you £1.50.  Therefore, if you take 4 Tube journies, the first 3 will be charged as normal (£1.50 apiece), but on the 4th one, you will only be be charged a further 80p (making the total £5.30, the price of a 1-day paper travelcard) and no more for any subsequent journies that day.  (this is assuming you are travelling after 9:30am.  Journies before then have different pricing)

Hope that makes sense!  An Oyster card is a smarter way to travel without having to mess with paper tickets.  It's also far cheaper to use than single paper tickets and never costs more than the equivalent paper travelcard.

I want to say they're doing away with the deposit scheme, because I SWEAR my parents didn't pay £3 last summer, but don't quote me on that.

I'm the London travel queen, so feel free to ask more questions, lol.

You don't pay the £3 deposit if you get a weekly travelcard on the Oyster.  I had to get one yesterday (lost my season ticket) and had the pay the deposit as I only put pre-pay on it.

I am not sure if you still have to pay the deposit if you get it from a station, but you do from a shop.  But you can get this back at the end of the trip if you want.

Aless - London Travel Queen?  Wanna fight about that?

 

Vicky

You don't pay the £3 deposit if you get a weekly travelcard on the Oyster.  I had to get one yesterday (lost my season ticket) and had the pay the deposit as I only put pre-pay on it.

I am not sure if you still have to pay the deposit if you get it from a station, but you do from a shop.  But you can get this back at the end of the trip if you want.

Aless - London Travel Queen?  Wanna fight about that?

 

Vicky

Ah, that explains it!  They bought them with weekly travelcards added on, so maybe that is why they were not charged for a deposit.

Ahh, Vicky, I'm not going to fight!  I just meant to say that I know a hella lot more about TfL than I probably should :-D (bit of a geek, really).

Just seen this thread - it's a while since I last visited London. I'm going in April for a week on a course, I'll be using the tube each day to get from hotel to the course location (only about 5 or 6 stops I think) and maybe on an evening if going out - so would it be worthwhile to get an Oyster card?

Yes.  If it is not going into zone 1 then this will be pretty cheap whichever Oyster you get.

If you are coming for 7 days then get a travel card for the relevant zones.  If only 5 days, then you should be fine with pre-pay.

Aless - be PROUD of your geekiness!!!  Geekiness is cool!


 

Vicky

I'll be there Sunday - Friday, I'll be in zone 1 all the time....maybe venturing one evening into zone 2 to check out a recommended pub.

OK, Vicky and Aless. Whoever tells me why I wasn't able to use my Wimbledon to London Terminals single at Victoria station the other night gets the title of Queen of the Tube.

Because you bought your ticket from the Overground station, meaning that it was valid on South West train journeys between London Victoria and Wimbledon, but not on the Underground.

 


Vicky

I hadn't realized that Victoria had separate overground and underground turnstiles. Grr.

BTW, I was hoping that the Zen wasn't really stolen but you might have forgotten it in your office. No joy there, eh?

Sadly, no  :\\\'(



Vicky

Is the online booking page the worst there is?

Am I missing something - I want to buy 4 cards for a group of us going....however it appears to only allow you to buy 1! If you try to add another to the shopping basket it wipes out the one you had there before. There doesn't appear to be an option to select the number of cards you want!

So do you have to go through the whole process (selecting the card, entering mailing details and billing details) 4 times?