A friend was telling me something about an "Oyster" card available for the London Underground...has anyone in Fodor-Land used this card, if so, how does it work and why would it be any different or any better than a travel card...or does it replace the 2-day, 3-day etc. cards?

It's a stored-value card that can be used to contain either Travelcards or cash for Pay-As-You-Go fares.

The main advantage of using one is that Oyster fares are cheaper than their cash equivalents.

One- and three-day Travelcards are still only issued on paper, but you can load a 7-day on an Oyster and take advantage of extensions (e.g. Heathrow to Zone 2) at the reduced rates.

If you load cash for PAYG, your daily expenditure is automatically "capped" at the cost of a one-day Travelcard minus 50p. So if you take three bus rides or ten, your cost is £3. If you take three Tube rides or ten, your cost is £4.60

Oyster is the cheapest way to pay for single journeys on Tubes, buses, DLR and trams in London. You can store your Travelcard/Bus Pass and/or cash to pay as you go on your card.

Ben Haines, London
[email protected]

Transport for London wants to move EVERYONE over to Oyster card - it's just an electronic card, like a credit card onto which you either load travelcards or fixed amounts of money which then go towards paying for single journeys. They would like the Tube to become a ticketless environment to reduce costs and speed commuters through the system, and consequently they have made paper tickets ridiculousy expensive to encourage everyone to get an Oyster.

You can buy an oyser card online or at stations.

Be one of the gang, get one.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...er/general.asp

So obviously this sounds like a good thing. Let's say I bought a multi-day pass, left London the next day for a week in the country, when I come back the card is ready to go...? Does it apply to certain zones like a travel card or does it compensate for that but just deducting the additional charge?

The Oyster Travelcard rules are the same as for paper passes: they're valid for a calendar week. If you go out of town, too bad.

Cash on an Oyster is just like cash in your pocket - it never evaporates.

A Travelcard is valid in the zones you paid for. Any travel outside those zones is considered an "extension" and is automatically deducted from your Oyster balance according to the Oyster fare to the destination. For example, if you have a valid 2-zone Travelcard and go to Heathrow, the system will charge your Oyster for the price of a single ticket from Zone 2 (London) to Zone 6 (LHR).

So just remember: outside London, extension - inside London, extortion.

If you buy a 7 day travelcard on the Oyster your 7 days start the first time you use it. So if you used it even only once , then left for a week in the countryside, you'd lose whatever time was left . If that's what you are planning on doing use the PAYG .

<<< has anyone in Fodor-Land used this card >>>

There are at least 138 different sets of postings that mention "Oystercard" or "Oyster card"

but don't try to get on a bus without a ticket!

I don't know about trying to discourage the use of cash, i think they're trying to discourage travellers from using the buses! [or any other form of transport].

yours disenchantedly,

ann

"There are at least 138 different sets of postings..."

But you're all getting so much better at explaining it. Watching Ben and Robes winnow down the wordcount, while increasing the clarity, is like watching master craftsmen at work.

Who'll be the first to get all the benefits into 50 words?

TfL is attempting to control costs. When you wave your Oyster at the reader in the bus, you have saved the following ticket-related expenditure:

Obtaining paper
Printing
Inventorying
Distributing
Driver handling
Accounting
Waste disposal

All in all, I think Oyster benefits everyone.

If you need your card for one day, then plan to leave for seven and come back, you can load either a one-day card or some PAYG on, plus the seven-day travelcard to start later (or, load the travelcard on the same Oystercard when you return). Tell the ticket person what you want to do - they are very helpful.

All true - except the smallest season ticket you can load on an Oyster is a 7-day. But for a 1-day, PAYG plastic is better than paper anyway, because it caps at 50p less.

But DO buy the 7-day when you get your Oyster. The £3 deposit is waived when you do that.

So here's the drill: when you arrive, load a 7-day Travelcard to be valid when you return*, plus load a few quid to get around that first day or two.

* I'm pretty sure you can do this, because overseas orders require your dates of validity.