Oyster Card vs. 7 day London Transport Zone 1/2 Card
Oct 12th, 2006, 08:20 AM
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Oyster Card vs. 7 day London Transport Zone 1/2 Card
I must be dense, but after having looked at countless threads on countless travel forums (probably to many), I'm completely confused as to the merits of my wife and I utilizing Oyster Cards vs. London Transport 7-Day (Zone 1-2) Passes.
We'll be arriving in London after an overnight flight from NY on the morning 7/12/07 and since it's a "partial" day (and we'll probably be jet-lagged out), we're going to go with what seems to be a universal consensus of opinion and utilize that "on-off" (I know that's not the correct terminology) sightseeing bus in order to acclimate ourselves.
The following day is the first of 7 Full Days (and Evenings) for London sightseeing/exploring/theatre and the tube/busses/light rail seems to make the most sense for getting around (exclusive of any day-trips).
I'm having a deuce of a time understanding the difference (as well as pros & cons), between the transport pass and an Oyster Card under the above circumstances.
Advice/guidance most appreciated.
We'll be arriving in London after an overnight flight from NY on the morning 7/12/07 and since it's a "partial" day (and we'll probably be jet-lagged out), we're going to go with what seems to be a universal consensus of opinion and utilize that "on-off" (I know that's not the correct terminology) sightseeing bus in order to acclimate ourselves.
The following day is the first of 7 Full Days (and Evenings) for London sightseeing/exploring/theatre and the tube/busses/light rail seems to make the most sense for getting around (exclusive of any day-trips).
I'm having a deuce of a time understanding the difference (as well as pros & cons), between the transport pass and an Oyster Card under the above circumstances.
Advice/guidance most appreciated.
Oct 12th, 2006, 08:27 AM
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If you buy your 7 day travelcard at a tube station it will BE an Oyster card.If you are there an extra day you can just load a few extra pounds onto the Oyster then take it home and save it for your next trip .
Oct 12th, 2006, 09:02 AM
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I can totally understand how confusing it must look, but Jody is right. Oyster is just a sort of electronic carrying device for a range of different tickets - from travelcards to individual tickets. It looks like a credit card, and you just wave it over a swipe machine thing at the ticket barriers.
So, for instance, you can have a travelcard for zones 1-2 and an extra £10 cash loaded onto the same Oyster card - this way, if you end up travelling beyond zone 2, the card just deducts the excess from the £10. Make sense?
So, for instance, you can have a travelcard for zones 1-2 and an extra £10 cash loaded onto the same Oyster card - this way, if you end up travelling beyond zone 2, the card just deducts the excess from the £10. Make sense?
Oct 12th, 2006, 09:06 AM
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The Oyster card is great. It only charges you what the best rate for that day is. If you only ride once, it charges you 1 pound. If you ride all day, it gives you the one day rate. When you are ready to leave, you turn it back in and get your deposit and anything that is left over back.
Oct 12th, 2006, 09:21 AM
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Oyster Cards also give you 50p off the regular rates of TravelCards if you use them to buy them.
Jody: please clarify something for me:
<If you buy your 7 day travelcard at a tube station it will BE an Oyster card. If you're there an extra day you can just load a few extra pounds onto the Oyster then take it home and save it for your next trip>
1- So there is no expiration date on the surplus funds in your Oyster Card - i could use it two years from now?
2-If you want to get the surplus remaining can you ask for it at a tube station ticket window?
3- You say if you buy at a ticket window the 7-day TravelCard you will get an Oyster Card - does this mean you have to pay the normal 3 pound deposit on top of the card price? You can't buy a TravelCard for 7 days without getting an Oyster Card?
Sincerely trying to learn all about Oyster cards and appreciate your info. Thanks PalQ
Jody: please clarify something for me:
<If you buy your 7 day travelcard at a tube station it will BE an Oyster card. If you're there an extra day you can just load a few extra pounds onto the Oyster then take it home and save it for your next trip>
1- So there is no expiration date on the surplus funds in your Oyster Card - i could use it two years from now?
2-If you want to get the surplus remaining can you ask for it at a tube station ticket window?
3- You say if you buy at a ticket window the 7-day TravelCard you will get an Oyster Card - does this mean you have to pay the normal 3 pound deposit on top of the card price? You can't buy a TravelCard for 7 days without getting an Oyster Card?
Sincerely trying to learn all about Oyster cards and appreciate your info. Thanks PalQ
Oct 12th, 2006, 09:27 AM
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Yes
Yes
No - train commuters can buy paper travelcards, but not at Tube stations. This is because the commuter network isn't Oysterized yet. Yours will be Oyster.
As moxie is about to point out in the next post, you should add up the individual fares for each day to decide whether to go with travelcard or Pay As You Go - but don't forget to cap each day at £4.40 (the cost of a daily card minus 50p).
Yes
No - train commuters can buy paper travelcards, but not at Tube stations. This is because the commuter network isn't Oysterized yet. Yours will be Oyster.
As moxie is about to point out in the next post, you should add up the individual fares for each day to decide whether to go with travelcard or Pay As You Go - but don't forget to cap each day at £4.40 (the cost of a daily card minus 50p).
Oct 12th, 2006, 09:27 AM
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There are 2 options:
buying a 7 day travel pass (which is loaded on an Oyster card - no 3£ fee) OR
Buying an Oyster card: 3£ + loading on it x amount of money. IF you use the card alot; only the AMOUNT of a one day bus or subway pass will be deducted from it.
You need to figure out if you will use public transport enough to make a pass worthwhile: ie 7 (days) multiplied by the daily bus or tube pass or individual tickets you plan to use versus the cost of a 7 day pass.
During the summer I was in London for business and my husband for pleasure; he had an oyster with a 7 day pass loaded on it, I bought an Oyster card with 10£ loaded on it (ie 2 days of intensive use and random trips the other days).
buying a 7 day travel pass (which is loaded on an Oyster card - no 3£ fee) OR
Buying an Oyster card: 3£ + loading on it x amount of money. IF you use the card alot; only the AMOUNT of a one day bus or subway pass will be deducted from it.
You need to figure out if you will use public transport enough to make a pass worthwhile: ie 7 (days) multiplied by the daily bus or tube pass or individual tickets you plan to use versus the cost of a 7 day pass.
During the summer I was in London for business and my husband for pleasure; he had an oyster with a 7 day pass loaded on it, I bought an Oyster card with 10£ loaded on it (ie 2 days of intensive use and random trips the other days).
Oct 12th, 2006, 09:58 AM
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Robespeter: Thanks, now clear but i'm still hazy on the 3 quid deposit - i don't pay it if i buy a TravelCard at a station, this is clear - under what circumstances would i have to pay it. I assume if i just ask for an Oyster Card i'd pay the 3 quid deposit and then use it for regular journeys - the max day price, etc. If i buy a TravelCard at a station it's loaded on an Oyster Card - can i then reload that myself like the Oyster Card i would have had to put a 3 quid deposit on or would i have to put a 3 lb deposit in that case to make it work? Maybe i'm not making myself clear but if you can shed more light on it i'd be appreciative. Anyways thanks as always for your expertise with Paris and London transports.
Oct 12th, 2006, 10:02 AM
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You can call me Max 
If you buy a 2-zone, 7-day travelcard at a Tube station, it will cost £22.20 and automatically be delivered on an Oyster card.
If you <u>don't</u> buy a travelcard, your Oyster will cost you £3 (refundable) plus however much value you load for Pay As You Go.
<i>In either case</i>, the Oyster card is yours to keep forever and reload at will with more PAYG value (which excess is also refundable) or travelcards.
OC deposits and excess PAYG are only refunded if you surrender the card.
If you buy a 2-zone, 7-day travelcard at a Tube station, it will cost £22.20 and automatically be delivered on an Oyster card.
If you <u>don't</u> buy a travelcard, your Oyster will cost you £3 (refundable) plus however much value you load for Pay As You Go.
<i>In either case</i>, the Oyster card is yours to keep forever and reload at will with more PAYG value (which excess is also refundable) or travelcards.
OC deposits and excess PAYG are only refunded if you surrender the card.
Oct 12th, 2006, 12:28 PM
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Machine
Ticket window
Phone
https://sales.oystercard.com
I think they started appearing around the beginning of 2004. We got our first cards last summer.
Ticket window
Phone
https://sales.oystercard.com
I think they started appearing around the beginning of 2004. We got our first cards last summer.
Oct 12th, 2006, 01:18 PM
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I read some press release where the ad agency guy or someone like that said it was an analogy between the card protecting the consumers' money the way an oyster protects a pearl. Seems kind of far-fetched to me, but I'm sure they paid a lot for that idea and it is catchy.
I always thought the term carnet was very odd for them to use in London, as they just took it from Paris. There was some other thread on here were someone insisted a person was wrong about referring to the London pass by that name, they must have been reading about Paris, but that was the name. Just seemed really pretentious to be using a French term for a London ticket and I didn't understand why they did that. They didn't call regular tickets billets in London. Actually, I think that term for just buying a packet of 10 tickets and getting a discount is kind of weird even in French, given its meaning. I know they use that term in France to mean a book of stamps or something, but the tickets weren't even in a book, they were just ten separate tickets they handed you.
I always thought the term carnet was very odd for them to use in London, as they just took it from Paris. There was some other thread on here were someone insisted a person was wrong about referring to the London pass by that name, they must have been reading about Paris, but that was the name. Just seemed really pretentious to be using a French term for a London ticket and I didn't understand why they did that. They didn't call regular tickets billets in London. Actually, I think that term for just buying a packet of 10 tickets and getting a discount is kind of weird even in French, given its meaning. I know they use that term in France to mean a book of stamps or something, but the tickets weren't even in a book, they were just ten separate tickets they handed you.
Oct 12th, 2006, 02:56 PM
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You're upset because the English hijacked the French term for a packet of tickets? Stop at a Pret a Manger for a croissant and cafe au lait in Londres some time.
When were you born, the 9th Century?
When were you born, the 9th Century?
Oct 12th, 2006, 06:17 PM
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Thank you, everyone.
Let's see if I've got this right.
1. Any "unexpended credit" from a 7 Day Zone 1-2 IS NOT refundable.
2. Any extra monies added (for the purpose of travel beyond Zones 1 & 2) that are not expended ARE refundable.
3. If I expect "heavy usage" for about three days in Zones 1 & 2 and more casual usage for the remainder of our stay it would be best to load a 3-day Pass plus extra monies and those monies (and any deposit) would be returned upon surrendering of the Oyster Card.
4. I understand that I can retain an Oyster Card (along with any extra monies that were not expended (and deposit) for future use but if I only use a seven-day pass for (let's say) five days there is no refund and the remaining two days are a write-off.
So, I guess the trick is to estimate how much anticipated Zone 1-2 travel we would expect to make and caculate its cost at full rate against the discounted rate offered by a Pass.
One last question - someone mentioned two people both w/Passes loaded on their Oyster Cards with one party's card being loaded with extra funds.
Am I right in concluding that in the event of a trip beyond zones 1 $2 BOTH parties use their own cards intially and then use the one with the extra monies to pay for any additional fare? (Apologize for phraseology but I couldn't figure any other way to pose the question)
Again, many thanks.
Let's see if I've got this right.
1. Any "unexpended credit" from a 7 Day Zone 1-2 IS NOT refundable.
2. Any extra monies added (for the purpose of travel beyond Zones 1 & 2) that are not expended ARE refundable.
3. If I expect "heavy usage" for about three days in Zones 1 & 2 and more casual usage for the remainder of our stay it would be best to load a 3-day Pass plus extra monies and those monies (and any deposit) would be returned upon surrendering of the Oyster Card.
4. I understand that I can retain an Oyster Card (along with any extra monies that were not expended (and deposit) for future use but if I only use a seven-day pass for (let's say) five days there is no refund and the remaining two days are a write-off.
So, I guess the trick is to estimate how much anticipated Zone 1-2 travel we would expect to make and caculate its cost at full rate against the discounted rate offered by a Pass.
One last question - someone mentioned two people both w/Passes loaded on their Oyster Cards with one party's card being loaded with extra funds.
Am I right in concluding that in the event of a trip beyond zones 1 $2 BOTH parties use their own cards intially and then use the one with the extra monies to pay for any additional fare? (Apologize for phraseology but I couldn't figure any other way to pose the question)
Again, many thanks.
Oct 12th, 2006, 06:23 PM
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1. There is no "unexpended credit" from a travelcard. They're good from Day 1 through Day x, at which point they vanish.
2. Correct.
3. Probably not. A 3-day pass is available for Peak only at upwards of £5 per day, whereas the off-peak cap is only £4.40, which works out to £13.20 for the 3 days. And that's only if you hit the cap every day.
4. Yep. TfL giveth, and TfL taketh away.
5. Can't. Once Person One has "touched in," s/he can't do it again until s/he has "touched out" at the other end. Two sodas - two straws.
2. Correct.
3. Probably not. A 3-day pass is available for Peak only at upwards of £5 per day, whereas the off-peak cap is only £4.40, which works out to £13.20 for the 3 days. And that's only if you hit the cap every day.
4. Yep. TfL giveth, and TfL taketh away.
5. Can't. Once Person One has "touched in," s/he can't do it again until s/he has "touched out" at the other end. Two sodas - two straws.
Oct 12th, 2006, 06:32 PM
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I don't think that two people can use one card, even if it is pay as you go. You have to swipe the card going in and going out of the tube station (not on a bus, though - only swipe once). I think you can't swipe "in" again unless you have swiped "out".
Once you have an Oyster card in your hand, having bought a 7 day pass, you will not need to ever pay the £3 deposit.
We have kept our Oyster cards, and have already brought them on one return trip to London - with another trip in the works. Someone posted a trip report recently where they turned in their Oyster cards and got back the balance and the deposit - on the spot. I presume that was at a tube station ticket window.
Once you have an Oyster card in your hand, having bought a 7 day pass, you will not need to ever pay the £3 deposit.
We have kept our Oyster cards, and have already brought them on one return trip to London - with another trip in the works. Someone posted a trip report recently where they turned in their Oyster cards and got back the balance and the deposit - on the spot. I presume that was at a tube station ticket window.
