How to Know What You Can Use Oyster Card for
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London is one of the top travel destinations in the world, simply navigating this large urban center tin exist overwhelming for a start time visitor. Using an Oyster card, a credit card sized transport smartcard, is an easy way to save time and coin if yous are planning to employ public transportation in London.
An Oyster card tin exist used on just about every course of transport within London including public passenger vehicle, tram, and rail services inside the urban center. Our goal is assist you decide if an Oyster bill of fare is a good fit for you and to help you effectively use your card on public transportation in London.
Commencement we'll cover the main types of Oyster cards that are bachelor, how to choose the all-time one, and how to buy an Oyster card. And then we'll talk nearly where you tin can utilise them, how to utilise them for travel, how to recharge the cards, registering your bill of fare, and note of import travel exclusions for visitors. Finally we'll comprehend special bug such as how to get refunds, avoiding double payments, available discounts and concessions, the alternative option of using contactless cards, the use of pink readers, and tips for those traveling with children.
What is the London Oyster Card?
An Oyster menu is a credit card sized card that can be used to electronically pay for travel on London transport. All you have to do is load the carte du jour with credit, so y'all tin use it for virtually all your public transport needs around London without having to buy individual tickets.
Why Y'all Should Buy An Oyster Carte du jour in London?
The best reason to get an Oyster card is cost savings and convenience! It is significantly cheaper to travel in London using an Oyster card than it is to purchase individual tickets for each trip. The only reason yous would want to just buy individual tickets is if you are merely using public transportation once or twice during your stay.
However, the average company will use public transportation multiple times each solar day and the Oyster carte can save both time and money. Every bit an example, traveling offpeak from Zone 1 to Zone 2 on the Tube will cost you lot (every bit of May 2021) £2.fifty using an Oyster carte du jour versus £5.fifty if you buy a single ticket. So you'd pay more than twice as much if y'all bought private tickets versus using the Oyster card!
An Oyster Card will likewise save you money compared to using a Motorbus & Tram Laissez passer to ride the buses and trams, which don't accept individual tickets or cash whatsoever longer.
Oyster cards also have a capping organization, which tin can save you even more than coin. At that place is a maximum amount that y'all tin exist charged on a daily basis (days run from 4.30am to iv.29am the next day) for traveling in different zones. After y'all exceed that corporeality in one 24-hour interval, your travel is free for the residual of the day.
Capping varies based on the zones yous travel in, but for example, for elevation travel in Zones 1 & 2, the maximum daily fee is £7.40 (as of September 2021). And then no matter how many times you lot travel on public transport using your Oyster bill of fare in London's zones 1 and 2, you will never be charged more than £seven.40 a day.
Every bit of September 2021, Oyster cards likewise take a weekly cap. This runs from a Monday to Lord's day, and means yous will never pay more than the weekly cap for travel. For Zones i & ii, the weekly cap is £37.40 (equally of September 2021). So you volition never pay more than that for public transport in Zones 1 & 2 from a Monday to the following Sunday.
An boosted price saving do good for families is that children under the age of 11 (upward to four), tin can travel for free on London's public transport if in the company of an adult holding a valid Oyster card.
In terms of practicality, it's a lot more than convenient to use an Oyster menu when traveling in London. They're accepted on nearly all forms of London's public transport network, and yous simply swipe them on the Oyster reader to validate your ship. You don't have to keep footling with loose modify or buy individual tickets – an option that isn't always bachelor anyhow. For example, on London buses in that location are no facilities to buy tickets onboard or at most charabanc stops.
If you're interested in learning about all the different types of transport options bachelor, bank check out Laurence's post which gives an overview of all the major London transport options. There are a lot of ways to go you effectually London!
Types of Oyster Cards
In that location are ii main types of Oyster card: the standard Oyster card and the Visitor Oyster card. We'll talk most each and their primary differences to help y'all decide which is the best fit for you.
Standard Oyster Card versus Visitor Oyster Card
The standard Oyster bill of fare is a credit carte du jour sized piece of bluish plastic. The Company Oyster carte is the same format, but is more elaborately visual, with an creative design. Other than external advent, the standard and Visitor Oyster cards offer the same functionality in terms of transport options and are used in the same manner.
They tin both be recharged (topped up) and are designed to exist a transport card that you can keep and use for a prolonged catamenia of time. Both cards also allow you to obtain a refund for any unused balance (meet more on obtaining refunds later in the mail service).
The main differences are the fee for obtaining the carte, ability to utilize travelcards with the menu, offers attached to the cards, and where y'all tin can buy them.
Fees. First, in terms of fees, the bluish standard Oyster card has a £v eolith. Until 2020 y'all could claim this dorsum when you lot were done with the card. From 2020, this £five is added to the card as credit i yr after activation and can no longer be refunded. The Visitor Oyster carte du jour has a non-refundable £5 activation fee.
Note: The Company Oyster card activation fee changed from £3 to £5 beginning September 17, 2017.
Travelcards. The standard Oyster card allows visitors to add travelcards and bus and tram passes onto the card and the Visitor Oyster card does not. This is unlikely to thing for those staying for only a short time in London, just if you are staying a calendar week or more in London, you may want to consider loading a 7-twenty-four hours London Travelcard onto a standard Oyster bill of fare. These are useful if y'all are visiting London for a week or more than and are planning on doing a lot of travel, as these allow you to travel for an unlimited number of journeys within sure zones for a stock-still price.
For instance, a 7 day zone 1 & ii travelcard will cost you lot £37 at current prices (prices as of May 2021. If you consider that the fare cap toll for daily apply in these zones is £7.40, then a calendar week of travel hitting that cap every day would cost you lot £51.lxxx. In that scenario, a travelcard could salve you lot £14.eighty.
Note you you can purchase travelcards without having an Oyster Card if you purchase them in advance. Then if you are staying for 7 days or more you lot might consider them as information technology will avoid the Oyster Card deposit or fee.
The Motorbus and Tram passes can exist a good option for those Only using bus and/or tram travel in London. Only you'll probably even so salvage coin using an Oyster Card.
The Company Oyster carte du jour does not back up travelcards, presumably because nigh visitors are in London for a shorter period of time, and the added complexity of choice that the travelcard organization adds outweighs the potential benefits for most visitors.
Discounts and offers. The Visitor Oyster carte du jour is designed for travelers to London and the card can be used to obtain a number of discounts throughout the urban center on nutrient, shopping, attractions, theatre tickets, and other London experiences. You tin can see a listing of Visitor Oyster Carte electric current discounts at the lesser of this folio. The standard Oyster card does not accept these perks or discounts.
The decision over the Company Oyster card versus the standard Oyster card comes downwards to the difference in fees, whether or not you desire to add a travelcard, if you plan to take reward of the discounts associated with the Visitor Oyster card, and convenience of purchase (discussed in the next section).
Both these cards give you full access to the bulk of London's public send network, including the London Hugger-mugger (Tube), city buses, Docklands Calorie-free Railway, and many overground trains, including the Gatwick Express train from Gatwick Airport.
How to Buy an Oyster Card
You have a number of options for purchasing an Oyster carte du jour for your trip to London, including online, in person, and as part of the London Pass. The ways to purchase the standard Oyster menu and the Visitor Oyster card differ and are noted beneath. Visitors wanting to obtain a pass before they arrive in London should plan ahead and consider buying the Company Oyster bill of fare online before their trip.
Online
The standard Oyster card can be purchased online, only can Only be shipped to a UK address (free shipping).
The Visitor Oyster bill of fare tin can be purchased online before y'all visit London and is available for shipping worldwide. If you are thinking about going to a lot of attractions and museums in London, you may as well desire to consider the London Laissez passer option beneath as well.
In Person
You can purchase a standard Oyster carte on arrival into London. You tin can buy the standard Oyster card from places throughout London, including at most major tourist arrival points such as London's Heathrow Airport and Gatwick Airport.
They are for sale from Underground ticket machines, Oyster ticket stops (a series of businesses around London, see Oyster map here for nearest location), London Overground ticket offices, train station ticket offices, and London Transport Visitor Centres.
Company Oyster cards tin can likewise be purchased in person, but not once you lot are really in London (except if you buy them with a London Pass, run across below). You can buy them from overseas travel agencies and some Britain visitors' centers. They are also bachelor onboard Eurostar trains traveling to London and at Gatwick & Stansted airport.
As function of the London Laissez passer
Yous can also purchase the Oyster carte du jour equally part of a London Pass purchase, killing two birds with one stone. A London Pass is a fantastic way to relieve money on London attractions (read our full London Pass review hither), giving you gratis access to over sixty of London's acme attractions, besides as some skip the line privileges.
When you buy a London Pass, yous take the option to add a Visitor Oyster card, which comes preloaded with a ready amount of credit depending on the length of London Pass you choose. Y'all can then reload it with credit as needed.
London passes with a Visitor Oyster carte du jour tin be purchased online or in person in London. You can only buy them in person at the London Pass Redemption Eye Desk located at 11a Charing Cross Road London, WC2H 0EP.
How to Apply an Oyster Card to Travel Inside London
We'll cover where you can use your Oyster card, how to employ it at the stations, how to add credit to your card, and even how to go a credit refund. These are the same for both the standard Oyster card and the Visitor Oyster card.
Where you can use your Oyster Card
Travel Within London
An Oyster card covers the majority of public send options in London, including buses, trams, Underground Tube, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), TfL Rail services and London Overground services in Zones 1-9, all suburban national rail services in zones i-nine, Thames Clipper River Motorbus services, and the Emirates Air Line cablecar service.
This essentially means that about all tourist attractions and hotels can be easily reached via public transportation with the Oyster card and yous can become to all the major rail stations within the city if you are planning a rail journeying to another part of the country or to an international destination.
Travel to Airports
You tin can currently use the Oyster card to travel to and from Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Drome and London Metropolis Airdrome.The Oyster Card is not currently valid for Stansted Express or services to London Luton airport, Stanstead airport, or London Southend airdrome.
Yous tin can use an Oyster carte du jour to travel via Surreptitious from all Heathrow Terminals, which is the virtually cost effective way of getting from Heathrow Airport into London. You can use your Oyster Card to use train services from Gatwick to cardinal London. You tin besides use your Oyster bill of fare to get to and from London City Airport, via the Docklands Lite Railway (DLR).
You can also apply the Oyster card for some boosted express railroad train services, which include Gatwick Express at Gatwick Airport and Heathrow Express at Heathrow Aerodrome. Note that these services are much more expensive than the other railroad train services so you will desire to make sure you have plenty Oyster Card credit or use your card for an alternative method of transport.
For much more information and tips on aerodrome travel, check out this guide to getting from London airports to London.
Exclusions you should Know
As mentioned to a higher place, the Oyster carte du jour does not cover travel to all of London's airports. Oyster cards are non accustomed on East Midlands Trains, Thou Central, Hull Trains, Virgin Trains, or London North East Railway services. Essentially, you cannot apply your Oyster Card for rail or bus services where the journeying starts or finishes outside of London, with a few specific exemptions.
If in doubt well-nigh whether a trip is covered, inquire a badged fellow member of staff at a station.
There are a some pop tourist destinations inside and nearly London that yous might want to visit, and wonder if you can utilise your Oyster bill of fare to visit, such equally Hampton Courtroom Palace, the Warner Bros. Studio Bout – The Making of Harry Potter, and Windsor Castle.
For Hampton Courtroom Palace, you lot can use your Oyster card to travel to information technology, as it is in Zone vi and can be reached by train or bus.
For the Harry Potter studio tour, y'all can use your Oyster Card to travel via National Track train to the Watford Junction station so you can accept the studio bout shuttle (small fee) to the film studios in Leavesden (must accept a studio ticket purchased in advance). Or you tin just volume a tour that includes your ticket and direct transfers from London.
For Windsor Castle, you cannot utilize your Oyster card, equally Windsor Castle is exterior London. However, equally a tip for those who have a London Pass, you lot can utilise your London Pass to travel to Windsor Castle from Paddington Station for gratuitous. Read more well-nigh how to do that in our full review of the pros and cons of the London laissez passer.
How to Employ the Oyster Menu for Travel
Using an Oyster card is very easy and information technology is the same whether you have a standard Oyster Card or a Visitor Oyster Card. All the forms of transport that take an Oyster carte have a big round xanthous reader that you only have to touch your carte onto. For access to tube stations, this menu reader controls the turnstiles or gates.
For most journeys in London, including London Underground Tube, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), rail journeys, and Thames Clippers boats, y'all have to touch a yellow reader both when inbound and exiting the station/dock.
In nigh cases it is hard non to tag the bill of fare as you exit, considering the majority of these stations have a gate to exit that is activated to open with your Oyster carte du jour. However, not all practice, so it is important to remember to tag off. The reason this is important is because fares vary based on distance, so if you don't touch on out, the organisation will assume you accept gone the maximum altitude, and may accuse you a much higher fare than you demand to pay.
When you impact the Oyster reader, it will bear witness either a dark-green lite or a red light. A green low-cal indicates that you have sufficient credit for your journey. At gated stations, this will open the gate or allow you to keep through the turnstile. If the light is red, this indicates that y'all do non have plenty credit, and you need to buy more credit before you can continue your journey. If you have plenty credit and think there is something wrong with your carte, find a staff member to assist y'all.
Forcharabanc and tram journeys which are fixed price, you only need to touch the Oyster reader at the start of your journey when you board. Do Not touch out when you go off a bus or tram, or y'all volition be issued with an boosted fare. For more than information on each form of public transportation, check out Laurence'due south mail that covers the basics of all forms of London public transit.
How to Top Up Your Oyster Card
There are a number of options for topping upwards (aka recharging or reloading) your Oyster Card, or adding more travel credit. The easiest manner is at London Underground Tube, London Overground or TfL Rail stations, where you lot can utilise ticket machines to tiptop up your card.
Simply touch your card to the yellow reader at 1 of these machines and follow onscreen instructions. Don't forget to touch your carte to the reader at the end of the process to check to ensure the top up is correctly practical.
You tin can also add credit in person at a ticket desk in a station or Company Centre or at a Oyster Ticket Finish inside the metropolis. Y'all can too register your card online, and top it up online using a credit or debit card. For a long time this was only possible with a Britain address, merely this has now inverse and the system accepts international addresses as well.
Adding a Travel Carte
If you purchase a standard Oyster card, yous tin add travelcards to your Oyster carte if y'all would like to pre-pay for your travels. The most common reason a visitor would use this option is to add a seven Day Travelcard. These can exist added at ticket machines at Tube, DLR, London Overground, TfL Rails and National Runway stations or ticket offices at London Overground, TfL Rail and National Rail stations, London visitor centres.
If y'all accept registered your standard Oyster card, you tin also add travelcards online.
Getting a Refund on your Oyster Card
When you lot exit London, y'all have the selection to become a refund for your Oyster Card for whatsoever unused credit that is left on the card. You can too continue the menu for a future visit as the credit never expires. If y'all had a Company Oyster menu and may render to London, this might exist a better option at the activation fee of £5 is non-refundable, and then that money is lost. For a standard Oyster bill of fare, the £5 deposit is added to your card equally credit a twelvemonth after activation, so you should definitely hold onto it for a time to come trip to London.
If there is less than £10 credit on your Oyster carte du jour, you can go this refunded at any Hole-and-corner Tube station Oyster car. Only follow the on-screen instructions. Note that 48 hours needs to have elapsed from the time y'all first used the Oyster card in gild for y'all to be able to get your refund. If you become a refund from an Oyster bill of fare motorcar at a station, your menu will too be canceled, meaning y'all will lose the £5 activation fee if yous have a Visitor Oyster card.
If you think yous may be back to London, a meliorate selection to obtain refunds for those with either type of Oyster card is to go to a TfL company center. Hither they will exist able to refund the credit on your carte du jour, just they will return the card to you in working gild, meaning y'all will exist able to utilize it over again. This way you volition not need to pay an activation fee on your next visit.
Finally, you can utilize for a refund past postal service, by sending a letter of the alphabet to TfL Customer Services, 14 Pier Walk, fourth Floor, London SE10 0ES, U.k.. Refunds are issued in the form of a GBP check, which may be problematic to greenbacks for visitors who are not from the Uk. I'd suggest avoiding this pick if possible, and getting a refund in person at a company center if you can.
You lot can read all near the diverse options for getting a refund on your visitor Oyster card here, and standard Oyster cards here.
Note that if you have unused credit on an Oyster carte du jour, another option is you tin requite the carte with unused credit to a family member or friend who plans to visit London. This is a particularly proficient idea for those who practise non program to return to London and forgot to get the credit refunded before they left the city.
Registering and Protecting your Oyster Bill of fare
Standard Oyster cards can be registered online on the TfL website. It is highly recommended that y'all register your card and so that you are better protected in example of theft or loss.
Unregistered cards will not be eligible for refunds in the case of a bill of fare beingness lost or stolen. Those with registered accounts can also use their accounts to track their travel, check their carte du jour residuum, top off their bill of fare, and purchase travelcards online.
Visitor Oyster cards can Non be registered and protected. Visitors should therefore be protective of their cards and treat them similar cash.
I have an Outcome with my Oyster Card
For help with an consequence, I would check the website for help start or ask a staff member at a London transport station or ticketing office. If that doesn't work and you nevertheless need help, you can phone call the Transport for London hotline at +44 343 222 1234 (8am to 8pm GMT) and cull the Oyster card selection. Note that fees may apply for the phone call.
Things to Be Aware Of Apropos Oyster Cards
Here are some more things to know well-nigh Oyster Cards! Virtually of this won't use to you as a visitor, but some of the data may be important, peculiarly for those traveling with children.
Contactless cards as an Alternative Option
Idue north recent years the Oyster carte du jour organisation has been upgraded to support new "contactless" bill of fare applied science. This allows users who accept a contactless payment menu to utilize this to pay for their journey, rather than buying a ticket or Oyster card. You can read about the different types of payment pick for London'southward transport and how Cash vs. Oyster Cards vs. Contactless Cards compare in this article we wrote.
Contactless cards can be a peculiarly good option for those who already take a credit card or debit card with contactless technology that does not incur international transaction fees when used in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland.
Avoiding "Double scanning" and "Card Clash"
Since some people accept both Oyster cards and contactless enabled payment cards in their wallets or billfolds, there is a possibility that multiple cards could be scanned at once. The principal affair to be aware of is that if you continue your Oyster card in your wallet or billfold, and don't take information technology out to scan it, if your wallet also contains a contactless debit or credit menu then the Oyster reader will not know which card to charge, which may upshot in you beingness charged more than once for your journey.
To avoid this happening, we recommend taking out the bill of fare you intend to utilize and merely scanning that. Read more virtually fugitive card clash here.
Pink Card Readers
In London there are oftentimes multiple routes that you can take betwixt two locations, some of which are cheaper than others. For example, when traveling beyond London, it tin be cheaper to avoid Zone 1. In order for the system to know which route yous are taking, there are a minor number of pink card readers that y'all tin can bear on your Oyster card at certain Overground and Underground stations. These inform the organization of your route, to help ensure yous pay the right fare.
Note that pink card readers do not validate your journey nor do they charge you, so you withal need to exist sure to use the xanthous card readers at the beginning and end of your journey.
We have rarely used (or even saw) these and it is likely that most visitors will not be using these but we wanted to point this out for those who really want to save coin. For more than information on pink card readers and locations you tin can detect them, run across the official website here.
Discounted Fares with Oyster Card
There are a number of discounts and concessions bachelor for people who meet certain requirements or are part of a certain demographic; however most of these discounts are only possible for London or Uk residents. There are potential discounts for students, seniors, children, those seeking jobs, disabled travelers, and veterans. Almost of these require applying for and obtaining a special photocard to receive free or discounted travel in London.
If you call back y'all may be eligible, yous tin can check out the various London transport discounts and concessions onlineEarlier deciding to buy a Oyster card. Visitors traveling with children should check out the next section.
Special Tips for Families Traveling with Children
Oyster cards can be a not bad value for families traveling with children, and many public transit services are costless for younger children. Families with children age 11 or older should be sure to examine discount options prior to their trip. Find out more details here.
Here are some tips for using the Oyster card for families with children:
- If you are traveling with children, they are eligible for discounted travel on London transport. It just depends on their age. For those age 11 or older, you will need to utilize for a Nothing Oyster photocard for them to receive the discounted travel.
- Children under age 11 can travel for free with a parent or guardian belongings a valid Oyster bill of fare on Tube, DLR, London Overground and TfL Rail services. You will need to meet a member of staff at stations with barriers in order to go them in and out of the station on your card. If your kid looks older, it is recommended that they get a Zippo Oyster photocard to prove their age.
- Children aged eleven – 15 can utilize for a Zip Oyster photocard. This entitles them to free travel on all buses and trams in London, and one-half price fares on other TfL services in London. Apply here.
- Children aged 16 -17 tin can also utilize for a Zippo Oyster photocard, which entitles them to half-rate travel on all TfL services. A Zip Oyster photocard tin can only be practical for online. If you lot live in the Britain, it takes a week to process. Applications from outside the UK must utilize at least four weeks in advance. Full details and the application procedure can be institute here.
London ship prices and policies are always changing, so be sure to check for the most updated prices and policies regarding public transportation fees and Oyster cards online at the Send for London website earlier your trip to London!
So there y'all accept our information and tips on buying and using an Oyster card in London! It may sound a bit complicated simply once you accept one, Oyster cards are piece of cake to employ and to recharge. If you're visiting London, you can plan in advance and purchase your Visitor Oyster menu or London Pass online at present!
Take yous been to London? What was your experience using public transportation in London? Did you use an Oyster carte? Equally always experience free to ask us whatever questions you lot may have about using an Oyster card or only whatsoever questions most travel in London.
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Source: https://independenttravelcats.com/tips-for-buying-using-the-oyster-card-in-london/
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