Film, Media & TV1 min ago
Oyster Card
5 Answers
How does this work? What is the best one to use/get? And what is the refundable card deposit all about?
I tried looking on the website but I am still confused!
I tried looking on the website but I am still confused!
Answers
1 to 5 of 5
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by eash. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
Hi eash,
The oystercards are all the same, but you can put different kinds of tickets on them. If you make a regular journey in to work on the tube or bus, for example, it's probably cheapest to put a season ticket (weekly/monthly/annual travelcard or buss pass) on it. But if you only make occasional journeys its cheaper to put cash on it, as a pre-pay ammount to use as and when.
The deposit is so that if your card gets lost or stolen, then they can see what ticket and/or money was left on the card, and then you can be issued with a new one with the same ammount on it.
I have one, but only make a couple of journeys a week on public transport, so I use pre-pay on mine. I used to top up the value using a credit card online (you can also do it over the phone, and at stations), but switched to the auto top-up when they introduced that. Now if the balance on my card falls below �5, it automatically gets topped-up next time I swipe the card. Its definitely worth getting one if only so you'll never have to queue up to buy a ticket again!
The oystercards are all the same, but you can put different kinds of tickets on them. If you make a regular journey in to work on the tube or bus, for example, it's probably cheapest to put a season ticket (weekly/monthly/annual travelcard or buss pass) on it. But if you only make occasional journeys its cheaper to put cash on it, as a pre-pay ammount to use as and when.
The deposit is so that if your card gets lost or stolen, then they can see what ticket and/or money was left on the card, and then you can be issued with a new one with the same ammount on it.
I have one, but only make a couple of journeys a week on public transport, so I use pre-pay on mine. I used to top up the value using a credit card online (you can also do it over the phone, and at stations), but switched to the auto top-up when they introduced that. Now if the balance on my card falls below �5, it automatically gets topped-up next time I swipe the card. Its definitely worth getting one if only so you'll never have to queue up to buy a ticket again!
You can use it as both a season ticket and>/I> a pre-pay. I buy a Monthly 1-3 (ie zones 1 to 3). I also put �20 on it now and again. The �20 generally remains un-used, as my journeys within Zones 1-3 are covered by the season ticket part.
Occasionally, I travel outside of Zone 3, and the difference I need to pay (the old "zone extension" ticket) comes out of the pre-pay sum on my card.
Similarly, sometimes my season ticket runs out a day or two before I'm taking time off from work. Rather than renew it then, I will use some of the pre-pay cash on it to pay for my journey to work for the one or two days, and then renew the season ticket element when I return from my holiday / break etc.
Occasionally, I travel outside of Zone 3, and the difference I need to pay (the old "zone extension" ticket) comes out of the pre-pay sum on my card.
Similarly, sometimes my season ticket runs out a day or two before I'm taking time off from work. Rather than renew it then, I will use some of the pre-pay cash on it to pay for my journey to work for the one or two days, and then renew the season ticket element when I return from my holiday / break etc.
1 to 5 of 5
