How much do you have to pay as deposit etc. when can you use it, how much does each journey cost? Is it like topping up your pay as you go mobile phone? I've looked on the website and can't find what I need to know.
2006-11-06 04:27:10 · 7 answers · asked by Grand Diva 2 in Travel ➔ United Kingdom ➔ Other - United Kingdom
To get an Oyster Card, you need to go to a tube station and speak to someone at the customer service window. Its a £3 deposit (but sometimes they waive that if you put a monthly travelcard on there)..
To top it up, you can take it to the customer service window and do it there, or go to the special Oyster Card machines in tube stations (the ones with the swipe areas like the turnstyles).
Although, the best thing to do is register your card online here: https://sales.oystercard.com/oyster/lul/entry.do
and that way you're card is registered to you and you can set it to automatically top up either with a fixed amount or a weekly/monthly travel pass - Its a huge time saver. Its also handy if you lose your card, as any money you have put on your card is returned to you.
I think that website should give you a list of prices too somewhere but its generally a lot cheaper than cash fares.
2006-11-06 04:41:39 · answer #1 · answered by yahnyinlondon 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
An Oyster card does not need a deposit. You can buy them from any tube station and some newsagents and from the Oyster card website (just type Oyster card into google).
They work 2 ways. You can use them as a weekly/monthly/yearly pass for buses or buses/trams/tube etc.
or
you can put money on it for pay as you go. It is always cheaper by Oyster to use it to travel. You put for instance £40 on your card and when it gets down to about £6 you can top it up with another £40 making the total on your card £46.
I think they are so great as they stop you having to buy your tickets before you board and also cut down on queues at the bus stops. You must touch the card onto the yellow reader on the bus or at the tube gate. You dont' need to touch out on the bus as the fares are fixed. However you do need to touch out on the tube so that it knows which zone you have gone to. They will never charge you more than the cost of a 1 day travelcard so they are always better value.
2006-11-06 13:45:26 · answer #2 · answered by Carrie S 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
If you go to London regularly (or even just 2-3 times a year) it's definitely worth getting one. The price is automatically capped - which means, you always pay the lowest possible price for the travelling you do in any particular day. e.g. if you only plan to do one return journey in a day, then decide later to go out again - it will charge you for a one day travel card, rather than two return journeys. You can set it to auto-top up, so every time the balance on your card drops to £5, it automatically tops up with £20 or £40 (you set it to the amount you want). You do this from the website - a fab way to take the headache out of travelling - you'll never be short of change!
2006-11-06 12:45:04 · answer #3 · answered by Melanie D 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
the deposit is about £3, you can use it all the time. You can use it both as a pay as a go and as a weekly, monthly (if you have a picture on it) and/or yearly travelcard or bus pass. You can have a travelcard and pay as you go at the same time, so that if you have a travelcard zones 1 and 2, and, for some reason you have to go to zone 3, you can use the pay as you go amount to pay avoiding the purchase of an extra ticket or a fine. The cost of each journey on the tube, depends from the time of the day (peak time (mon-friday 700-1900), off peak time) and the zones involved but goes from a min. of £1.50 off-peak zones 1 and 2 to max. £2.00 peak for the same zones (more details at: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tickets/2006/single/tubedlr.shtml). The cost of the bus and tram is £1.00 in peak time and 80p off peak. For the price of national railways tickets check here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tickets/2006/single/rail.shtml. Anyway, you have a daily price capping which means that you will never pay more than 50p less than the equivalent Day Travelcard price for all your Oyster single journeys in Zones 1-6 or, if you only use buses and trams, 3 pounds, 50p less than a daily bus pass, .
2006-11-06 13:13:31 · answer #4 · answered by boleiano 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
at the moment it's £3.00 deposit for the card
put as much as you want on the card at any news agents then your bus fare will be at the moment 80pence
warning it goes up to £1.20 in january
( this is pay as you go)
you can also put your weekly travel card on to the same oyster card
you can use it as soon as you top up
i.e. put cash on the card leave the shop run for the bus credit goes on the bus
2006-11-09 14:46:52 · answer #5 · answered by needanswers 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think I paid £5 deposit. You top it up with credit at Tube stations or (I believe) in newsagents where they sell travel cards. Journeys cost around half of what they do usually - a trip on the Tube is £1.50, and the bus is around £1, versus £1.50. You can pick one up at any Tube station in around 5 mins.
2006-11-06 12:30:14 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
The only problem if you don't live in London is remembering where you put it after your last visit... or maybe that's just me!
2006-11-06 18:22:54 · answer #7 · answered by Phil 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋