The world is not my oyster

February 27, 2009 12:14 PM

I'm heading to London from the U.S. for several weeks, and I'm confused about Oyster cards. I've read the site, and now I'm even more confused. Specific questions are:

Despite what the tourist books say, I don't think I want a visitor card, because it looks like the visitor cards can't be loaded with multi-day travel cards. But can I - as a non-resident - get a "non-visitor" card? If so, is there any drawback in just getting one when I get there, rather than trying to get one in advance? Will I need ID?

Can I have 'pay as you go' and a weekly or monthly travelcard at once on the same card? I'm pretty sure I'll want to do some stuff not covered by the travelcard. If I can't use the same card in those situations, what do people do? Carry more than one, or just pay for non-travelcard travel using cash?

posted by still_wears_a_hat to travel & transportation (16 comments total)

Oyster cards used to be more complicated, but they're really easy now. When you get to Heathrow underground station (or whichever Tube station you reach first if you come in from another airport), look for an Oyster dispenser. These are thin machines about the size of a condom machine. You can buy a card for £5, which is £3 for the card with £2 of pre-pay on it.

Take that card, and go to one of the ticket machines with a screen. Hold the Oyster card over the yellow pad on the front, and then hit the option for '7 Day travelcard'. For Zones 1 and 2, it should be just over £25. A month for the same area will cost you somewhere in the region of £90 (I cycle, so I don't know the exact prices anymore). You can pay at some machines with cash or a credit card, and at some it's cards only. Choose and pay.

Bob's yer uncle.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:26 PM on February 27

You can get a regular oyster card at any tube stop. When I was there recently, I tried to get a visitor card at Heathrow tube station, and they only had regular ones... which was fine by me. When you leave, you can turn it in and get your deposit back, as well as any balance left on the card. You will need ID to get any oyster card, I believe.

And yeah, you can use the same card for pay-as-you-go and travelcards. I'm not sure the travelcard is even that good of a value though, and I just used pay-as-you-go the whole time I was there.
posted by booknerd at 12:26 PM on February 27

It's been a couple of years since I was in London, but you can pay as you go, and have a weekly/monthly/x-ly travelcard.

So your travelcard can cover your regular commute, but if you travel outside the terms of the travelcard, the fares will just come out of the pre-pay. They also charge you the cheapest fare possible for that day, which is nice.
posted by iamcrispy at 12:26 PM on February 27

This page says "An Oyster card can store up to £90 of credit, which can be used to pay as you go, plus your Travelcard or Bus & Tram Pass."

When I bought mine in person at Victoria station, they did not ask for any kind of proof that I was a resident, and I'm not. I only used pay-as-you-go though.
posted by soelo at 12:27 PM on February 27

I seem to remember that the last time I got an Oyster Card, I didn't have to present ID or fill out anything with an address (just pay a £2 or £3 deposit) but they gave me a form to fill out if I wanted to register it so I'd get my money back if I lost it. So, you should be able to get a standard Oyster Card as a non resident.

I can't think of any particuarl drawback of getting one when you arrive - other than you might need to get a paper ticket for your first journey depending how, when and where you get into Central London. I'd recommend trying to get the ticket from a tube station outside rush hour and not one of the central mainline stations where the queues can be terrible and our British sense of customer service even worse! You'll be able to get one from any tube station.

You can have pay as you go and a weekly/monthly travel card on the same Oyster - I always have some extra pre-pay on my card for when I forget to renew my weekly travel card or go outside the zone my travelcard is for.

I promise it isn't as confusing as it looks!
posted by smudge at 12:28 PM on February 27

Yes, for clarity - it used to be the case that if you wanted to put anything more than a week travelcard on it, you needed to register when you bought it and get a photocard, but they've scrapped that. You can register it, as smudge says.

Also, your Oyster is good for travel on all Underground and bus services, many overground and train services (if you have a week or month travelcard rather than pre-pay) and gives you a discount on river boat services.
posted by Happy Dave at 12:35 PM on February 27

Confirming that you need not be a resident: every time I (a Canadian replete with Canadian accent) has bought one, I have jut walked into a tube station and purchased one at a wicket.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 1:07 PM on February 27

Don't get a Visitor Oystercard, I have never heard of them and the description makes them sound like a regular Oyster Card but with less features. (I think they're just designed to be saleable outside of London with some pre-loaded balance for when you get there, obviously they can't put travelcards on them because they might expire before the buyer arrived in the city.)

You don't need any ID to get a regular Oystercard, in fact you can buy them from vending machines in most main tube stations, or just from the ticket office.

As you are going to be visiting for several weeks, you will probably want to load your oyster up with a travelcard that covers the zone you're in (probably just zones 1-2). But also put some pre-pay on there, maybe £10 or something to start with, because over the course of several weeks you'll probably stray out of the travelcard area at least once, and it'll cover you for that.

Just as an example:

You have a Zone 1 & 2 travelcard and £10 of prepay.

You can get the tube from any station within Zone 1 & 2 for no extra charge.
You can get the bus anywhere in London for no extra charge.
If you get the tube to, say, Colindale in Zone 4, you will be charged for the journey between "the edge of Zone 2" and Colindale, so your prepay balance will decrease to (at a guess) £8.50.
As they like to say, "Always Touch Out" because otherwise the system doesn't know how far you've gone and charges you the maximum. So just because the gates are open late at night, remember to do it.

If you have £0 of prepay credit and get the tube out of your travelcard zone, you'll sail through the ticket barriers (and there's no fine or anything) but when you go to next use it, it won't let you. You'll need to top it up before it works again, even if the next journey you try to make would ordinarily be covered by your travelcard.

The only genuinely confusing thing is that many train stations have Oyster-friendly barriers BUT Pay As You Go is valid on hardly any overground trains - so even though the barriers will let you through, you can still get fined about £20 for not having a ticket if you're unlucky. So check first. (Confusingly the exception to this may be the "London Overground" which is the orange double-line running across the top of the tube map, but I'm referring in general to non-tube trains from the major rail terminals.)
posted by so_necessary at 1:15 PM on February 27

Thanks, everyone - that's really helpful. Now on to railcards and lending libraries.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:15 PM on February 27

Well, uh, we can probably help with that too. Your railcard will depend on where you are staying - if it's inside the TfL zones, Oyster travelcards (not pre-pay as noted above) will be fine. If you're staying outside London, you will be able to buy a month travelcard from the local train operator. National Rail will tell you which operator serves the route you come in on.

Library cards can be had at any public library. In London, they are run by the Borough councils, so if you figure out which Borough you're staying in, then take a look at their website, you should be set. However, you usually need a utility bill or some proof of address to get one, so you'd need to be staying for a while.
posted by Happy Dave at 2:34 PM on February 27

If you're staying in the borough of Tower Hamlets and can't find the libraries, that's because they've all been rebranded and are now called 'Idea Stores'. I know, I know ... but someone must have thought it was a good idea at the time.
posted by essexjan at 2:56 PM on February 27

Again, thank you. The railcard confused me because when I went to this site, my only choices seemed to be being under 25, over 60, disabled, or traveling with children. Happy Dave's site looks a lot more helpful.

I guess I'll try to get pursuasive with a library - I can't go that long without more books than I can bring with me.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 2:22 PM on February 28

Both Wandsworth and Chelsea/Westminster have excellent library systems. I may be wrong but I think under the Libraries Act that set up the public library* system you do not have to be a resident of the borough to join said borough's library. They will ask for some proof of address though. I don't know if a letter from the hotel, if that is where you are staying, will suffice but it's worth a try. If you are staying with someone ask to borrow a recent utilty bill. See...the world is your oyster.

*Shame they didn't regulate what they would be called at the same time. Ideas Store indeed!
posted by Dr.Pill at 5:25 PM on February 28

I'll be there for four days beginning next week -- what's the most economical way to use the Tube for those four days?
posted by seinfeld at 7:03 PM on March 1

Depends where you're staying and how much you're travelling, but let's say you'll be in Zones 1 & 2 - if you're doing more than one return journey a day, just get an Oystercard and then load it up with a weekly Zone 1/2 travelcard. It'll be about £23 I think.
posted by so_necessary at 2:44 AM on March 2

One further thing to note with Oyster cards is that if you want to get your £2 deposit (or any remaining credit) back without hassle then you should only top up with cash. If you ever top up using a debit or credit card then due to money laundering regulations you can only get a refund by submitting a form which takes time to process.
posted by urban greeting at 7:23 AM on March 2