Is it worth getting an Oyster Card?

Is it worth getting an Oyster Card?

I am going to be making trips every so often down to London in the next few months and I was wondering whether it worth me getting an oyster card for these small trips. When Im in London I like hoping on and off the tube so I usually get a travel card for zones 12 mainly Would it be worth getting an oyster cards?? How do they work? I do not get the capping e.c.t Thanks :

Asked by Tammerz about London

Yes worth it in simplicity terms Basically you put money on card and swipe card at beginning and ends of journey money taken off as you swipe card up to daily travelcard limit for zones you use

Answered by Kaysibabes

definitely worth it. paygo oyster cards save you a lot of money on the tube. if you travel by bus make sure its a long journey cos its dear for short ones

Answered by Stuart

If you come to London from time to time then yes its worth it. You have to pay a 5 deposit this is to encourage people not to lose it as its a smartcard with a chip in it and not cheap to replace but you can always hand the card in and get that back if you dont need it any more. It works like a pay as you talk mobile phone. You load cash on to it and when you use it the right fare is automatically deducted on the tube it is vitally important to both touch it to the yellow reader on the ticket barrier on the way in and the way out or you get charged the maximum fare for the day because the system doesnt know where youve been. This isnt a problem on buses as theyre all one fare so you just touch in when you get on. It works by weak radio signals from the yellow readers that communicate with the chip in the card to make it all work so you just have to touch it flat on the reader and not have to put anything in a slot. That speeds up getting through the barriers a bit and believe me that matters at busy stations in the London rush hour When the money runs out you can load more on to it at a tube station ticket office or at one of the large tube ticket machines that has a yellow reader. The fare deducted and the remaining balance are shown on the ticket barrier screen when you touch out so you can see when its getting low. The fare on Oyster is less than half of a normal single ticket as you can see from http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/14416.aspx This is done to encourage people to use Oyster. What capping is about is the cap is the maximum you wil pay in a day. If you do lots of trips in a day and reach the price cap you dont pay more than you would have done with a Travelcard notice from that page that the price cap is always the same as the Travelcard price and any other trip that day is free so you dont lose out. And if you dont reach the price cap youve saved as compared with buying a Travelcard so you win either way. Another added convenience is that you dont have to worry about occasionally going outside the zone as you do with a Travelcard. Just to complete the picture this isnt relevant to you but it shows how clever it all is except for day Travelcards they are always sold on Oyster. Its possible to have a longperiod Travelcard AND cash on your Oystercard at the same time so you can go outside the Travelcard zones you paid for and the extra comes off the cash balance. As a London commuter I have an annual Travelcard on my Oystercard I renew it online every year and then next time I go through the ticket barrier at my home station it automatically gets loaded on. So I havent actually used a tube ticket office or ticket machine for years. The downside of this for tube staff is that fewer of them are needed and thats the reason for most of the recent tube strikes job losses in ticket offices.

Answered by The Dark Side