Oyster Travel Card

Advantages: Convenient, cashless travel, discounted rates still quite expensive
Disadvantages: Having Ken know where I go, not yet universal across all ex-BR stations

...off from buying a London Oyster card for several reasons, not the least of which is that I thought they were only for season ticket use, and as my need to use London's buses and Underground trains was minimal, say, three of four times a month, this ruled me out, or so I imagined. True, you can use your Oyster card as a season ticket; a friend of mine does, but as I now know it can also be used as a Pay-As-You-Go payment card, with certain advantages ...
...The TfL (Transport for London) Oyster card is a mainly pale blue credit-card sized smart card, although there is no outward sign of a microchip. To enter the TfL* travel network, you touch it onto or slide it over one of the myriad yellow card reading points that have sprung up in recent years, either at the entry door of buses, or at the entry and exit barriers of Underground stations. *To date, this rules out a large chunk of Network Rail stations ... Read review

Advantages: Cheapest mode of travel in London
Disadvantages: Big brother, not good for tourists.

What is an Oyster card? Basically it is a London travel card enabling the traveller to get around London without constantly buying tickets for the different modes of transport available. It can be likened to a credit card; however the difference being, you pay up front and charge the card before use, almost identically to a pay-as-you-go phone card. Transport for London hereafter referred to as tfl, call it a smartcard. I think it was very smart ...
...a station, tfl oulet, or Oyster card shop. This records highly personal information and I would have to question the reason for this. Remember if you then use your card for travelling, all your movements are then recorded every time you swipe the card through a reader and it is reported the police are using this more and more extensively to investigate people's movements. More big brother as I see it. You can obtain an un-registered card but will ... Read review

Advantages: Put as much or as little money on it as you like
Disadvantages: Can sometimes play up and the ticket barriers can get congested

...first people to have an Oyster card with a season ticket on it when they first came out. **WHAT IS AN OYSTER CARD?** Oyster is basically a "smartcard". You can put your Travelcard or Bus Pass season ticket on it, add money to pay as you go or have a combination of both, so if you need to pay for an extra long journey, no problem. They are also resuable, so basically you can have the same card for ever! When your cash/season ticket runs out, just ...
...education can apply for an Oyster card which gives them access to discounts on some attractions and other train travel. **HOW DO YOU USE AN OYSTER CARD?** When using public transport i.e. train, bus or tube you must touch in on the special card reader at the gates or on the bus so that it registers, this is also the same for train and tube, when you exit a station you must, again, touch out to register your card so that it takes off the right amount ... Read review

Advantages: Savings can be made
Disadvantages: Requires personal information to be recorded,

...my annual season ticket from Oyster card this week. There was a huge saving in what I was spending on weekly oyster tickets, 2 months free travel. The process was quick and simple. I paid £600 cash for a zone 2&3 annual ticket at an train station. It took about 5 minutes. But Oyster has not always been this simple. In fact I have mixed feelings about Oyster. When Ken Livingstone first announce the arrival of Oyster it seemed like a Godsend. But ...
...the card. Basically Oyster records and tracks your movements and keeps an account of your travel called your "History". THis is what makes Oyster a smart card. OYSTER THE SMART CARD. Oyster works a bit like a debit card. You put money in and the ticket barriers deduct what you use. Oyster tracks your movements and if for instance you go from zone 2 to zone 3 through zone 1 they will request a payment of £1.50. This is an improvement for London ... Read review

Advantages: Good value for money, Easier to travel with
Disadvantages: None I can think of

...(TFL) to obtain a student oyster card. Obviously, at this point I had no idea what they were talking about. It was a Monday, I filled the form attached the passport photograph and enclosed a cheque for £5 then mailed it to them on Tuesday. They said it may take up to 2 weeks on the form but, behold! on Saturday morning, I received my oyster card first thing in the mail. It had my picture on it and I get 30% discount as a student. Now that's what ...
...exiting. Buying fares using the oyster card is cheaper and the student oyster card is even cheaper (30% off). I usually buy a month's pass every month between Zone 1 and 4 which cost £89.10. This enables me to travel all over London (between Zone 1 to 4) and this has made me tour London using the trains and buses. Zone 1 to 4 covers much of London anyway. I try to get the maximum out of the card every month by riding as much trains and buses as ... Read review