Oyster Travel Card > Reviews > OYSTER SMART CARD

Author's product rating:   

Value for Money

Fantastic

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

Recommend to potential buyers:

no

Full review

I bought 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 questions were soon raised about the "Big Brother" aspects of 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 Transport on their fare collecting arrangements. Apart from buying weekly, monthly and annual season tickets you can also top up you card in multiples of £5. You can do this at an automatic ticket machine at the station. You can also buy your ticket at the ticket office of some overground stations, all underground stations, at some retail outlets such as newsagents and off licenses and online on the website.
OYSTER WEBSITE:
THe website is designed for card holders. You have to register and you need a password to use it. THere is a lot of information on it like what to do if you lose your card. You can buy you ticket online with a card but I could only buy a weekly ticket and not a monthly. Also your card has to be registered before you can view your history on the website. This involves filling in a form at the station. I tried to register a few times and found the form was refused for various reasons. It was eventually registered when I bought my season ticket. THe form had been in a pile of unregistered forms at the station. I have had numerous problems logging in to the website and I found it has limited uses.
OYSTER THE TRAVELCARD.
Oyster is the biggest thing that has happened to London Transport for decades. It has totally revolutionised the way we buy tickets. THere are huge savings to be made if you use it properly. Sinlge journeys cost as little as £1 compared to £2 or £3 for other ticket purchases.
You can buy a zone pass and top up by the amount you need to get around outside it. There are also huge savings to be made on season tickets.
MY EXPERIENCE
Buying tickets is not always straightforward, the machines may not be working, there are still large queues , online buying has limitations and the ticket offices do make mistakes.
Customer service is prompt and efficient and staff are generally friendly.
THere are a lot of savings to be made but these can be limited to certain groups or for certain periods of time.
YOur card can be blocked automatically at the barrier if your history shows you did not use the correct fare.
It costs £3 to but an Oyster card and you are supposed to register it but this can take a while.