I got my Oyster card last year before going on a day trip to London, to be honest I cannot recall how I found out about the oyster card - I assume it was going on the transport for london website to find out about tube maps or all day travel cards.
I do recall I bought the Oyster card off the website for £5 (£3 of which is retained for adminstration charges) and it was delivered to my home the day after - really prompt service.
If you register the card online you can charge it with credit upto to £90 - you can also link it up to your account so that when credit reaches £5 it automatically tops it up - so you are never caught out. I personally haven't done the latter and as for priming it with £90 credit - this is great maybe if you reside in London and are a frequent user of London transport system but for me personally I kept £15 on - I think the greater risk with pre-charging the oyster card too excessively is that if you lose it somebody else could gain access to free travel. The oyster cards are not identifiable to the individual in this respect save for if you want to top the card up.
As children under 11 travel free on London transport I did not need to apply for an Oyster card for my daughter, we did however have to use the wider (disabled / pushchair gate) as the ordinary gates do not open longer enough for two to pass through regardless of how quick you think you are.
However if children are travelling along on the London transport system a photocard oyster card is required and this also requires at least 3 weeks notice to apply for and for you to pick up the card at a travel centre when you arrive in London with proof of your childs age.
I need to refer back to buying the card online and charging it up - this is great and convenient if you have access to the internet - a complete mystery if you do not.
Without this facility it is possible to procure the oyster card from dispensing machines at train / tube stations for the same price as online with the same amount retained.
Charging of the oyster card can be carried out at the ticket machines - I was abit confused at first (but really this doesn't take much for me), you have to put your oyster card on the yellow circle by the ticket machine (the same one by each ticket gate), this then flashes up on the screen how much credit is left on the card - you will then be given an option to top the card up and select the amount you require - you can then pay using the chip and pin machine and finally click the screen for a receipt and touch the oyster card on the yellow circle again to confirm the transaction is completed.
The idea of the card is that it automatically calculates the cheapest single fare costs for each journey you make. Within zone 1 this seemed to equate to about £1.20-£1.40 a journey. Now a one day travel card costs £7.20 peak (£5.60 off peak) so you might think you could be better off buying one of these - however don't over-estimate the number of journeys you will make in one day - invariable visitors to London spend alot of time walking and alot of time in the museums and attractions - so exceeding the £7.20 of the travelcard actually takes some doing.
For me the convenience of oyster come from charging it up online this means I can proceed with my journey as soon as I arrive in London without un-necessarily queuing at the ticket machine - a past time not enjoyed by children.
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Aug 1st, 2009
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