oyster cards

[Blackmage]

i have some questions, on the loyal oyster card.

do you get free travel on busses if you buy a weekly one of any zone?
do you know what might happen if you don't register your card?

is there any other tips i should know about?

[Rev_Hill]

Just a tip,

I buy pre-pay.......put £30 on a week at the most and that covers easliy for weekly travel between zones 1-6. A Weekly card is £41.

Its a lot cheaper than buying a weekly / monthly for me......the system does not really seem to work properly yet.

If I do not swipe out / in all the time it does not charge the max amount (as expected) sometimes it doesn't even charge at all.

I would recommend pre pay over buying weekly / monthly cards.

Although I guess it all depends on your route.

Quite sure if you buy a weekly card it will cover you on buses within your purchased zone.

RH

[Rack]

Be aware, the Oyster card pre-pay (ie cash on your card) does not work on National Rail. Only pre-purchased travel cards (if you buy a monthly zone 1-2 for example) work.

I find it very frustrating as I have zone 2-4 travel card and use national rail. When I go to zone 1 from work (zone 2) it's fine as I use underground and pay on pre-pay, but when I go to go home on the national rail my oyster is not valid in zone 1 and I need to buy another ticket from zone 1-2, despite that I have spent money to travel from zone 2-1 already.

National rail and Underground staff are clueless, and most of the time will happily sell me the wrong ticket when I ask about it, which has only increased my annoyance.

However if you are staying on tubes and busses I think it's an awesome system. Not sure about the free busses though, I would assume you have to pay for the entire trip - it's cheap though with the bus and oyster so cant complain anyway.

I would like to know how much it would cost me to take the bus and tube and pay daily instead of National Rail @ £70 a month.

[Blackmage]

thanks for your help guys, can anyone shed light on my questions?

[tiggerai]

Originally Posted by Blackmage

i have some questions, on the loyal oyster card.

do you get free travel on busses if you buy a weekly one of any zone?
do you know what might happen if you don't register your card?

is there any other tips i should know about?

Yes, I think if you get a weekly travel card, the bus travel is still included, just like a normal travel card. Although I think you need to register and get a photo id to get weekly tickets (see below!)

If you don't register your card, you can't claim the money back if it's lost or stolen (basically it won't be returned to you)

I have an unregistered prepay card, with automatic top up, you can do this online. (and also see where you've been)

If you are travelling from outside london, like me.... beware of the travelcard prices... Even on oyster they are more expensive than pre-pay (last time I checked) because you pay the weekend rate too. (makes sense)
Weekly travelcard on oyster is about £22, my prepay is £15 a week (£3 a day, £1.50 each way) So basically it's cheaper to get a National rail ticket without the travecard then get a prepay oyster card.

Oooh, also forgot to mention, if you use prepay, your card will have a price cap on it, meaning that you won't pay more than 50p less than the standard travel card rate on it. (so if you make lots of journeys each day, or have to repeatedly come out of the system, this will work out cheaper.)

Oyster cards with Travelcards are valid on Tube, DLR, tram and National Rail services within your chosen zones and across the entire London bus network.

[-ChEM-]

yeah if you buy a weekly/monthly/etc travelcard it includes a bus pass (for the whole of london) but i think it is possible to get a tube-only one too if you ask for it

registration lets you transfer your prepay balance and travelcards onto a new card if you lose your old one, otherwise its gone for good

edit: yeah

[alexkoon]

You don't need a photocard for the weekly. I started my first weekly this week - just went to machine to buy the weekly card. Charged my oyster and my pre-pay is a seperate 'bucket' on the card.

Buses included - not sure how it works out zones though (ie zone 1-2 weekly and catching a bus in Zone 3 say).

[Rave]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oyster_card

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/

Those two should cover pretty much all of it.

I was told during my training that bus zones still exist, but I suspect my trainer was behind the times. I've been driving a bus for a week now and seen more oyster travelcards used than I could possibly count, and never have I seen an 'out of zone' message come up. So, don't take it as gospel, but I reckon if you put a travelcard on your oyster, even only a zone 1-2 one, you should be fine to use any bus anywhere.

Wikipedia reckons you have to register your card if you want to put a seaon ticket of a month or longer on it. I never registered mine when I used it for prepay on the buses- and I've now given it to my mother-in-law. I now have a staff pass, which TBH is bloody brilliant, although I now work so far from home and at such odd hours that I can't use it to commute to work so I have to go by motorbike instead (cost-, fun, timesaving- ).

Originally Posted by tiggerai

If you are travelling from outside london, like me.... beware of the travelcard prices... Even on oyster they are more expensive than pre-pay (last time I checked) because you pay the weekend rate too. (makes sense)
Weekly travelcard on oyster is about £22, my prepay is £15 a week (£3 a day, £1.50 each way) So basically it's cheaper to get a National rail ticket without the travecard then get a prepay oyster card.

That's true in your specific case- I.E. commuting in by train from outside London and then getting a tube each way to your final destination. However, the £22 would get you unlimited Zone 1&2 train, bus and tube travel, which if you used them extensively could easily cost more than £4.50 a day to prepay on Oyster (they'd be capped at £5.70 I believe). It's horses for courses really.

[tiggerai]

Originally Posted by Rave

That's true in your specific case- I.E. commuting in by train from outside London and then getting a tube each way to your final destination. However, the £22 would get you unlimited Zone 1&2 train, bus and tube travel, which if you used them extensively could easily cost more than £4.50 a day to prepay on Oyster (they'd be capped at £5.70 I believe). It's horses for courses really.

err... that's whyni said be careful if you're coming from 0utside london as you're bound to use it less than someone who lives there. I am making a point that people might not be aware of.

[Rave]

Wasn't trying to be argumentative, sorry if it came across that way.

In other news, a bloke got on my bus today and scanned his oyster, and the screen came up with 'Travelcard - Zone 1-2'. I'm pretty sure I was in Zone 3 at the time- I was certainly heading out into the depths of zone 4- so I'm now almost certain that any oyster travelcard will sort you out with bus travel anywhere in London, regardless of which train and tube zones it's valid for.

[Blackmage]

thanks, this is great news as it will save me some pennys!