oyster card

imanan

can someone tell me what an oyster card is please.

Lydia.42

Its something you buy if you regularly go on the underground, instead of buying a paper ticket.

poppy52

It's also cheaper than buying daily tickets or even season tickets, I think. You load money onto it and then it deducts every time you make a journey.

suki1964

Its also ideal if you are not a frequent traveller as theres no "use by date" on your credit. I use mine maybe two days a week and even on a single bus journey can save up to 70p. And as an added incentive you often get reduced entry into London attractions when you show it when purchessing entry

Tondella

I have to say that I think the pre-pay oyster card is fantastic. You get cheap fares, no need to find the right change for the tube or bus, the card retrospectively calculates the cheapest fare for your day's travelling so rather than buy a travelcard in the morning "just in case" you make a couple of journeys but then find that you only needed a single, the card will work it all out for you at the end of the day and charge the minimum. Ken has raised tube fares but held them for Oyster card users. I have to say I can't understand this argument against pre-pay (the "you don't pay for a meal before you eat it so why pay for a travel ticket?"). Loads of us have pre-pay mobiles and don't object to the system, and you need only loads £5 minimum on the card, and it sits there forever. Brilliant!

Jim_B_3

On some journeys, the Oystercard price is a third of the cash price. The only significant argument against it is that of your journeys being tracked and recorded, leading into the whole civil liberties debate.

---

Civil Liberty Debate : No Moneysaving Below Here!

Red Ken states he needs the data to measure load on the tube services throughout the day, but of course this could be done easily by measuring number of people swiping in/out at each station, and tracking individual cards but not keeping a record of the card-owner, so his argument doesn't really hold water (so many people use the tube each day that individual variation will get completely swamped. Fear of losing it; write your name and address on the back and hope the punter who finds it posts it rather than uses it.

Nothing to hide, so why should I mind? Well then, you won't mind if I put a webcam in every room of your house and broadcast it over the internet, will you? It's the same principle; the only question is where people draw the boundary.

Edna_Bucket_2

There have been quite a few recent helpful MSE Oystercard threads, such as this one:

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=95108&highlight=oyster

so if you do a search you'll find lots of additional info i am sure.

wigginsmum

I'm sure it's great if you start your journey at a station where you can swipe the card, but because the rail network has been slow on the uptake, not everyone can benefit from this. I'm quite annoyed about it as I'm a commuter paying £1040/year, but can't use this cheaper/easier system because my station won't accept it. Oh well.

Jim_B_3

gizmoleeds wrote:

This is the same argument as the clubcard debate. If you don't feel comfortable knowing a computer somewhere has information on where you've been travelling, then pay by cash. Just like if you don't want Tesco monitoring your shopping patterns don't get a clubcard; and if you don't want your bank knowing your spending pattern, don't get a debit or credit card.

It's not the same argument. With a Tesco clubcard, you can lie about your name and address, meaning they get their data, you get your points, but nobody can tie your spending to you. Alternatively, every so often cash in all your points and then swap your card with someone else.

As for the debit and credit card issue; once again, it's not quite the same. I pay the same price cash as I do with a debit card. The tube will cost me up to three times as much if I pay by cash.

suki1964

You dont have to register your card so none of your trips can be tracked to you personally

Jim_B_3

It was my understanding that they asked my name and address when I bought it. Is that no longer the case, or do they not check (and thus I could lie)?