Oyster card

glider3560

Most of the ticket machines at tube stations also sell Oyster cards. They cost £5 deposit + £5 minimum top up. When you've finished with the card, you can get a cash refund of the £5 deposit and up to £10 credit at any tube ticket machine (no need to visit a ticket office with ID anymore). Even if you paid with credit card it still gives a cash refund.

As dzug1 says, don't get the £3 visitor card as that is non-refundable.

marvin

Also contact-less cards only allow for the purchase of one ticket per card whereas I can top up as many Oysters from the one card if I wish.

Not always practical for each individual to carry a contact-less card certainly does not suit a couple travelling together if you only have one contact-less card between you.

To the OP (as someone who has an Oyster card for the occasional trip to the capital) buy the oyster card from the machine at the station it is fairly painless and then either trade it in to get the refund or keep it for next time. I don't think the credit on them runs out but not sure on this.

Once registered it can be managed online in future if you wish.

glider3560

marvin wrote: »

I don't think the credit on them runs out but not sure on this.

The credit never runs out. But you run the risk of misplacing the card.

When I lived in London, a friend used to have to buy a new card everytime they visited because they kept losing the previous one (they lived about 200mi from London, so rarely used it).

Now refunds are so easy, I'd recommend getting a refund after your trip.

marvin

glider3560 wrote: »

The credit never runs out. But you run the risk of misplacing the card.

When I lived in London, a friend used to have to buy a new card everytime they visited because they kept losing the previous one (they lived about 200mi from London, so rarely used it).

Now refunds are so easy, I'd recommend getting a refund after your trip.

Whilst I take your point entirely for those so minded as to not know what they are doing....

I personally think it is unlikely that I will lose the card rather not go through the hassle of getting a new card each time which cannot be managed online. But yes for the scatter brained who do not know where they put things I would suggest they follow your suggestion.

fromtheshires

Ive decided to wait until I get down there and get a £5 refundable one. We are going down again a couple of moths after so I will just return it before we hop on the train back up then and get my £5 refunded.

Thanks for all the help / tips and suggestions.

chattychappy

glider3560 wrote: »

Even if you paid with credit card it still gives a cash refund.

Oh...brilliant.

I can see this spawning a whole new "moneysaving" thread. Something to do with buying endless oysters on 0% purchase cards, topping up, getting cash refunds and getting 0.2% in some kind of savings account for 18 months or so. You'd only need to do it a couple of thousand times to make a few bob. Then howls of disappointment as TfL decides to refund to credit cards only and demands for compensation as people claim they were "missold" their oysters! (Not to mention the odd swipe to the effect they "read about it on Martin's site".)

borkid

fromtheshires wrote: »

I don't need (oyster cards) them per se but I don't like using the contactless on my cards (I know its safe but im a bit weird) so its the middle ground of having an oyster card.

Hi that's exactly the same as my husband he likes to know exactly ( down to the last penny) how much each CC transaction is. Using a contactless card means he has to wait until it appears on CC statement. We've only used them on one visit to London and he was so edgy that I've now bought an Oyster card for future trips.

glider3560

borkid wrote: »

Hi that's exactly the same as my husband he likes to know exactly ( down to the last penny) how much each CC transaction is. Using a contactless card means he has to wait until it appears on CC statement. We've only used them on one visit to London and he was so edgy that I've now bought an Oyster card for future trips.

You can register your card online: https://account.tfl.gov.uk/Register Journeys show within an hour of travelling. It shows the exact fare for each journey and the whole day/week, so you can keep track of what you are being charged.

plunt

chattychappy wrote: »

Oh...brilliant.

I can see this spawning a whole new "moneysaving" thread. Something to do with buying endless oysters on 0% purchase cards, topping up, getting cash refunds and getting 0.2% in some kind of savings account for 18 months or so. You'd only need to do it a couple of thousand times to make a few bob. Then howls of disappointment as TfL decides to refund to credit cards only and demands for compensation as people claim they were "missold" their oysters! (Not to mention the odd swipe to the effect they "read about it on Martin's site".)

haha right well i guess i will avoid biting at the comment then ...to be fair its 3% + probably 3% in a savings account. anyways no more on the topic!

plunt

on a side note, if i had a duplicate of my contacless card what would happen if two people used it? I dont plan to do this but was just curious, same goes for joint accounts?