London Travel - Oyster Card, Contactless, Apple Pay or ... ?

wallofbeans

Hi All,

I'm wanting to streamline my commuting and hoped to get your thoughts on the best way to pay for travel around London. I currently mostly use an Oyster card, which feels safer and less of a hassle than getting my wallet out and finding a debit card to do contactless. Although, if my Oyster runs out of money I can revert to contactless until I put some more money on it.

I've been looking for an automated way to add more money to the Oyster, hoping I can set it to auto update when it goes below a minimum I set up. There is apparently a system that does something like that, but I've read that the minimum it auto updates is £20 and its not that reliable. Plus, I've heard that contactless offers weekly travelcard caps or something that Oyster does not.

So contactless might be better. No need to top up. More options for auto capping so I get the cheapest prices. But I still don't like taking out my debit card, it feels unsafe to take my wallet out, and I might drop the card etc.

Perhaps Apple Pay is then the way to go. My phone is almost always easy to access to swipe in or out. And I carry a charger with me in case the battery dies.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Or reasons this isn't the best way to go?

Thanks all!

Mr_Singleton

Always use a phone if your using contactless NEVER use a debit/Credit card on its own on the tube. It's massively profitable for TFL to get 'confused' when matching the tap in / out as TFL's own figures show. Without gate receipts they'll laugh all the way to the bank and there's nothing you can do about it.

t0rt0ise

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

Always use a phone if your using contactless NEVER use a debit/Credit card on its own on the tube. It's massively profitable for TFL to get 'confused' when matching the tap in / out as TFL's own figures show. Without gate receipts they'll laugh all the way to the bank and there's nothing you can do about it.

Why would a card be any different from using a phone?

I used the auto top up with an oyster back when I was paying for travel and never had any problem with it. I would prefer that myself, rather than using a credit/debit card.

jbuchanangb

I never had any problems with auto top up on Oyster back in the day when I used it a fair bit.

If you have most sorts of National railcard you can add it to an Oyster card to get discounted off-peak travel.

I’m pretty sure daily and weekly capping works just as well with Oyster as with contactless.

marmite1979

wallofbeans wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm wanting to streamline my commuting and hoped to get your thoughts on the best way to pay for travel around London. I currently mostly use an Oyster card, which feels safer and less of a hassle than getting my wallet out and finding a debit card to do contactless. Although, if my Oyster runs out of money I can revert to contactless until I put some more money on it.

I've been looking for an automated way to add more money to the Oyster, hoping I can set it to auto update when it goes below a minimum I set up. There is apparently a system that does something like that, but I've read that the minimum it auto updates is £20 and its not that reliable. Plus, I've heard that contactless offers weekly travelcard caps or something that Oyster does not.

So contactless might be better. No need to top up. More options for auto capping so I get the cheapest prices. But I still don't like taking out my debit card, it feels unsafe to take my wallet out, and I might drop the card etc.

Perhaps Apple Pay is then the way to go. My phone is almost always easy to access to swipe in or out. And I carry a charger with me in case the battery dies.

Does anyone have any other ideas? Or reasons this isn't the best way to go?

Thanks all!

Put your bank card in a blue ticket wallet it should read it through the clear plastic cover

Mr_Singleton

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Why would a card be any different from using a phone?.

If you read my post you’d know..... here’s a clue!

Does a contactless card give you gate receipts???

t0rt0ise

Mr_Singleton wrote: »

If you read my post you’d know..... here’s a clue!

Does a contactless card give you gate receipts???

Create an account on the TfL website and you can see and print off all use of the card.

Unfinished journeys that you constantly moan about are only given when you don't tap in and out with the same card or device.

Mr_Singleton

t0rt0ise wrote: »

Unfinished journeys that you constantly moan about are only given when you don't tap in and out with the same card or device.

So in your fantasy world TFL’s system is absolutely 100% perfect.

So, how do you explain that GooglePay has tap in and tap out records showing the station and the time. TFL claimed I hadn’t. They point blank refused to refund the approx. £20 max cash fare. The second I told them I had gate receipts and the times and stations they caved and gave me a refund. Blame the innocent commuters while they pocket £100’s of millions.

Whenever TFL is challenged on this everyone goes very quiet.

So answer the question.... How is GooglePay able to show valid gate receipts and yet TFL claim you didn’t touch in/out.

wallofbeans

jbuchanangb wrote: »

I’m pretty sure daily and weekly capping works just as well with Oyster as with contactless.

You'd think it would, but apparently Oyster cards don't offer quite the same options. It's why I'm thinking of going contactless with Apple Pay on my phone.

This is from the TFL website:

"Contactless caps
If you use contactless (card or device), you get a daily and weekly cap.

You can travel as much as you like in one day and week across all our transport services.

Oyster card caps
If you use an Oyster card, you get a daily cap and can travel as much as you like in one day across all our transport services.

You also get a weekly cap for bus and tram journeys only, so you can travel as much as you like in one week."

Mr_Singleton

wallofbeans wrote: »

You'd think it would, but apparently Oyster cards don't offer quite the same options.

Wow! You are so naive!

But top marks for using contactless through ApplePay rather than direct with the card! Remember to keep an eye on your gate reciepts!

gt94sss2

wallofbeans wrote: »

I've been looking for an automated way to add more money to the Oyster, hoping I can set it to auto update when it goes below a minimum I set up. There is apparently a system that does something like that, but I've read that the minimum it auto updates is £20 and its not that reliable. Plus, I've heard that contactless offers weekly travelcard caps or something that Oyster does not.

Oyster top-up works perfectly fine

Contactless, as you say is slightly better in terms of offering weekly capping - whether you would benefit from this depends on your travel patterns.

Personally, I don't use a phone as they take longer at the gates and irritate other customers especially at peak periods. However, if you have a recent iPhone, you can now enable Express Transit mode which is slightly quicker. Also, if you have a iPhone XS (or watch4) or newer, they will continue to work for a few hours even if your phone battery is dead.

Whichever option you choose, on PAYG, make sure you use the same device/mode all week to benefit from any capping.

Also, its a good idea to register any card/phone on the tfl website/app to monitor your journey history/claim refunds for delayed journeys.

If your daily commute includes Zone 1, consider using a Citymapper Pass if its available for your zones - its cheaper than a weekly travelcard.