What to do pending reissue of lost child Zip Oystercard

MrChips

Hi all!

11 year old son discovered this morning while getting ready for school that he's misplaced his Zip Oystercard since Friday (he used it that evening to go to the women's international at Wembley so most have dropped it on the way home).  We'll request a reissue today but they are sent by post and we don't expect to receive it before the end of this week.

I've been searching online but can't seem to find anything which explains how he gets to school in the meantime.  His only option to his school destination is a "school bus" and I understand they are cashless.  Being 11, he doesn't have a credit or debit card he can use (and I don't believe I'm allowed to let him use my own under the terms of my account, not that I would trust him to keep them safe anyway!).  He doesn't have a phone yet so can't use that to pay either.

TFL website says this:

"While you are waiting for the replacement card to arrive, you will need to pay for your travel. You can't get free or discounted travel, or a refund of fares paid, while waiting for your new card."

But it doesn't explain how a child pays in their mostly cashless system.

Luckily, today, the driver was kind enough to let him travel without the card but I wouldn't like to rely on goodwill for a whole week.

Any ideas from the bright folks out there?

tripled

How about a pre-paid debit/credit card? It might depend on whether the bus ticket machines authorise cards over mobile networks, if they are offline a prepaid card might not work.

Can you buy a weekly ticket in for him on the bus? Or perhaps get a card/ticket/carnet of some description from the bus company if they have a shop?

MrChips

The bus company will be TFL I think - so for "shop" read tube station ticket machine.

Weekly ticket might be an idea to look into, but that's a bit of a last resort as the card could show up earlier than expected and I doubt any unused days are refundable (if you aren't familiar with the Zip card it gives free bus travel for 11-16 year olds so it's not like substituting one for another).

jon81uk

If they don't have a debit card then you'll need to get him a standard Oyster card.
You can find out where to buy them here Buying tickets and Oyster - Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk)
Hopefully there is a newsagent nearby that can sell one Oyster ticket stops - Transport for London (tfl.gov.uk)

Otherwise if you have a spare Oyster card you could top that up for him to use.

MrChips

Just to close this off, we did find an old oyster card which we got adapted to charge child fares for a couple of weeks.  However, luckily it was never needed as the bus drivers were happy to let him on every day without touching in once he explained he had misplaced his zip card - must happen pretty frequently.  New zip card has now arrived.

t0rt0ise

MrChips said:

Just to close this off, we did find an old oyster card which we got adapted to charge child fares for a couple of weeks.  However, luckily it was never needed as the bus drivers were happy to let him on every day without touching in once he explained he had misplaced his zip card - must happen pretty frequently.  New zip card has now arrived.

Just in case others read this and think that it's normal for staff to add child discount to an oyster while waiting for a zip card, it isn't supposed to be done so the request may be refused. The discount is meant for visitors only.