Yes, using an Oyster Card is undoubtedly cheaper and more convenient than paying cash fares. But it’s still quite expensive, because they know that lots of people put their travel on expenses accounts. Plus, like other people have said, you can’t use it everywhere.

That said, it is still worth getting one, even if you only come to London once or twice a year.

Before we all have a big fight over who loves their Osyter card the most (I do! No, I do!), perhaps it’s worth pointing out that it’s based on a similar system already in place in, I think, Singapore, called the Octopus (I’m sure somebody here can correct me if I’ve got the details wrong). Plus, with the Octopus system you can buy a range of watches with the top-up chip built in, which is far cooler and more futuristic than a plastic card.

I love the Oyster card, very simple idea, well implemented. My only complaint would be that their customer service helpline seem to be rather unhelpful on occasion.

Basically if it works, it’s great, if you have a query, then it can be a pain getting it resolved - but infinitely better than paper tickets!

The oyster card allows you to travel around London just by using a card.
It is free of charge for those who are under 18, however if you are older than 18 you have to top-up your card regularly to make use of London Transport.
The oyster system is in place on trains and buses.
The system can fail sometimes, and this means that passengers can travel for free.
An oyster card can be ordered from www.visitbritaindirect.com.

It is a fantastic system, easy and useful. you don’t have to hang about in queues forever, however the prices are still pretty expensive when on the tube. But nevertheless a great idea. Love it, FAB!

The card is great, not only do you save money you save time as well and this is something you usually dont have much of in London! I use it all the time whenever I visit friends or go on courses in the city and even though I dont use it daily it’s really worth it and doesnt cost anything! Simple!

I do love my oyster card, especially as I travel quite often on the buses and it is so easy to top up.
Also you are saving so much and it is so easy as you don`t have to scratch around for change.
Definately a money saver for travelling around in London.

The service works extremely well. Its an amazing way to pay for tickets.Its a lot easier also if you allow it to top up automatically using your bank account - that way you never have to worry if you’ll have enoough money to pay for your journey. But beware, it can eat money!
Overall its a great service that is a godsend when you’re late getting somewhere. The only time the system did crash they opened the barriers to everyone got free travel anyway. A+

A must for anyone living/visiting London who travels on public transport. The oyster card allow you to 'tap in’ for travel on the tube/bus/DLR/overground rail, save you time… and money as oyster card fare are cheaper than cash fare.

It is a great thing that they have brought out. I live in london and travel on buses and trains all the time. Theres no need to queue up early in the morning to get a travel ticket or a bus pass you just use your oyster card tap in and then tap out.Easy as that, plus its alot cheaper than paying at the train station for a ticket or to get on a bus if i was paying cash to get on a bus it would cost £2 and with my oyster card it costs 90p so its a big difference.
Also you can top up as little or as much as you want onto your oyster card and this can be done at many different places.
The only downfull of the oyster card in my opinion is that they seem to stop working after a while and then you have to get another one which costs £4.Also a mistake i have made on many occassions when you tap in to go into the train station remember to tap out even if the gates open because if you dont they will charge you a full price ticket which does cost you.

I’m not keen on the Big Brother tracking aspect of the card but, that aside, would recommend it to anyone spending some time in London, unless of course you have money to waste…

So, what are the advantages? Well, after the initial outlay of £3 for the card, it saves you money on the cost of tube and bus travel, as other reviewers have explained; also, as long as your card is topped-up, it potentially speeds things up a little (especially getting onto buses) as it prevents users from having to hunt for coins or notes and then having to wait for change (or riling an already stressed-out driver); the daily 'cap’ of 50p below travelcards or bus passes adds up!

Disadvantages: you do have to remember to keep it topped-up; you also have to be aware of the vagaries of where to touch-in and touch-out (Wimbledon station can be a little confusing and costly, if you get it wrong…); many Greater London train companies are not yet included or set-up (including South West Trains) so in spite of being in possession of an Oyster card (even if you’re just 20 minutes outside central London) you’ll still have to buy a standard ticket, travelcard or pass.

Oyster Card is a good concept and has many benefits in particular quicker access to tube and buses. That said you have to be really careful using it - if you don’t swipe in and out correctly you get hit for a maximum fare. This is easily done if you go through too fast or its busy, or the person in front of you has a problem.

Its a real pain if you don’t think its worked properly e.g. if you get 'Seek assistance’ - because then you have to queue up at a the ticket office and try to get the person to find out why.

Also its absolutely rubbish in terms of integrating with the overground rail. You have to buy a separate travel card if you want to take advantage of all day travel on both tube, bus and train - and that costs more. And, its a real pain if you have say Zones 2 & 3 pass and want to go to Zone 1, you just can’t trust it.

The automatic payment system is rubbish - if you want to automatically top-up, you have to nominate a station and time to do it - this isn’t realistic unless you’re a daily commuter.

It hits the poor hard - what if you can’t afford to top-up your card and you only want to make a couple of bus journeys?

Public transport should be cheap - full-stop.

All in all a good idea but lots more work required.

i have now had my Oyster card for nearly a year. During this time i have used it without any problems on the rail and bus services except once it did charge me a double fare on a single journey. i did not know you can get it refunded! now i do, i shall make a claim the next time it happens. apart from that, it’s a great convenience. thank you TfL for a very intelligent innovation.

Update online to help with claiming travel expenses. I use the tube a lot and if you register your card online and top up there it can give you a breakdown of your trips. This can help when claiming trips back for work expenses.

I love Oyster -- I live in Manchester and have had a card for a couple of years for my fairly regular trips to London. There’s no way I’m going to pay £4 for a single tube ticket when the same on Oyster will only cost £1.50. On the buses, a single cash fare is a whopping £2 (even if you’re only going a couple of stops) but with Oyster it’s only 90p.

I also love the fact that they have 'daily price capping’. This allows you to travel as much as you like each day and you won’t ever pay more than the cost of a travelcard. A daily travelcard on Oyster is cheaper than the equivalent paper travelcard, so you save money and don’t have to plan your trips in advance to work out whether a travelcard would save money.

If you are a regular visitor to London then the £3 deposit for an Oyster card is definitely worth it, as you will save loads when using the tubes, DLR, trams, buses and certain trains. I ordered mine online and had it delivered, or you can buy one from vending machines when you get to London. There are also loads of Oyster offers available too -- these are published in leaflets at stations. A brilliant idea that is very well executed.

The Oyster systm is very easy to use. I have used it since it was first introduced. As long as you touch in and touch out your fine with pay as you go.

Its made traveling around London’s network a whole lot easier as you dont have to worry about having change for the bus or Tube.

I have never lived in London.

I do own an Oyster card.

If you’re travelling to London and intend to use the public transport system for more than one day, then you really have to get yourself an Oyster card - you’ll save money and gain convenience.

London transport prices are still too expensive, but at least the Oyster card mitigates it a little.

Oyster is a great addition to increase the efficiency of a public transport system that is a bit creaky. While lots of people sing the benefits of Oyster (fast, easy, cashless, reduces touts selling tickets) there are problems.

a few below:
- Does not work on all train systems (e.g. National Rail) including London regional trains. This is just stupid.
- When touching in/out, you still have to make physical contact with the reader. In Hong Kong and other countries with similar systems, the reader can read through handbags, jackets, and is a lot more sensitive.
- The Oyster readers are too slow so the gates take 1 second to open. When it fails to read, you have often walked into the gate area (where it will not read unless you take a step back). This results in people behind you already touching their card on the reader, and blocking your way out.

No doubt a very good addition to the London travel system - and one that despite a few hiccups along the way when building it, has come in and largely worked without any problems. Just load up a card either with pay-as-you-go to pay per trip or get a weekly or monthly update and travel wherever you like as often as you like.

Easy to use, more efficient system which has got London onto and off public transport a bit quicker. And anything that does that has got to be a good thing…now just need to entire tube network modernised and we’ll all be laughing.

Oh and if you’re a tourist - get one, there is no doubt it’s a lot lot cheaper than buying paper tickets as you go.

The other day my oyster card stopped working. The underground staff was really nice and helpful, asked me to fill in a short form and estimate how much money I had on it. He issued me a new card for free. I was really pleased with the level of service I received as I had expected a lot more hassle. However, it could be a nightmare for someone who has to catch the last train or if they had a travel card. Overall, Oyster card is great. I only wish the ticket machines were not out of order so often!

Since the oyster come out it is alot cheaper and alot more managable to use

thanks for all your information - might think about buying one when I’m on holidays there in July! Will I also be able to use and reload it again when I come back months later for a visit or will it be unvalid after a long break?

Ok got one :-) And heard that visiting the Madame Tussauds if one has an Oyster card another person can get in free!!!!!!!!! That is a good value!!!

Oyster 2 for one. I got in to the London Bridge Experience for £10 each. Bargin. Have a look at what is on offer with the Oyser card 2 for 1 offers. There is loads from west end show and lots lots more.

a great way to travel around london without having to purchase different tickets also a cheaper way to travel

I have to say that Oyster is one of the best things about London Transport: if the rest of the Underground was this up to date and efficient, we’d be laughing.

There’s not much to add to what’s gone before, except to comment on its use outside the London Transport system of tubes and buses, and this is where it gets a little tricky.

The 'London Overground’ - the former Silverlink train services now under the control of London Transport, accepts all forms of Oyster card (ie travelcard season tickets and pay-as-you-go), and covers these routes:

- Stratford to Richmond
- Watford Junction to Euston
- Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction
- Gospel Oak to Barking

All the stations have card readers and you must touch in and touch out just as on the Underground.

Oyster pay-as-you-go is valid on a limited number of other National Rail routes as well, as follows (again, touch in and touch out):

- Amersham - Marylebone
- Finsbury Park - King’s Cross/Moorgate
- Stratford - Liverpool Street
- Tottenham Hale/Seven Sisters - Stratford
- Upminster/Rainham (Essex) - Fenchurch Street/Liverpool Street via Barking (but not at Forest Gate/Maryland)
- Walthamstow Central/Tottenham Hale/Seven Sisters - Liverpool Street
- West Hampstead (Thameslink) - Moorgate/Elephant & Castle/London Bridge
- West Ruislip - Marylebone
Greenford/Ealing Broadway - London Paddington (but not at intermediate stations)

If you have your travelcard on Oyster, it will be valid on all National Rail routes within the appropriate boundaries, but not pay-as-you-go.

In practice, what this means is that, if you are a visitor and want to make journeys on a day travelcard that will take you on National Rail services - going to Hampton Court, for example, or Croydon, or Greenwich (from Charing Cross), Wimbledon (from Waterloo), etc. you will need to buy a paper version of your ticket.

If in doubt, ask…!

So convenient! The only downside, I think, is you can’t buy daily travelcards or anything using a “discount” railcard (like Young Person’s) on Oyster - you have to get a paper ticket from the window. Also annoying when your chip desides to break & the turnstiles won’t open! Very convenient, as if you lose it, TfL will refund your money!

great system if you are to visit a few times to the city

Great value but defintly a flawed system. If your planning on using the underground and buses a lot then by all means purchase a oyster card and top it off otherwise just stick to travel cards. The reason iam saying this is after about 8 pm at night there will be barely any staff on the underground stations and the turnstills will be wide open now being a law abiding citzen i allways swipe my oyster card but when you get to the next station and swipe again you ALLWAYS get charged for a double trip which is insane. Until they fix these bugs in the system in my opinion you can save more money just buying travel cards.

so much easier than travel cards!!

If you plan on going to London on vacation for at least 3-4 days you definitely need to pick up an Oyster Card! These stylie little cards let you on to the tube and the buses without fumbling for change every time you get on. And they definitely save money - instead of 2 quid every time you get on the bus it’s like 5 quid for an entire day.

My favorite thing about the Oyster Card is that you don’t have to interact with the drivers/station agents at all - you hold it up to a sensor and it beeps, allowing you through the gate or onto the bus. A much better system than MUNI in my hometown of San Francisco.

This is a very convinient way to travel in London. All you need is this card, load it with money and you can use it in the tube and buses in London. If you travel often you can get a weekly or monthly travelcard loaded in it and don’t have to worry about it for a whole month/week. It is great. I get my travelcard every month and not having to worry aout getting tickets everyday or if my piece of paper ticket is bent and folded, will it still work. The oystercard saves paper as well as it is reusable which is great. All you have to do is touch in and touch out and its all sorted.

Oyster cards are convenient, especially on days you are heading out early on the bus and there’s no cash points nearby! (Assuming you have it charged of course…). They do have their pitfalls though…

One problem is that you must touch your card both in and out at tube stations. At some of the outlying stations where they don’t have barriers it’s very easy to miss the touch point, and sometimes involves running up and down stairs if it turns out to be back on the platform! If you don’t touch out you will be charged a penalty fare.
One time I made a journey which involved going above ground when changing lines, and I had to touch in and out of both lines, and one of the touches didn’t register. The fare for the whole journey should have been (if I remember the figures correctly…) £2, but they charged me £2 for the first leg, then £4 penalty fare for the second!

I had to phone up to get a refund (see website) which was a pain, but they did send me a cheque without bother.

You only need to touch in on busses. Don’t get confused!

Coverage can be tricky: I think I’m right in saying if you buy a travel card on your Oyster (which gives extra discounts over a periods of a week or month) then it will cover some rail as well as tube lines. But a plain ordinary oyster won’t cover the same places… very confusing! If you are going somewhere off the tube network, best to ask! I think they do have plans to sort this out…

You can re-charge your card at many newsagents shops etc. or at tube stations, at the service window or on one of the self-service ticket machines. If you use the machine you can also check the balance and see recent transactions. I make a habit of checking my transactions occasionally, as mistakes can occur!

I agree Oyster cards are quite a good thing.

However, the fact they are cheaper is entirely contrived by TfL in order to get everyone using Oyster cards and to exploit tourists who have to pay extortionate cash fares.

Oyster cards do make travel much more efficient - to the point where I get furious with people who have paper tickets at rush hour.

A recent addition is that anyone with a young person's railcard can get 1/3 off pre pay daily travlecards on their Oyster which is really worthwhile.

As a German, it feels strange to me to be he first one to tell the English-speaking Qype crowd about one of the most convenient (and inexpensive) ways to use a great British institution: the London Underground. But since nobody else has bothered, so be it. ;-)

Oyster is a ‘smartcard’ you can use to pay for your rides on the Tube, trams, buses, DLR, London Overground and some national rail services in London. The fares generally are much cheaper – e. g., a single Tube fare of £4 just costs £1.50 with Oyster. At the end of the day, you never pay more than the equivalent of a day pass (Travelcard). It also is transferable – anybody can use it.

You can store up to £90 on your Oyster. When you buy it, you also have to leave a deposit of £3. But you get reimbursed should you decide to return your Oyster. You also get back the unused portion of the prepaid fare.

The card can be purchased at most Tube stations and at 2.200 Oyster Ticket Stops. You can register Oyster online if you have a British address - this way, the tickets and the cash stored on the card are protected against theft or loss.

If you want to get your Oyster before your trip to London, you can order it at www.visitbritaindirect.com.