Oyster Card!

[coz-bob]

Hi can anyone tell me anything about the student oyster card for the london tube?

I'm really confused as to what benefits it gives you (as i have read something in my uni prospectus claiming that having an oyster card allows you to get 30% of travel cards).

Is the oyster card a way of payment, or is it a card that just allows you to travel cheaply?

any help will be greatly appreciated!
thanks :D

[Buenchico]

Let's start with an explanation of the most basic way that an Oyster Card works (ignoring travel cards & student discounts for the moment):

An Oyster Card is basically a pre-paid card which allows you to travel far cheaper than buying tickets as you travel. A passenger can go to a ticket counter, pay £3 deposit to get the card, and then charge it up with as much credit as they like. Whenever they go through the barriers on the Underground, or board a bus, they touch the card onto the pad alongside the entrance. If they make a bus journey, £1 will deducted from the available credit on the card (instead of £2, which is the cash fare). The price for a Tube journey varies depending upon how many zones are crossed but, for example, a journey entirely within Zone 1 would result in £1.60 credit being deducted from the card (rather than £4, which is the cash fare).

Further, the total amount that will be deducted from a card is capped daily. The passenger could make as many bus journeys as he liked in a day but there would never be more than £3.30 deducted from his credit. If he also made Tube journeys (or only made them) the total deduction would also be capped, based upon how many zones he'd travelled in, and whether he travelled during the morning peak period. For example, a tourist travelling off-peak wholly within Zone 1 would never have more than £5.10 deducted from the card in a day, even if he made dozens of bus and Tube journeys.

To top up the credit on a card, the passenger could either go to a ticket desk or pay at machine. Additionally, it's possible to link the card to a bank account, so that it's automatically topped up whenever its value drops below a certain level.

OK, that how an Oyster card works at the most basic level. (i.e. it simply 'carries cash' to purchase travel with, and functions as a ticket for such travel). However regular travellers (e.g. c

[Buenchico]

AAAGH!

This stupid new system has just cut off half my answer!!!!

Let's try again:
OK, that how an Oyster card works at the most basic level. (i.e. it simply 'carries cash' to purchase travel with, and functions as a ticket for such travel). However regular travellers (e.g. commuters) can purchase travelcards which give additional discounts on regular travel. Travelcards can be 'loaded onto' Oyster Cards, so that touching an Oyster Card onto the pad on a bus or Tube does the same job as showing a travelcard (or putting into the slot at the gates on the Tube).

If you purchase an 18+ Student Oyster Card you won't gain anything if you only use the basic 'pay as you go' facility, described in the first few paragraphs above. But if you load travelcards onto it, you'll be able to purchase those travelcards with a 30% discount. See page 15, et seq, here for further information:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/travel-discounts-for-children-teenagers-and-students.pdf

Chris