Oyster Card

[eash]

How does this work? What is the best one to use/get? And what is the refundable card deposit all about?
I tried looking on the website but I am still confused!

[heffalump]

Hi eash,
The oystercards are all the same, but you can put different kinds of tickets on them. If you make a regular journey in to work on the tube or bus, for example, it's probably cheapest to put a season ticket (weekly/monthly/annual travelcard or buss pass) on it. But if you only make occasional journeys its cheaper to put cash on it, as a pre-pay ammount to use as and when.
The deposit is so that if your card gets lost or stolen, then they can see what ticket and/or money was left on the card, and then you can be issued with a new one with the same ammount on it.
I have one, but only make a couple of journeys a week on public transport, so I use pre-pay on mine. I used to top up the value using a credit card online (you can also do it over the phone, and at stations), but switched to the auto top-up when they introduced that. Now if the balance on my card falls below �5, it automatically gets topped-up next time I swipe the card. Its definitely worth getting one if only so you'll never have to queue up to buy a ticket again!

[eash]

Thanks heffalump, that explains it in my language! I think I'll definitely be getting one now as I only use the tube/buses occasionally so it makes sense.
Thanks again :-) x

[heffalump]

Glad to be of help. I should have said that the single fares are much cheaper if you use pre-pay, than if you bought a ticket for each journey. And also if you do several journeys in one day you will only be charged for the equivalent one day travelcard if thats cheaper.

[brachiopod]

You can use it as both a season ticket and>/I> a pre-pay. I buy a Monthly 1-3 (ie zones 1 to 3). I also put �20 on it now and again. The �20 generally remains un-used, as my journeys within Zones 1-3 are covered by the season ticket part.
Occasionally, I travel outside of Zone 3, and the difference I need to pay (the old "zone extension" ticket) comes out of the pre-pay sum on my card.
Similarly, sometimes my season ticket runs out a day or two before I'm taking time off from work. Rather than renew it then, I will use some of the pre-pay cash on it to pay for my journey to work for the one or two days, and then renew the season ticket element when I return from my holiday / break etc.

[brachiopod]

(Whoops - forgot to Preview answer !!)