contactless payment cards?

[Burgmeister]

Contactless is a better option than Oyster for UK visitors (or overseas visitors that have free currency conversions) as you have to top up an Oyster and you have no idea how much you will need. You could end up with a fair few quid left on your Oyster that you will probably never use, Contactless card just debits the amount you need. Obviously, if you live in or regularly visit London then the Oyster is the way to go

 

I find the main problem keeping track of which contactless card I have been using. If I use more than one then I lose the benefit of the cap

[smm0218]

Contactless is a better option than Oyster for UK visitors (or overseas visitors that have free currency conversions) as you have to top up an Oyster and you have no idea how much you will need. You could end up with a fair few quid left on your Oyster that you will probably never use, Contactless card just debits the amount you need. Obviously, if you live in or regularly visit London then the Oyster is the way to go

 

I find the main problem keeping track of which contactless card I have been using. If I use more than one then I lose the benefit of the cap

 

But from what I understand I can get a refund of whatever is left on my Oyster Card. If I get a Visitor's Oyster Card then you don't get the deposit refunded IIRC.

[Burgmeister]

But from what I understand I can get a refund of whatever is left on my Oyster Card. If I get a Visitor's Oyster Card then you don't get the deposit refunded IIRC.

Really? Well, if you can then that's fair enough. I have never seen this but that definitely doesn't mean it isn't correct.

 

 

How do you go about getting the refund?

[smm0218]

Really? Well, if you can then that's fair enough. I have never seen this but that definitely doesn't mean it isn't correct.

 

 

How do you go about getting the refund?

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/replacements-and-refunds/oyster-pay-as-you-go-credit-no-longer-needed

 

Looks like you need to have less than £10 left to use a machine, it it isn't clear if you can get a full refund at visitors centres.

[Burgmeister]

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/replacements-and-refunds/oyster-pay-as-you-go-credit-no-longer-needed

 

Looks like you need to have less than £10 left to use a machine, it it isn't clear if you can get a full refund at visitors centres.

Thanks for that. You learn something new every day.

[Globaliser]

Where do you top up the Oyster card?

 

Can you use cash to top up the Oyster card?

 

I have an Oyster Card left over from a past trip, I want to make sure I have enough on it before I use it on the bus.. Where and how do I check the balance?

You can top up at any Tube station. There are ticket machines which take cash and cards, and there are staff to help you use them. You can also top up at any shop that is an Oyster ticket stop. It looks like the nearest one to your hotel is A P Food Express at the corner of York Road and Chicheley Street. I expect that the shop will happily check your Oyster balance for you.

[SteveH2508]

You can check your balance on the machines at the tube station. The yellow Oyster readers usually have a display which shows (very quickly and often hard to see) the balance and sometimes the charge.

[Maizyday]

Contactless is accepted on London Buses, you simply "Touch In" with the contactless credit card instead of your Oyster Card. It should be noted that a London bus journey will be £1.50 irrespective of whether you travel one stop or twenty stops. The difference with Oyster Card/Contactless Credit Card is that Oysters have a daily charge cap but credit cards do not. Whether your credit card company do a foreign exchange transaction charge per use is another thing to think about but as a safety net you do not intend to generally use could negate the problem with short term use until you top up the Oyster.

 

Regards John

 

 

Not true

 

Bus

 

It’s £1.50 for one bus journey or for two bus journeys within one hour with a contactless card. If you use the buses all day, £4.50 is the maximum amount deducted from your card.

There are no zones for bus travel in London.

[Globaliser]

Contactless is accepted on London Buses, you simply "Touch In" with the contactless credit card instead of your Oyster Card. It should be noted that a London bus journey will be £1.50 irrespective of whether you travel one stop or twenty stops. The difference with Oyster Card/Contactless Credit Card is that Oysters have a daily charge cap but credit cards do not.

Not true

 

Bus

 

It’s £1.50 for one bus journey or for two bus journeys within one hour with a contactless card. If you use the buses all day, £4.50 is the maximum amount deducted from your card.

Let's do this again.

 

Oysters have a daily cap. The amount depends on how you use it. If it's buses and trams alone, it's £4.50 for the day. If you use the Tube, the DLR etc then the zones come into play and the daily cap amount depends on the zones that you've travelled in.

 

Contactless credit and debit cards have an identical daily cap. In addition, they have a Monday-Sunday cap (not a rolling week) which you may hit if you do a lot of travel for six days or more, but is otherwise a bit of a gimmick. Oysters do not have the Monday-Sunday cap, so contactless can be a little bit cheaper if you do enough to hit that cap.

 

The £1.50 fare for a bus/tram journey covers an unlimited number of bus and tram journeys started within one hour from the first bus/tram touch-in. If you're jumping on and off buses, you could probably manage 8-10 different journeys for £1.50 if you set your mind to it. You can even do a Tube journey after the first bus journey, and take more buses - as long as the touch-in on the second and every subsequent bus is within an hour of the first bus touch-in, there will be no extra charge.