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The Oyster card is a way of paying cheaply for journeys around London without having to hand over cash. The fares on an Oyster card are cheaper than those purchased elsewhere.

Contents 1 Area the Oystercard applies to 2 Two methods of payment 2.1 Pre Pay 3 16-17 year olds in London 4 Student Oyster 5 Beneficial or Not? 6 References

Area the Oystercard applies to

Oyster cards can be used on Buses, London Underground and season travelcards can be used on National Rail services within the London area. Prepay can NOT be used on National Rail at present.

Two methods of payment

Pre Pay

Pre pay works a bit like a pay as you go mobile. You add money on to the card, which can be done at all LU stations, over the phone or online. Pre pay cannot be used on National Rail services.

16-17 year olds in London

16 - 17 year olds in full time education can apply for an Oyster photocard from the 1st September 2006. This will allow you to travel free on London's buses, and give you travelcards for half the adult price. To get an application, visit your local post office on the 1st Sept.

Student Oyster

To claim a student oyster card, your university has to be part of the scheme associated with TfL in order to approve the application form. Throughout the duration of university, you will have to reapply every year as your student discount on the card will expire, yet the normal adult privileges will still remain on the card. Reapplying will unfortunately cost £5.00, and if you have incorrectly filled out the application, your fee will be revoked and you will again have to apply with a further £5.00 charge.

Photocard Login and Registration for Oyster Cards

Beneficial or Not?

Using the odd journey here and there, the oyster card most definitely benefits Londoners. However, the same fees are applied to adults. Students do not get a discount on pre pay. Even a weekly travlelcard incurrs only a slight saving over a standard adult weekly. It therefore sometimes represents no benefit to a student seeing as lectures are infrequent and past rush hour times.

The prepay service however, is cheaper than purchasing a ticket, ableit being the same cost as an adult fare. The confusing aspect is why, especially since you have to queue to get the cost put onto the card. The whole idea of the Oyster is to reduce queues, so TfL hope passengers can put on £20 odd pounds on the card to use at your convenience.

As I previously said, sit down and work out the Math, students get a hard deal on travelcards, especially since we are at university only approx 3 days per week and not travelling permanently at peak times. In fact, in some instances, the adults get a better deal overall than we would if we were to purchase the ticket, e.g.

You live in Zone 6 and your university is in Zone 1, you travel to university 3 days per week and your lectures commence:

- Monday at 09:00hrs - 11:00hrs

- Thursday 12:00hrs - 16:00hrs

- Friday 14:00hrs - 15:00hrs

A student travelcard for the week zones 1-6 costs £28.60 whilst an adult would cost £41.00. A daily cost in corresponding order to the lecture times would be as follows:

- £12.40 (Adult ticket - peak hours)

- £6.30 (Adult ticket - off peak)

- £6.30 (Adult ticket - off peak)

= £27.00

This represents a £1.80 saving over the student travelcard, with the additional fact that the student does not always travel in peak times, whilst adults travel 5 days per week always within peak hours. The adult cost per day on a 9-5 job would be £12.40 per day equating £62.00, a far greater saving over the £41.00, as well as travelling peak times all week. Due to the complex pricing structure, not many students realise they are getting any form of saving, yet believe they the necessary discount (which is true). At this present time, no future discounts will be implemented as TfL believes the scheme is only an inducement and not obligatory. Due to the circumstances, many people are investiagting this loophole and are polling for some results. A petition has already begun at governmental level to enforce the appropriate reduction to university students in London. The petition can be found at: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/oysterdiscount/

References

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tickets/2006/downloads/tfl-fares-2006.pdf

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tickets/oyster/general.asp