Oyster-Card
The Oyster card is an electronic ticket that is used in public transport of the city of London and National Rail services in Greater London. The card was introduced in 2003. By February 2009, more than 21 million Oyster cards had been issued.
Use
Acquisition
The Oyster card can be purchased at ticket windows of many railway stations, in shops, as well as from special machines for a deposit of five pounds. In the variant Pay -as- you-go or charging a 7 -day Travel Card is registration free and transferable. In Upgradeable of monthly or annual tickets the Oyster card has to be registered by specifying the personal information and is strictly personal. Basically, the distance driven and up-and debits are stored and can therefore be of registering each person assign.
Prepaid credit ( Pay as you Go )
There are machines where the balance of the card can be loaded manually at many stops. Another possibility is to define a threshold in advance, at below which an automatic transfer from a bank account or a credit card (Auto top up ) occurs. Also over the Internet can be purchased credits, which is, however, enabled and configured only after entering a pre- selectable station.
For bus rides, the card is pulled when getting a card reader, and the card is with the - amount charged for a bus ride any course length - uniform. For travel by National Rail, the Underground, Overground and Docklands Light Railway ( DLR), the map also has to be taken over a reader when entering and leaving the station, so the fare is calculated based on the start and end station for a zone model. Even though passing through a barrier when leaving a DLR station or an underground train station without barriers (eg outside of downtown ) lack barrier is not necessarily done, one must still " check out " the card; if this is not done, namely, the most expensive possible fare for a ride from the starting station ( longest theoretical route) will be charged.
Price - Capping ( price cap )
There are the so-called price- capping for the pay-as- you-go method. This monitoring of all calls made on one day trips by whatever means limits the daily load on the card with the price of a one-day Travelcard.
Travel Cards (time cards)
In addition to the pay-as -you- go process weekly, monthly and annual tickets can be purchased. This is compared to single drives offer you cheaper and especially for commuters profitable.
Visitor Oyster Card
End of 2007, the Visitor Oyster card for tourists, was analogous to the " Visitor Travel Card " introduced. It corresponds to a regular Oyster card with limited functions. So no Travel Cards can be loaded, and it can only be used with pay- as-you -go. Advantages over a regular Oyster card is not affected. The payable when buying the Visitor Oyster card activation fee from three British pound is not recoverable as opposed to deposit the regular Oyster card.
Return
An Oyster card, but not a Visitor Oyster card, may at any time be returned to the outlets. The pledge and a possible residual credit is obtained in cash paid out.
Others
- Since 2007, the Barclays Bank with the Barclaycard Oyster offers a credit card that includes not only cashless payment function, the functionality of an Oyster card.
- End of 2007, a card with an advertising imprint the date in London held Tutankhamun exhibition was issued in limited numbers.
- In spring 2011, a limited edition was issued with a motif for the wedding of William Mountbatten -Windsor and Catherine Middleton.
- In mid-May 2012, issued on the occasion of diamentenen Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II a limited edition of 250,000 copies.
- The Oyster card is currently not compatible with ITSO smart card system, which was introduced in other regions of the UK towards cashless payment in public transport and corresponds to the VDV core application in Germany.