London Banter - View Single Post

Martin Rich · May 10th 08, 09:20 AM posted to uk.transport.london

On Fri, 09 May 2008 04:38:14 GMT, (Neil
Williams) wrote:

But it doesn't quite makes sense. How does the "touch" know whether
you want to use the Travelcard or subtract from whatever balance I
stored on the Oyster Card?

If there is a valid Travelcard it will use that, otherwise it will use
the balance.

It's worth clarifying how this works if the original poster isn't
familiar with it: if you have a travelcard for zones 1 and 2, but take
a tube journey from zone 3 to zone 1, it'll deduct the fare for the
zone 3 portion of your journey only from the pay as you go balance.
The travelcard covers the rest of the journey. If you take a tube
journey within zones 1 and 2, or a bus journey anywhere in London,
it's covered by the travelcard and your pay as you go balance remains
untouched.

To top up a card that I've already purchased, do I take the card to a
Tube station machine (I won't have a laptop and maybe not even a cell
phone), enter whatever ID or authentication is necessary and then use
a credit card to add additional funds?

Pretty much, yes, though no authentication is necessary, just the
card. You can also use cash.

You can also take it to a staffed ticket window at a tube station, or
to a local shop (Oyster ticket stop) that handles Oyster cards

Martin