Oysters and Travel

Traveling around London is incredibly easy.  This is a city made for walkers, and even better is our transport system.  Officially called the London Underground System, it is affectionately nicknamed the Tube, the subway system has stops all over the city and is a clean, convenient, and pleasant ride.  Tube stops are identified with this symbol:

Tickets to ride the Tube can be purchased in all stations.  You can purchase a paper ticket for a single journey, an unlimited day ticket -- called a travel card, or (and this is my recommendation), you can purchase an OYSTER CARD.  

In case the traveler's oyster isn't available, you can always purchase a regular oyster card!

Oyster cards are a swipe card that can be used on the Tube and on all buses.  The city of London is trying to encourage people to use oyster cards, and therefore, right now for a single journey on the Tube its 4 pounds.  However, if you use oyster, the same journey is only 2 pounds.

  

An oyster card can be purchased from a ticket window.  You cannot use a machine to purchase an oyster card.  The card itself costs 3 pounds -- which is refundable.  When you purchase the card, you then can place any amount on the card.  For instance, if you were here for a week, and plan on using the Tube a lot, you could put 20 pounds on the card --  making your total purchase 23 pounds.  The ticket office also accepts cash and debit or credit cards.  

Another benefit to the oyster card is that it can be refilled at anytime, either at the ticket office or by the ticket machines.  

Here is the website for oyster cards: https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do

Here is an example of the oyster card and also the yellow swipe spot you will swipe the card over.