Oyster card

Oyster Card

Location	Greater London
Launched	July 2003
Technology	MIFARE
Operator	TranSys
Manager	Transport for London
Currency	GBP (£90 maximum load)
Stored-value	Pay as you go
Credit expiry	None
Auto recharge	Auto-topup
Unlimited use	Travelcard
Validity	London Underground
	London Buses
	London Overground
	National Rail (limited, see below)
	DLR
	Tramlink
Retailed	Online
	Telephone
	Newsagents
	Stations
Variants	Freedom Pass
	Discount
	Visitor
Website	https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/

The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticketing used on public transport services within the Greater London area of the United Kingdom. It is promoted by Transport for London and is valid on a number of different travel systems including London Underground, buses, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Overground, trams and some National Rail services.

Oyster is a blue, credit-card-sized stored value card which can hold a variety of single tickets, period tickets and travel permits which must be added to the card prior to travel. It is also a contactless smartcard which passengers must pass over electronic readers when entering and leaving the transport system in order to validate it or deduct funds. The cards may be "recharged" in person from numerous sales points, by direct debit or by online purchase. The card is designed to reduce the number of cash transactions at ticket offices and the number of single paper tickets sold on the London transport network. Usage is encouraged by offering substantially cheaper fares on Oyster than payment with cash.^[1]

The card was first issued to the public in July 2003 with a limited range of features and there continues to be a phased introduction of further functions. By March 2007 over 10 million Oyster cards had been issued,^[2] and more than 80% of all journeys on services run by Transport for London used the Oyster card.^[3]

Background

Operator

The Oyster card system was set up under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract between TfL and TranSys, a consortium of suppliers which includes EDS and Cubic Corporation (who are responsible for the day-to-day management of the system) and Fujitsu and WS Atkins (shareholders with no active involvement in running the system).^[4] The £100 million contract was signed in 1998 and was due to run for a term of 17 years until 2015. In August 2008, TfL decided to exercise a break option in the contract to terminate the operating agreement in 2010, five years early. The termination of the contract followed a number of technical failures in the system.^[5] TfL, however, stated that the contractual break was not connected to the system failures, but was due to cost savings.^[6] In November 2008, a new contract was announced between TfL and Cubic and EDS, which would see two of the original consortium shareholders running the Oyster system from 2010 until 2013.^[7]

Brand

The Oyster brand name was agreed after a lengthy period of research managed by TranSys, the company contracted to deliver the ticketing system in London, and agreed by Transport for London. A number of alternative names were considered; however, Oyster was chosen as a fresh approach that was not directly linked to transport, ticketing or London. According to Andrew McCrum, now of Appella brand name consultants, who was brought in to find a name by Saatchi and Saatchi Design (in turn contracted by TranSys), Oyster was conceived and subsequently promoted because of the metaphorical implications of security and value in the component meanings of the hard bivalve shell and the concealed pearl. Its associations with London through Thames estuary oyster beds and the popular idiom 'the world is your oyster' were also significant factors in its selection as was the uniqueness of the word Oyster.

The intellectual property rights to the Oyster brand originally belonged to the operator Transys. Following renegotiation of the operating contract in 2008, TfL acquired the rights to the brand so that it could continue to use the Oyster name indefinitely.^[8][7]

Technology

The Oyster card is a contactless smartcard, with a claimed proximity range of about 8 cm (3 inches). The scheme is operated by TranSys, and is based on NXP/Philips' MIFARE standard 1k chips provided by Giesecke & Devrient and SchlumbergerSema.^[9] It is the same contactless smartcard as Touch 'n Go card in Malaysia which is mainly used for tollway fares. The technology used for the oyster card is known as Radio-frequency identification (RFID), which is the same technology used in other electronic pass cards like Japan's Suica fare cards and other cards used all over the world.^[10]The Oyster card acts as an aerial while the reader acts as a receiver. However this technology means that the cards transmit information whenever they come into range of a reader and it has been suggested that a good reader could read personal details off it from quite a distance. Aluminium shielding has been suggested by people to prevent any personal data from being read.^[11]

In 2008 a fashion caught on for removing the RFID chip from Oyster cards and attaching it to wrist watches and bracelets. This allowed commuters to pass through the gates by "swiping" their hand without the need to take out a proper card. Although the RFID chips were charged in the normal way and no fare evasion was involved, TfL disapproved of the practice and threatened to fine anyone not carrying a full, undamaged card.^[12]

Use

Travellers touch the card on a distinctive yellow circular reader (a Cubic Tri-Reader) on the automated barriers at London Underground stations to 'touch in' and 'touch out' at the start and end of a journey (contact is not necessary, but the range of the reader is only a few centimetres). Tram stops and buses also have readers, on the driver/conductor's ticket machine or, in the case of articulated buses, near the other entrance doors as well. Oyster cards can be used to store both period travelcards and bus passes (of one week or more), and a Pay as you go balance.

The system is asynchronous, with the current balance and ticket data held electronically on the card rather than in the central database. The main database is updated periodically with information received from the card by barriers and validators. Tickets purchased online or over the telephone are "loaded" at a preselected barrier or validator.

Non-Oyster tickets (referred to below as paper tickets) take various forms. Bus tickets issued at bus stops are usually thermally printed; tickets usable at tube, DLR, and rail stations are cards with a magnetic strip which activates barriers in a similar way to Oyster cards, although a magnetic head must be passed directly over the strip to read the information.

Features

Oyster card readers on London Underground ticket barriers at Canary Wharf.

Open source architecture

In early 2007, TfL and Deloitte worked together to migrate the on-line payment systems to a more 'open' architecture, using a number of open source components such as Linux, to resolve issues of lock-in costs, updates, incorporation of new security standards of PCI DSS, non-scalability, low and inconsistent quality of service, slower response time to business changes.[2]

Nevertheless, some proprietary software were used for the scanners in buses and underground stations by EDS and the back-end clustered database by Oracle. These were connected to the online systems by Web services.

The new site immediately helped cut the regular charges for licensing and hosting by 80 per cent by allowing Tfl to shop around for the best hosting deal.

Registration and protection

Oyster cards can be registered or protected for loss or theft. Full registration of a card must be done in person at a London Underground station, Oyster ticket stop (shop) or a Travel Information Centre. To do this, an Oyster registration form must be filled in (either at time of purchase or at any time in the future). Registration in this way allows the customer to buy any product for the card, allows them to have an after sales service, and protects against theft or loss. The customer needs to supply a Security Answer which is either their mother's maiden name, a memorable place or a memorable date.

Oyster cards cannot be fully registered online. However, a customer can protect their card online by setting up a personal account and recording their card to that account. This allows for an after sales service and protection against theft or loss, but the customer will be prevented from purchasing Travelcards lasting a month or longer for an unregistered card.

An Oyster online account enables Oyster products to be purchased online for any Oyster card for which the card number is supplied. This facility offers no protection for the card. If a card is not protected, the website gives a warning and provides the opportunity to protect the card online.

Sales

Oyster cards can be purchased from a number of different outlets in the London area:

• London Underground or London Overground ticket windows
• cash-only vending machines at some stations,
• about 2,300 Oyster Ticket Stop agents (usually newsagent shops)
• selected National Rail stations which are also served by London Underground
• Travel Information Centres
• online via the Oystercard website
• by telephone sales from TfL.^[13]

A refundable deposit of £3 is paid unless a weekly or longer period ticket is loaded to the card in the first instance. A registration form is provided at the time of purchase. If the form is not completed the Oyster card is restricted to Pay as you go and weekly tickets.

Most National Rail stations and termini do not sell or top up Oyster card products; TfL publish a list of the participating stations. At several main line termini, TfL run Travel Information Centres which do sell Oyster.

Period travelcards

Main article: Travelcard

An Oystercard can hold up to three "products" at the same time. These may be Travelcards, bus passes, or pay as you go (formerly Prepay). Travelcards can be loaded onto the Oyster card up to a month in advance of their start date.

Oyster card Travelcard holders need not "touch in" at the start of a journey by London Underground or DLR, nor "touch out" again at the end unless they intend to travel outside the zones for which their Travelcard is valid. If they need to "touch in" or "touch out" to operate ticket barriers or because they intend to travel outside the zones for which their Travelcard is valid this is done by swiping the card against an Oyster reader at a ticket barrier or at other entry/exit points in the system. As long as the Travelcard holder stays within their permitted zones no fare will be deducted from the Pay As You Go funds on the card. The Oyster system checks that the Travelcard is valid in the zones it is being used in. If the user travels outside the valid zones of their Travelcard, any remaining fare due may be deducted from their Pay as you go funds (see below for how this is calculated).

There is no essential difference in validity or cost between a Travelcard on Oyster and one on a traditional paper ticket; they are valid on all Underground, Overground, DLR, bus, tram and national rail services within the zones purchased. See the main article for a fuller explanation of Travelcards. Note that any Travelcard, for whatever zones, is valid on any London Bus.

Renewals

When the Oyster card Travelcard is due to expire, it can be renewed at the normal sales points and ticket machines at London Underground or London Overground stations, Oyster Ticket Stop agents, or some National Rail stations. Travelcards can also be renewed online via the Oystercard website, or by telephone sales from TfL; users must then nominate a Tube station where they will swipe their card in order to charge up the card with the funds purchased. This can only be done the day after ordering.^[14] Travelcard renewals cannot be added from a reader on a bus.

Pay as you go

In addition to holding Travelcards and bus passes, Oyster cards can also be used as stored-value cards, holding electronic funds of money. Amounts are deducted from the card each time it is used, and the funds can be "recharged" when required. The maximum value that an Oyster card may hold is £90. This system is known as "pay as you go" (abbreviated to PAYG), because instead of holding a season ticket, the user only pays at the point of use.

When Oyster cards were first introduced, the PAYG system was initially named "pre pay", and this name is still sometimes used by National Rail. TfL officially refers to the system as "pay as you go" in all publicity.

Underground and DLR

Oyster card holders must "touch in" at the start of a journey by London Underground or DLR, and "touch out" again at the end. In the case of PAYG cards, the Oyster card readers automatically calculate the correct fare based on the start and end points of the journey and deduct that fare from the Oyster card. A card may also hold a season ticket such as a Travelcard; if the user travels outside the valid zones of their season ticket, the balance is deducted from their PAYG funds.

Passengers enter or exit most London Underground stations through ticket barriers which are operated by swiping an Oyster card or other valid ticket. Some Tube stations (such as those at National Rail interchanges) and DLR stations have standalone validators with no barriers. In both instances, PAYG users are required to touch in and out.

All ticket offices at stations run by London Underground will sell or recharge Oyster cards, or handle Oyster card refunds. However, some Tube stations are actually operated by National Rail train operating companies, and their ticket offices will not deal with Oyster refunds. DLR ticket offices do not sell any Oyster card top-ups or handle refunds.

Buses

Users must touch the Oyster card only once at the point of boarding. Because London buses have a single flat fare, there is no need to calculate an end point of the journey.

Some London bus routes cross outside the Greater London boundary before reaching their terminus. Pay as you go users are permitted to travel the full length of these route on buses operated as part of the London Bus network, even to destinations some distance outside Greater London.

For routes operated under 'London Local Service Agreements', travel is possible using PAYG on route 84 as far as Potters Bar, and route 614 within Greater London. On other LLSA routes, a reduced cash fare of 90p within Greater London applies when an Oystercard is shown.^{[15] [16]}

Trams

As London's trams operate on the same fare structure as buses, the rules are similar and users with pre-pay must touch the Oyster card only once at the point of boarding (users with Travelcards valid for the Tramlink zones need not touch in)

However all customers alighting at Wimbledon must touch in at the start of their journey. This is because the tram stop is within the gated area of Wimbledon station. Touching out ensures users do not get charged the full London Underground fare for their journey.

Similarly passengers entering the station for the tram are advised to touch in at the main gates, then touch again on the Tramlink platform. Users changing from London Underground to Tramlink should touch out at the District Line platforms, then touch in again at the Tramlink platform. ^[17]

National Rail

Main article: Oyster card (pay as you go) on National Rail

Oyster pay as you go is gradually being introduced on the National Rail commuter rail network in London, but it is not yet universally accepted.

As with Underground and DLR journeys, Oyster PAYG users on National Rail must swipe their card at the start and end of the journey to pay the correct fare. The card balance is also debited by the relevant amount if the user travels on the PAYG rail network beyond the zonal validity of any Travelcard stored on the Oystercard.

Many large National Rail stations in London have Oystercard-compatible barriers. At other smaller stations, users must touch the card on a validator - a standalone device which has an Oystercard reader but no barrier. Validators are also provided at interchanges at stations served by both National Rail and TfL services, to allow passengers who are changing trains to touch into the system without having to leave and re-enter the station.

The National Rail network is mostly outside the control of Transport for London, and passenger services are run by number of independent rail companies. Because of this, acceptance of Oyster PAYG on National Rail services varies according to the policy of each individual company.^[18] For the purposes of this article, these lines where Oyster PAYG may be used are referred to as "PAYG rail network", but this is not an official term.

Several rail companies that allow PAYG have historically accepted London Underground single fares because they duplicate London Underground routes, and now permit Oyster PAYG on those sections of the line which run alongside the Underground. Similarly, other rail companies operate services from Watford Junction which run parallel to London Overground services - to London Euston (London Midland) and to Clapham Junction (Southern). After some initial hesitation^[19][20], these operators also agreed to permit passengers to use Oyster pay as you go on their services after London Overground introduced PAYG ticketing.^[21]

Other rail companies have begun to allow PAYG on selected sections of their routes where their stations are equipped with Oyster readers - often interchange stations with London Underground. On several lines in London, smaller intermediate National Rail stations are not equipped with Oyster validators and so they are excluded from the PAYG rail network. Oyster PAYG users may legally travel along those lines, but if they alight at an intermediate station, they will be unable to touch out and will consequently be charged the maximum fare; they may also be liable for prosecution.^[22]

In 2005 Ken Livingstone (then Mayor of London) began a process of trying to persuade National Rail train operating companies to allow Oyster PAYG on all of their services within London, but a dispute about ticketing prevented this plan from going ahead.^[23] After further negotiations, Transport for London offered to fund the train operating companies with 20 million to provide Oyster facilities in London stations; this resulted in an outline agreement to introduce PAYG acceptance across the entire London rail network.^[24]

It is hoped that Oyster Pay as you go will be accepted on all National Rail services within London by May 2009, pending further discussions with the rail companies.^[25]

London Overground

In November 2007 the metro routes operated by Silverlink were brought under the control of TfL and operated under the brand name London Overground. From the first day of operation, Oyster card pay as you go became valid on all Overground routes.^[26]

Recharging

When the PAYG balance runs low, Oyster card PAYG can be topped up at the normal sales points or ticket machines at London Underground or London Overground stations, Oyster Ticket Stop agents, or some National Rail stations.

PAYG funds can also be added online via the Oystercard website, or by telephone sales from TfL; users must then nominate a Tube station where they will swipe their card in order to charge up the card with the funds purchased. If the customer is purchasing pay as you go, the top up will be at the gates of their nominated station, or Tramlink stop the next day (ready for first train, so long as they made the purchase before 11pm the previous night). It will remain at the gates for 7 further days before dropping off the system. If the customer purchases a season ticket, it will 'arrive' at the gates, up to 5 days before the start date of the ticket and will remain there until 2 days after the ticket has started. If the customer does not make their pick up, it will take a further 14 days to refund automatically to the bank card they made the purchase with.^[27] Top-ups of this type cannot be added from a reader on a bus.

Auto top-up

Customers can also register a debit or credit card online, which will be debited automatically by their preference of £20 or £40 when the pay as you go balance on the card falls below £5. The top-up funds are then automatically added to the card when the holder touches on an Oyster reader (including those on buses). A light on the Oyster reader flashes to indicate the auto top-up has taken place and an email is sent to confirm the transaction.

Pricing

The pricing system is fairly complex, and changes from time to time. The most up to date fares can be found on Transport for London's FareFinder website (see External Links).

To encourage passengers to switch to Oyster, PAYG fares (including Bus and Tram fares) are generally much cheaper than cash fares:

As of 22 October 2007 a cash bus or tram fare is £2, while the single Oyster fare is £0.90, but capped at £3 for any number of trips in a day. On the PAYG rail network, a single trip within Zone 1 costs from £1.50 (compared to £4 cash), or from £1 (£3 cash) within any other single zone.

Fare capping

A 'capping' system was introduced on 27 February 2005, which guarantees that an Oyster card user will be charged no more than the cheapest combinations of single tickets, travelcards and/or bus pass that cover all journeys made that day. A 50p discount is given where the price is capped at the travelcard or bus pass rate. Unlike paper daily travelcards, Oyster cards capped at travelcard rates are not valid on National Rail services other than those routes which accept Oyster Pay as you go.

Holders of Disabled Persons, HM Forces, Senior and 16-25 National Rail Railcards receive a 34% reduction in the off-peak price cap; individual journeys are charged at normal Oyster pay-as-you-go rates until the reduced cap is reached.^[28] Railcard discounts can be loaded on to Oyster Cards at Underground, Overground and some National Rail ticket offices.

Discounts

On 20 August 2007 a 'Bus and Tram Discount photocard' became available for London Oyster card users who received Income Support, allowing them to pay £0.50 for a one way bus trip or buy half price period bus passes. This was the result of a deal between Transport For London and Petróleos de Venezuela to provide fuel for London buses at a 20% discount. In return Transport for London agreed to open an office in the Venezuelan capital Caracas to offer expertise on town planning, tourism, public protection and environmental issues^[29]. The deal with Venezuela was ended by Mayor Boris Johnson shortly after he took office, and the Bus and Tram Discount photocard scheme closed to new applications on 20 August 2008; Johnson said that "TfL will honour the discount [on existing cards] until the six month time periods on cards have run out"[3].

Single ticket type (Within the Greater London area, stations south of Moor Park)	Paper ticket	Oyster
		Mon-Fri 7am-7pm	All other times
Zone 1 only	£4	£1.50
Zone 1 to 6		£3.50	£2
Zone 1 to 7	£5.50	£4.50	£3
Zone 1 to 8 or 9	£7	£5.50
Zone 2 to 7	£4	£3	£2
Zone 2 to 8 or 9	£5.50	£4
Zone 3 to 7	£4	£2.50	£1
Zone 3 to 8 or 9		£3.50
Zone 4 to 7	£3	£2
Zone 4 to 8 or 9	£4	£3
Zone 5 to 7	£3	£2
Zone 5 to 8 or 9		£2.50
Zone 6 to 7		£1.50
Zone 6 to 8 or 9		£2
Zone 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 (any two adjacent zones but not zone 1)		£1
Zone 2 to 6		£1.80	£1.00
Single ticket type (Stations north of Moor Park in zones 7 to 9)	Paper ticket	Oyster
		Mon-Fri 7am-7pm	All other times
Within one or two adjacent zones (7, 7-8, 8, 8-9, 9)	£3	£1
Within three adjacent zones (7-8-9)		£1.50	£1

There are anomalies in Oyster peak fares involving journeys encompassing through travel in the London zones (1-9), north of Moor Park. These are most marked for stations north of Chorleywood, the last, indeed only, station in zone 8. The anomalies arise because Moor Park straddles the border between Zone 6, and Zone 7, and is therefore in both zones. For example the published through fare for travel from Zone 1 to Zone 9, is £5.50, whereas two separate journeys from Zone 1 to Moor Park and Moor Park to Zone 9 would be a published total of £5; likewise the through fare for Zone 2 to Zone 9 is £4.00, against £3.30 for two separate journeys.

Freedom Passes

Freedom passes are generally issued on what is technically an Oystercard. Freedom passes are cards issued to Londoners who are over 60 or disabled, entitling them to free travel. Travel is free at all times for the disabled and after 09:00 for the elderly (on the Tube, DLR, buses and Tramlink) and after 09:30 on National Rail. Customers cannot put any money, or ticket products on a Freedom pass; to travel outside these times they must purchase an adult Oyster card or other valid ticket.

Penalty fares and maximum cash fare

In order to prevent "misuse" by a stated 2% of passengers, from 19 November 2006 Pay as you go users who do not both 'touch in' at the start and 'touch out' at the end of their PAYG rail network journeys are charged a 'maximum cash fare' of £4 for most journeys, or £5 if the journey begins or ends at certain National Rail stations. Depending on the distance travelled, the difference between this maximum fare and the actual fare due is automatically refunded to the user's Oyster card upon touching out.

Users must touch in and out even if the ticket barriers are open. At stations where Oyster is accepted but that do not have ticket barriers, an Oyster reader will be provided for the purposes of touching in and out. The maximum cash fare applies even if the daily price cap has been reached and does not count towards the cap.

Maximum cash fares may be contested by telephone to the Oyster helpline on 0845 330 9876.^[30]This involves handing over the Oyster card number and the date the maximum cash fare was applied. The user will be asked at which station they exited the system; further journeys appearing on the card are helpful to further validate the user's claim.

If the claim is accepted, the maximum cash fare, less the value of the journey, will be refunded. The user will be asked to nominate and make a journey from an acceptable payg friendly station (Tube/DLR/some National Rail) or Tramlink stop. On touching in, the refund is uploaded to the card. The customer should make the pick up as part of his or her regular travel pattern. This is because when they touch the reader with their Oyster card, not only will the refund go on to the card, but a new journey will start.

The refund will be 'available' at the nominated station from 3 days to 10 days after the request is accepted. After this time the refund will be deleted from the gateline, and the customer will have to re-request the refund. This is the only method of returning money to the customer for this type of refund.

Some special arrangements exist for touching in and out at interchange stations where passengers are transferring between different modes of transport:

• On Tramlink, the requirements are similar to boarding a bus, in that users only need to touch in at the platform they board at. They should not touch out at the destination tram stop, as this would be charged as the start of a new journey. The exception to this rule is when Tramlink passengers pass through Wimbledon station; upon arrival at Wimbledon, they must touch out through the automatic gates upon exiting the station; if departing from Wimbledon, they must touch in twice - once at the entrance gates and once more at the tram platform^[31].
• When using the DLR at Bank using PAYG users must touch the reader by the DLR platform even if they are changing to/from the London Underground. When connecting from the DLR to the Jubilee Line at Canary Wharf users must touch out at the DLR station to avoid a penalty fare, but when they touch in again at the Underground gates, the fare is combined and charged as a single Underground journey, and similarly in the other direction, where single paper tickets get retained by the ticket gates at Canary Wharf.
• Passengers transferring from a National Rail service using a National Rail ticket (which is not valid on London Underground) can touch in at the transfer station to begin their Oyster journey without exiting the station. Oyster readers are provided on Underground platforms in stations such as Farringdon or Kentish Town to allow this.

Oyster users who do not touch in during a bus, Tramlink or PAYG rail network journey may be charged a Penalty Fare (currently £20) and/or reported for prosecution if caught by revenue protection inspectors. Passengers are also liable for a penalty fare from the National Rail operating company's inspectors if caught.

Reporting

Touch screen ticket machines report the last eight journeys and last top-up amount. The same information is available as a print-out from ticket offices, and also on-board London Buses by request. The balance is displayed on some Underground barriers at the end of journeys that have caused a debit from the balance and can also be requested at newsagents and National Rail stations that provide a top-up facility. A report detailing all transactions where the Oyster card has been 'swiped' can be requested from Transport for London: Transport for London can provide the journey history for the previous 8 weeks, but no further back. The Oyster website gives details of the most recent journeys charged to Pay as you go if and only if credit has been purchased online, but not for other journeys, or those paid for by travelcard.

Oyster photocards

Oyster photocards, with an image of the authorised user on the card front, are issued to members of groups eligible for free or discounted travel. The cards are encoded to offer discounted fares and are currently available for students in full-time education (30% off season tickets), 16+ cards (child rates for single journeys, discounted period travelcards, free travel on buses and trams for students that live and attend full-time education in London) and for children under 16 years old (free travel on buses and trams and discounted single fares on the Underground and DLR). An Oyster Freedom Pass, with separate non-Oyster photocard, is issued to those over 60 or with disabilities for free travel.

Students over 18

Student Oyster photocards, valid for one year and giving 30% discount on period tickets, are available to full-time students over 18 at registered institutions within the area of the M25 motorway, an area slightly larger than Greater London, at a cost of £5. There is no discount for Pay as you go, although many students hold the National Rail 16-25 Railcard, which can be presented at a Tube ticket office to have a similar discount applied for Pay as you go. A small selection of universities outside London have also registered on the scheme.

A replacement for lost/stolen cards cost £5 and involves a new application with a photo. The funds/remaining travel is non-transferable to a new student Oyster and is refundable instead. The refund of a lost/stolen Oyster card is based on the original pro-rata daily rate. Thus if you lose an annual student Oyster, the refund will not cover the remainder of the year due to the higher monthly/weekly pro-rata charges for the remainder of the year. This can leave students at a considerable disadvantage (adults receive replacement card and existing travel).

Since 8 September 2006, students at some London universities have been able to apply for their student photocard online by uploading a digital image and paying with a credit or debit card. According to Transport for London, other universities are expected to join the scheme.^[32]

Zip card

On 7 January 2008 Transport for London unveiled the Zip card, a free Oyster photocard to be used by under 18 year olds who qualify for free bus and tram travel within the capital, with effect from 1 June 2008. To qualify, one must live in a London borough and still be in full-time education.^[33]

Roll-out history

The roll-out of Oyster features and migration from the paper-based system has been phased. Milestones so far have been:

• London Underground ticket barriers, bus ticket machines, Docklands Light Railway stations and Tramlink stops fitted with validators. Cards issued to Transport for London, London Underground, and bus operator staff (2002)
• Cards issued to the public for annual and monthly tickets (2003)
• Freedom Passes issued on Oyster (2004)
• Pay as you go (PAYG, first called 'prepay') launched on London Underground, DLR, and the parts of National Rail where Underground fares had previously been valid. (January 2004)
• Off-peak PAYG fares launched (January 2004)
• Annual tickets available only on Oyster (2004)
• Monthly tickets available only on Oyster, unless purchased from a station operated by a train company rather than TfL (2004)
• PAYG on buses (May 2004)
• Daily PAYG price capping (February 2005)
• Student Oyster Photocards for students over 18 (early 2005)
• Oyster Child Photocards for under 16s — free travel on buses and reduced fares on trains (August 2005)
• Automatic top-up (September 2005)
• Weekly tickets available only on Oyster (September 2005) ^[34]
• Oyster PAYG single fares cost up to 33% less than paper tickets (January 2006) ^[35]
• Auto top-up on buses and trams (June 2006)
• Journey history for Pay as you go transactions available online (July 2006)
• Ability for active and retired railway staff who have a staff travel card to obtain privilege travel fares on the Underground with Oyster (July 2006)
• £4 or £5 'maximum cash fare' charged for Pay as you go journeys without a 'touch in' and 'touch out' (November 2006)
• Oyster Card for visitors branded cards launched and sold by Gatwick Express.^[36]
• Oyster PAYG extended to London Overground (11 November 2007)
• Holders of Railcards (but not Network Railcard) can link their Railcard to Oyster to have PAYG capped at 34% below the normal rate since 2 January 2008.^[37]

Impact

Since the introduction of the Oyster card, the number of customers paying cash fares on buses has dropped dramatically. In addition, usage of station ticket offices has dropped, to the extent that in June 2007, TfL announced that a number of their ticket offices would close, with some others reducing their opening hours. TfL suggested that the staff would be 're-deployed' elsewhere on the network, including as train drivers.^[38]

Usage statistics

Over 10 million cards have been issued of which around 5 million are in regular use.^[39] As of March 2007, more than 80% of all tube and bus journeys use Oyster. Around 22% of all Tube journeys are Oyster Pay as you go, around 4% cash.

Future

Beyond London

Oyster PAYG will be valid in C2C stations, Purfleet, Ockendon, Chafford Hundred and Grays, from summer. It is not clear whether the entire C2C line will support Oyster PAYG.

When ITSO smartcards are introduced to the National Rail network, it will be possible to load one "stored journey right", or e-ticket (for National Rail travel outside Greater London) on to the card at ticket offices or self-service machines. There is not enough space on the card for more information to be stored. Travellers starting their journeys outside London will be able to use Oystercards in certain cases, if they are regarded as "trusted customers". The gates or validators will calculate the applicable fare on arrival in London.

It is likely that credit held on ITSO smartcards will be usable for PAYG journeys, but there may be limitations on fare capping, and combining season tickets and PAYG usage. ^[40]

Oyster and credit/debit card

Main article: OnePulse

In 2005, Transport for London shortlisted two financial services suppliers, Barclaycard and American Express, to add e-money payment capability to the Oyster card. The scheme was planned to be used for purchases of low value, typically below £5 in retailers such as newsagents. It was planned that the e-money payment facility could be available from 2006. It was later reported^[41] that e-payment plans had been shelved.

Instead, in December 2006, TfL announced^[42] that they had partnered with Barclaycard to pair standard credit card functionality with Oyster functionality on a single card. Under this arrangement, contactless e-money functionality would be provided using Visa Wave and Pay rather than Oyster Pay as you go.

The new card from Barclaycard was launched in September 2007 and is called OnePulse.

Operator

In August 2008, after two serious technical faults, Transport for London said it had given notice to Oyster operator TranSys of termination of the contract to maintain and develop Oyster cards. It is not yet known who will operate the system in the future.^[5]

Redesign

Design re-issues

Trial versions, Transport for London staff versions and the first version of the standard Oyster card for the public were originally released with the roundels on the front of the cards in red. Standard issues of the Oyster card have been updated since the first public release in order to meet TfL's Design Standards.

So far, there have been three issues of the standard Oyster card, including the original red roundel issue, but all three Oyster cards have retained their original dimensions of 85mm x 55mm, with Oyster card number and reference number located in the top right hand corner and bottom right hand corner of the back of the card respectively, along with the terms and conditions.

The second issue of the standard Oyster card saw 'Transport for London' branding on the back of the card, along with the Mayor of London (having replaced just the 'LONDON' branding in the blue segment of the card's back). The roundel on the front of the card was changed from the colour red to white, as white was seen to represent Transport for London (whereas a red roundel is more known to represent London Buses).

The most recent issue of the standard Oyster card sees TfL branding on the front of the Oyster card, having removed it from the back of the card from the previous issue. The Mayor of London branding has also been moved from the blue segment from the back of the card to underneath the terms and conditions, where it is more prominent.

Oyster card holder/wallet

With the release of the Oyster card, TfL released an accompanying Oyster card holder to replace the existing designs, previously sponsored by companies such as Yellow Pages and Direct Line, as well as London Underground's and London Buses own releases of the holder which came without advertising.

The official Oyster branded holders have only been redesigned twice, keeping up with various versions of the Oyster card. However, in 2007 the Oyster Card wallets were redesigned and are now black.

In March 2007 the Oyster card holder was redesigned by British designers including Katharine Hamnett, Frostfrench and Gharani Strok for Oxfam's I'm In campaign to end world poverty. The designer wallets were available for a limited period of time from Oxfam's street teams in London who handed them out to people who signed up to the I'm In movement. Also, to celebrate 100 years of the Piccadilly Line, a series of limited edition Oyster card wallets were commissioned from selected artists from the Thin Cities Platform for Art project. Any new Oyster cards are now given with wallets sponsored by Ikea who also sponsor the tube map. They show no sign of TfL's logo, a roundel or any sign they are related to Oyster.

Issues and criticisms

The system has not been without technical setbacks and criticisms.

Privacy

The system has been criticised as a threat to the privacy of its users. Each Oyster card is uniquely numbered, and registration is required for monthly or longer tickets, which are no longer available on paper. Usage data are stored both on the card and centrally by Transport for London for up to 8 weeks; recent usage can be checked by anyone in possession of the card at some ticket machines.

The police have used Oyster card data as an investigative tool, and this use is increasing. Between August 2004 and March 2006 TfL's Information Access and Compliance Team received 436 requests from the police for Oyster card information. Of these, 409 requests were granted and the data were released to the police.^[43] Additionally, in 2008 news reports indicated that the security services were seeking access to all Oyster card data for the purposes of counter-terrorism. Such access is currently not provided to the security services.^[44]

Design

The system has been criticised for usability issues in general system, website and top-up machine design.^[45]

Oyster PAYG users on London Underground, DLR, National Rail and London Overground services are required always to "touch in" and "touch out" to cause the correct fare to be charged. This requirement is less obviously enforced at stations where there are only standalone Oyster validators rather than ticket barriers. Without a physical barrier, PAYG users may simply forget to "touch in" or fail to touch their card correctly, which will result in a penalty fare being charged. Equally, if the barriers do not function (reading 'SEEK ASSISTANCE') and the TfL operative has to open the gates manually, then the maximum fare may be charged. If this occurs a refund may be requested by telephoning the Oyster helpline the day after the incident occurs (to allow time for the central computers to be updated); the overcharged amount will be added back to the PAYG balance on the card, usually after two to three working days, and will be activated when the card is touched to a barrier reader.

The PAYG system has a minimum entry threshold, set at the fare for the cheapest journey from the entry point. Due to capping, this entry threshold may be zero for some users if they have reached the daily cap. The PAYG system allows cards to go into a negative balance but further entry into the system is prohibited as the entry threshold cannot be met with a card in negative balance. As a result, ticket barriers may not open when the user swipes their card if the card has a negative PAYG balance.

If an Oyster card with a season ticket fails to function or requires replacement, the user must fill in a form for a new card, and all the details are transferred across to the new card. The users must then update the Oyster card details manually on the Oyster card website in order to continue with any online sales. Unless the old card is cancelled in time, it is possible to inadvertently purchase tickets online for the old card.

The integration of the various types of Oyster Card is limited. While PAYG can be added to a normal period travelcard, it cannot be added to a Freedom Pass (seniors card) even though the Freedom Pass is not valid during peak morning hours and an alternative payment is necessary. Users must therefore carry two separate cards if they wish to travel at peak times.

The management of all student versions of the Oyster Card is tied to the academic year and requires all of London's secondary school students to apply for new cards within the same two-week period. Any value associated with the current card can only be transferred to the new card by telephoning Oyster card customer services. This is mitigated in part by 11-15 cards remaining valid from first issue until the end of the academic year in which the cardholder turns 16.

Technical faults

In January 2004, on the day that the pay as you go system went live on all Oyster cards, some season ticket passengers were prevented from making a second journey on their travelcard. Upon investigation each had a negative prepay balance. This was widely reported as a major bug in the system.^[46] However, the reason for the "bug" was that some season ticket holders, were passing through zones not included on their tickets. The existing paper system could not prevent this kind of misuse as the barriers only checked if a paper ticket was valid in the zone the barrier was in.

On 10 March 2005 a software fault meant that the Oyster system was inoperable during the morning rush hour. Ticket barriers had to be left open and Pay as you go fares could not be collected.^[47]

On 12 July 2008 corrupted software disabled an estimated 100,000 Oystercards, including Travelcards, Staff Passes, Freedom Passes, Child Oystercards and other electronic tickets. The pay as you go system failed, resulting in thousands of users being charged penalty fares. Refunds were given to those affected, but Freedom Pass holders had to apply to their local authority for replacement passes (as these are not managed by TfL).^[48]

A further system failure occurred two weeks later on 25 July 2008, when pay as you go cards were not read properly.^[49]

The difference between pay as you go and Travelcards

Transport for London has heavily promoted the Oyster card, with many adverts seeking to portray it as an alternative to the Travelcard. However one-day Travelcards cannot be loaded onto the cards, whilst the Pay as you go facility does not work on most National Rail routes. In late 2005 the Advertising Standards Authority ordered the withdrawal of a poster that directly presented Oyster pay as you go as a substitute for a paper Travelcard and claimed it was "more convenient" with "no need to plan in advance", after the ASA ruled that the lack of National Rail support meant that the two products were not directly comparable.^[50][51]

Transport for London makes a significant profit from penalty fees deducted for those travelling on PAYG and failing to touch out as they exit stations. According to information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act^[52] TfL made £32m from pay as you go cards of which £18m was penalty fares for failing to touch out. Only £803,000 was paid in refunds, showing that whilst customers can apply for a refund most do not. The penalty fares for failing to touch out were introduced late 2006^[53]. It is up to the customer to ensure they have validated their card correctly for their journey.

Validity on National Rail

Because the validity of PAYG is not consistent across different modes of transport within London, this can give rise to problems for Oyster PAYG users.

Validity of Pay as you go fares on National Rail routes has been a source of confusion since the launch of Oyster, with passengers frequently being caught out trying to use Pay as you go on rail routes where it is not valid.^[54][55]

On some National Rail routes which are on the PAYG rail network, Oyster PAYG users are not permitted to board or alight at intermediate stations, due to the fact that Oyster readers have not been installed at these stations; consequently PAYG users are unable touch in or out. Passengers who attempt to use PAYG for all or part of their journey on these lines may be charged a penalty fare or be liable for prosecution.^[56]

The complexity of Oyster validity on these routes has been criticised for increasing the risk of passengers inadvertently failing to pay the correct fare. Criticism has also been levelled at train operating companies for failing to provide adequate warnings to passengers about Oyster validity on their routes and for not installing Oyster readers at certain stations.^[57]

Official TfL guides to Oyster list the limitations of PAYG validity;^[58] diagrammatic maps illustrating PAYG validity have been published since November 2006 by National Rail, ^[59] but these are rarely on display at stations and must be obtained from transport websites.^[57]

Online and telesales

Oyster card ticket renewals and PAYG top-ups made online allow users to make purchases without the need to go to a ticket office or vending machine. However there are certain limitations to this system:

• tickets and PAYG funds are only added to the Oyster the day after purchase;
• users must still pass through a Tube or Overground station where they must touch in to complete the purchase;
• users must nominate the station in advance - failure to enter via this station means that the ticket is not added to the card;
• tickets purchased in this way cannot be added from a bus reader.^[27]

Security issues

In June 2008, researchers at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, who had previously succeeded in hacking OV-Chipkaart (Dutch public transport system), hacked an Oyster card, which is also based on the Mifare Classic chip. They scanned a card reader to obtain its cryptographic key, then used a wireless antenna attached to a laptop computer to brush up against passengers on the London Underground and extract the information from their cards. With that information they were able to clone a card, add credit to it, and use it to travel on the Underground for at least a day.^[60][61] The MIFARE chip manufacturers NXP Semiconductor sought a court injunction to prevent the publication of the details of this security breach, but this was overturned on appeal.^[62]

The Mifare Classic—which is also used as a security pass for controlling entry into buildings—has been criticised as having very poor security, and NXP criticised for trying to ensure security by secrecy rather than strong encryption. "The security of Mifare Classic is terrible. This is not an exaggeration; it's kindergarten cryptography. Anyone with any security experience would be embarrassed to put his name to the design. NXP attempted to deal with this embarrassment by keeping the design secret"[4]. Breaching security on Oyster cards should not allow unauthorised use for more than a day, as TfL promises to turn off any cloned cards within 24 hours, but a cloned Mifare Classic can allow entry into buildings that use this system for security.

Strategic Research

Transport for London, in partnership with academic institutions such as MIT, has begun to use the data captured by the Oyster smartcard system for strategic research purposes, with the general goal of using Oyster data to gain cheap and accurate insights into the behavior and experience of passengers. Specific projects include estimation of Origin-Destination Matrices for the London Underground, ^{[63] [64]} analysis of bus-to-bus and bus-to-tube interchange behavior, ^[65] modeling and analysis of TfL-wide fare policy changes, ^[66] and measurement of service quality on the London Overground. ^[67]

See also

• OnePulse - Oyster credit card
• List of smart cards

References

External links

• Transport for London - Oyster card
• Transport for London - Design Standards at Transport for London
• Transport for London FareFinder

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