How do Oystercards work?

[Miljah]

What happens if you go into a station, ping your card, then come out elsewhere but you turn out to not have enough credit on it for that journey?

How do you check your credit?

Bumpkin up to the big smoke for a day using DH's card!

My understanding has always been that Oyster does have a daily cap. I use Oyster always and top up with cash from time to time because I don't fancy constantly getting my debit card out. It's very easy to top up at a ticket machine with cash or card.

Worth knowing that you can't pay in cash on London buses at all. You have to use either Oyster or a contactless card or a travelcard/bus pass.

Also, on the bus you only tap in when you get on, not when you get off, whereas on tube, DLR, Overground and mainline rail services you tap at both ends. I assume trams are like buses - long time since I was on a tram! (Trams only operate on the fringes of S London.)

www.londontoolkit.com/briefing/contactless_cards.html

This looks like a good, clear summary. Best to check the TfL pages as well, but this website says that Oyster has a daily cap. Contactless has that too, plus a weekly cap equivalent to having a 7-day Travelcard. Oyster doesn't have the 7-day cap. Travelcards, however, can start on any day of the week. Contactless 7-day cap can't, it will always run Mon-Sun.

Oyster is now only worth it if you have a Railcard loaded onto it to reduce the daily cap, or have other reason for discounted travel. I commute on the bus and train within the zones and have a Disabled Railcard on my Oyster as its cheaper, but otherwise I'd shift to contactless (and be able to keep a contactless card in my wallet).

Oystercard does cap at same price as contactless - their treated the same.
As I stated daily cap for buses is £4.50 so once you have touched on 4 buses , although you still have to touch on each bus, you are not charged.
On tube , slightly different, touch in an out every time you enter or exit a station - at midnight it will work out the price you are capped at , best for your journey and charge, maximum around £11.50 for zones 1&2 tube travel.if you use a mixture of bus and tube across the day , £12 ish is about you would pay .

Oh and you can use contactless via your Apple Pay or google app too, just touch the phone as you would a card

What is the best way to travel as a family of 4 with DCs 7 and 4? They don't have a contactless card obviously. Thanks

Use your contactless!!!
You don’t have to pay for children until their 11yrs old or over

Ah ok. Fantastic. Thanks

@Kewqueue Oyster does cap! Basically =

Just money on your Oyster: you risk not having enough if you top up less which is when it goes negative. You can avoid that obviously, and has a cap

Contactless: has a cap which is sometimes cheaper than buying a daily pass. More convenient than topping up

Daily ticket on Oyster: you have a daily card then you can travel all day in the zones you've paid for. More expensive than the above

So see what suits, top up your Oyster to have enough money or buy a pass or use contactless. I have a monthly pass which is convenient for me

Thanks!

Does it really not beep? It certainly does on DLR readers

Either way, the light goes from orange to green so you'll know its read

@christmaaaas go through the wide gates with the children, it's very awkward to shove two through a normal ticket barrier and someone will get their arse clipped!

there is always one wide gate.

I live Zone 3 and the Price cap for Zones 1-3 (ie going into Central London, using tube/buses in Central London and then home again to Zone 3 is £8 using a pay as you go Oyster.

Most people have switched to contactless bank cards. Just put them over reader - it should go green and barrier opens if worked - same with Oyster card, Oyster card will go to a negative value of deposit on card. You can check balance at a machine or online if you register card online.

If you can't get gates to open there should be station staff who help.

Young children are free but go through the giant gates at end or the barriers will hit one or more of you.

I use an oyster because I live & work in London, have an annual travelcard on it which also gives me rail discounts & it's easier for budgeting as far as I'm concerned. But contactless definitely makes more sense for one-off visits.