To ask if you still use an Oyster Card?

[ZippyTurtle]

Both me and my boyfriend live in London, both lived in London since we were born. I have an oyster card and always use it and never use my debit card for the tube. My boyfriend doesn't use an oyster card and just uses his debit card. My boyfriend always complains that he thinks I am "outdated" and that he thinks I should just use my debit card instead of my oyster card. Is he right? Am I outdated? Does anyone who lives in London still use an oyster card these days or is it just me?

YANBU - I live in London and use an oyster card.

YABU - I live in London and just use my debit card

Londoner - use Oysyer because I’ve lost my payment card commuting previously when I guess I didn’t put it in my pocket or bag properly. Thankful it was a credit card and got a new one in the post in 3 days. Now I only use my credit card when I’ve forgotten my Oyster (very rare) or it’s out of credit (also rare).

Using phone seems slower and also I’d be worried about dropping it given the jostling you get at busy times and of course pick pocketing or mugging if phone is in hands more.

Smartwatch tempting though!

I use an over 60s Oyster card for free TfL travel. You can’t get that on your phone, and obviously no need to use anything that pays. If you look along any tube platform just after 9.30am on a weekday, practically everybody is over 60 using their free Oyster card.

I live in London and use oyster with a zone 1-2 travel card. IME pay as you go is cheaper as long as I only go to the office and straight home 5 days or less using the tube only. As soon as I do any other journeys including getting the bus to the tube station because I'm always lazy and running late, it becomes cheaper to use a travel card. Also like pp I prefer to keep my bank card in my purse and my phone is so ancient I don't trust that it's secure enough for Google pay.

I used to have a boyfriend who'd take issue with inconsequential stuff too. Are there other things he criticises unnecessarily?

If you are using PAYG contactless is cheaper as it has a Monday-Sunday cap which oyster doesn't.

The only reason to use oyster these days is if the oyster card is cheaper than PAYG - eg. Cards that are loaded with travel cards, railcard discounts, children/students Zip cards, staff discount cards etc which can't be used on contactless.

I use my watch. You can tell your boyfriend he's very old-fashioned for still using a card.

Live near London. I prefer an Oyster card as it’s a finite amount of money gone if you lose it and it’s annoying to get loads of little £2.40 transactions on the credit card statement. I’ve been told I’m old fashioned too, but it suits me!

You can still do this if you use your bank card/phone/watch.

Don't live in London but visit often.
I will always use my Oyster card.
It's much more secure. I do not want to show thieves where my phone and/or purse is.
I find it much easier to track and query travel fare spending. I do not trust TFL to debit the correct amount from my bank. I have had to challenge them several times before.

Cap applies to Oyster as well
https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/tube-and-rail-fares/pay-as-you-go-caps

I'd tell your boyfriend to stop criticising. It's easier for me on budgeting, expense claims and I don't like taking a bank or credit card out near the station.

Lots of people use it! My recent ex used an Apple Watch. Never said a word about my Oystercard. What a weird thing to pick on.

I recently used to travel a lot to London for work and would always use my Oyster card. Really easy ti claim expenses without having to show bank statements etc

Yes, I still use oyster because I get an easy to print off list of travel expenses for work. If I use a credit card, I need to blank out my other expenses/payments on the print out of my credit card statement- and its such a faff.

Nothing to do with him . It's up to you if you want to use an Oyster card , tell him to mind his own business.

I still use an Oyster card (which has daily/weekly price cap same as contactless card, contrary to what some PPs have said).

I prefer to keep it separate from my purse, and anyway, I carry more than one contactless card so would have card clash when touching in/out. If TfL withdrew Oyster cards I'd have to find a way to carry my cards separately.

@Rae36 dont know if you are apple or android but Apple has a specific feature where you don't need to get it into payment mode. Just hold it against the pad and it reads it.

Thanks

I think the weekly cap had only recent come in, post lockdown anyway.

I had a vague recollection of it changing but forgot as don't travel enough now I work from home to warrant any travelcard

Live in London, still use Oyster. I prefer it for budgeting. Don't like using a debit card / phone wallet as it takes a few days for the charge to be taken which throws my balance off! Also don't like the faff of opening a phone / finding a wallet and the risk of losing my payment card. I am starting to feel old fashioned but not changing any time soon.

DH has switched to a debit card but usually just has one card wallet in his pocket which he uses for everything, my wallet is much bigger and I have a lot of different cards! He also runs out of travel money as he's useless at budgeting.

Although I can see the logic of saying you'd rather lose an oyster card than a debit card, these days you can freeze or cancel a lost or stolen debit card easily on your bank app so I'd say cancelling and replacing your oyster seems like more hassle, and also presumably you lose any credit on it, whereas if you freeze a contactless xard immediately you lose nothing except you have to wait for a replacement from the bank.

But why does he care.
It’s your Oyster card.

I live in London, and still use my Oyster card. I couldn’t give a shit what anyone else thinks! I find it easier to use my Oyster. End of.

@171513mum Wow, the stress of a stolen bank card would be much worse for me.

I have lost an Oystercard once. It never has more than £20 on it.

Seems a lot easier to deal with than waiting for a new bank card.

He sounds annoying af. YANBU.

I use an Oyster card (althogh I do sometime use my debit card if I have run out of money on my Oyster)

Like others I prefer to ring fence the money for travel and often I am getting on buses or trains in a rush or with heavy bags so I shove my Oyster card in a coat pocket. I'd rather not do that with my debt card.

I can’t begin to understand why he even cares what is in fashion or not when it comes to pay for travel!

I use oyster as I don’t like getting my phone or card/ wallet out in for this

I use an oyster card for the reason given before - I don't want the faff of getting a bank card out of my securely put away wallet and leaving it open to being stolen. Whereas the oyster goes into my coat pocket ready for the next stage of my journey.

I've noticed that if ever the queue on a bus is held up, it's always by someone paying with their phone or watch 🙄

"Outdated" would be going up to a ticket booth and paying cash for a tiny paper ticket from a roll.

You don’t lose credit on it.
Freezing you bank card means difficulty accessing money until a replacement arrives.
Plus a lot can be spent on a card in a few hours, if it takes a while to realise you have lost it (£100 contactless multiple times). Very difficult to spend significant amounts on travel, as you will hit the daily cap.