If you are going to travel to London recently, an Oyster card is an absolutely essential tool as it can make your trip much more convenient. This article will help you learn more about this efficent card. Let’s read on!
What is an Oyster card?
The Oyster card is a means of payment for public transport in London and certain surrounding areas. It can be used in London Buses, London Underground, London Overground, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), Tramlink, some riverboat services and most National Rail services within the London fare zones. The Oyster is a reuseable pay-as-you-go plastic magnetic card whose size is like a credit card. After topping up your balance, you just need to tap the card at the ticket barriers and the travel cost is deducted immediately – quick and convenient. Notice that one Oyster card is only for one person in the same journey.
image resource: wikipedia
How to get a visitor Oyster card?
The visitor Oyster card is an Oyster card designed specially for tourists. It’s the same as the regular one in function. But with the visitor Oyster, you can enjoy special offers and discounts. Furthermore, this card has a lower maximum one-day limit than the regular card, and there are no additional charges if you reach the daily cap. Notice that the card costs 5 pounds, which is non-refundable, and you can’t buy it in London. The below are the most common ways to get a visitor Oyster card:
Buying online
If you want to get a visitor Oyster card before your travel, you can choose to buy it on the official website:
- Visit the VisitBritain Shop and create an account.
- Go to “Travel and transport” on the navigation and select “London transport tickets”.
- Move down on the new webpage and click “Visitor Oyster Card London” (Visitor Oyster Card London | VisitBritain (visitbritainshop.com)).
image resource: VisitBritain
- Select the quantity, ticket credit, and the date of your departure from home according to your acutal need.
- Then follow the guidance to selcet your country, enter your address, choose the delivery option, and pay for the order.
- When the order is placed successfully, you will receive an order confirmation email at once. As soon as the card is sent, you will receive a second email to notify the details.
- In additon to the VisitBritain Shop, you can also purchase the card on the website of Transport for London (TFL). The steps are similar to the above.
The visitor card can be put into use as soon as you arrive at London.
There are many agents authorized by the TFL in different countries around the world, which sell various London travel tickets, including the visitor Oyster cards. Through this way you can get your visitor Oyster card in your home country ahead of time as well. Click here to see the full list of these agents.
Buying at airports
The visitor Oyster card can be accessible from the Gatwick Express desk in Gatwick Airport, the Stansted Express desk in Stansted Airport, as well as the National Express desk inside Gatwick, Stansted and Luton airports.
Other options
Beside the above options, you are also able to purchase a visitor Oyster card from Visitor Shops, on board Eurostar trains traveling to London, or from the London Pass.
How to get a regular Oyster card?
If you plan to stay in London for a longer time (eg. one year), a regular Oyster card will be a better option for you. The good news is that there are rather more ways to obtain the regular card in London compared with the visitor card. The Oyster card can be available:
- At all Tube, most London Overground, most Elizabeth line stations and some DLR stations;
- At Oyster Ticket Stops in many newsagents in London;
- At Visitor Centers;
- At the Tramlink Shop in Croydon;
- on the official website of TFL with a contactless and Oyster account if you live in the UK.
How much is an Oyster card in London?
Currently a regular Oyster card costs 7 pounds while a visit Oyster card is 5 pounds. But you don’t need to pay the shipping cost for a regular card when you buy it in London. Noted that both of the regular and visitor Oyster cards are non-refundable now except the regular cards bought before September 4, 2022. To see the details of the refunds, please click here.
Can a foreigner buy an Oyster card in London?
It depends on what kind of the Oyster cards you are going to buy. If you’re planning to buy a regular card, certainly you can get it in London. But if you would like to have a visitor card, you cannot find it in London and can only buy in the places mentioned above.
Photo for an Oyster card
It should be noted that a photo is required for some Oyster cards, such as the student Oyster card. To obtain such Oyster cards successfully, you should know about how to make a standard Oyster card photo.
Requirements for an Oyster card photo:
- The size of the photo must be 35 by 45 millimeters.
- The photo must be able to show your natural skin tone with sufficient brightness and contrast and also without shadows on your face.
- The photo should be a close-up of your full head and upper shoulders.
- You must look straight forward in the photo with a neutral expression and opened eyes.
- Your face cannot be obscured by your hair, head coverings, or facial ornaments.
- Glasses for medical reasons are allowed, but you must ensure that they won’t have flash reflection or cover your eyes.
- The background must be white or light-colored and thus you should wear dark-colored clothes in the photo.
- The photo should not have red eyes.
How to create an Oyster card photo for compliance
To accomplish your Oyster card photo, you can go to a professional photo shop. Infrom the photographer all the requirements for the Oyster photo, and follow his or her guidance to take it. Then you just need to wait for the photographer to send you the photos as he or her will process them well in accordance with the requirements.
If you are looking for a more convenient way, online photo tools are a good choice as well to create a compliant Oyster card photo, like AiPassportPhotos. Only three steps and you can own a standard Oyster card photo:
- Go to the website and upload a photo on it, which can be a new one you’ve just taken or the one you already had in the past.
- Then the site will crop size for the image automatically. At the meantime, it can change the background if you need and check whether the picture is compliant or not to prevent from rejection.
- When the processing is completed, please save the printable template, and have it printed and cut. Now you can use the photo for your Oyster card!
Conclusion
The Oyster card is the most recommended tool to travel on London’s public transport no matter for local residents or tourists. This article looks through many details about the card: its explanation, its cost, the ways to get it as well as the dos and don’ts for its photo. Hope it can provide help to you and wish you have a nice journey!
Erin Lo