Tourists ripped off by Transport for London

Please note that this post was written on 5 January 2007. The source links below were valid at the time of writing, however as I have no control of the source sites, the links may no longer be valid when you read this post. Please also note that the Oyster Card system has developed since the writting of this post, including the introduction of the Visitor Oyster Card. This post will not be updated to reflect these changes, so please make sure you visit the Transport For London website for up to date information about the Oyster Card.

In preparation for the 2012 Olympics, Transport for London (TFL) has come up with a fantastic money spinner - a fare increase of up to 33% on the Tube and buses.

A cash single on the Tube within zone 1 is now priced at £4, and a single on the bus has risen to £2. The increases make London the proud owner of the single most expensive public transport in the world, according to research carried out by Geoff Pope, London Assembly Transport Spokesman for the Liberal Democrats.

The uproar from Londoners who use public transport everyday would have been huge, if only there had been sufficient room and oxygen on the Tube for the commuters to fill their lungs with enough air to voice their opinions.

The response from Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, was: “I said that in order to pay for massive investment in our public transport system including new rail links and better services there would be three years of ten per cent fares increases. The savings and efficiencies made by Transport for London mean that the third planned ten per cent increase in fares for this year has been significantly cut back.

Nonetheless the huge investment that we are now making to make our transport system fit for the growth in passenger numbers is totally necessary and could not be ducked.”

He continued: “2007 is the year for London transport users to get onto the Oyster card in order to take advantage of the huge savings now available compared to cash” (source: Mayor of London).

On paper the Oyster card system does offer great savings in comparison to cash payments (see TFL’s Fares and Tickets brochure - page no longer available - 31/10/2007) . Here at the Travel Cooler, however, we have so far stayed away from the system because of our ingrained scepticism towards the cocktail of technology and Transport for London (TFL). But being great believers in people making up their own minds, lets look at just how practical an option an Oyster card is for tourists.

First of all I have yet to find a decent, online explanation from the TFL as to what exactly is the Oyster card. Brochures are available from Tube stations, but as a visitor you would really need to learn about the system before you come to London, unless you fancy spending half a day of your visit trying to find out how it all works.

Essentially the Oyster card is a plastic card that you swipe against a card reader at the beginning and the end of your journey, be it on the Tube or a bus. You load the card with credit prior to your journey and the correct fare is taken off your card when you swipe it at the end of your journey - in theory at least.

In practice, well as I have yet to use the Oyster card myself, I’ve researched the “questions and answers” area of the TFL web site, and here are some scenarios that you should be aware of before you buy your Oyster card.

• You’ll need to pay a £3 deposit per Oyster card, if you plan to use the card as Pay As You Go (source: TFL web site).
• If you’re travelling with under 16’s, they may need a photo id card (source: TFL web site - page no longer available - 31/10/2007), which costs £5 per card and must be applied for 4 weeks in advance.
• Only one person can travel on an Oyster card at any one time (source: TFL web site - page no longer available - 31/10/2007). So if you plan to travel with another adult at the same time, you need an Oyster card each.
• If your journey is interrupted, e.g. if you’re evacuated from a tube station for security reasons, and don’t get to swipe out, you’ll need to speak to either London Underground staff or the Oyster Card helpline to make sure you haven’t been overcharged for your journey (source: TFL web site).
• If you forget or are unable to swipe your card at the end of your journey, you may be charged the maximum cash fare (source: TFL web site).
• If at the end of your journey you find yourself with insufficient funds on your card, you may face a penalty (source: TFL web site - page no longer available - 31/10/2007). So you’ll need to calculate your fare prior to your journey and check that your have enough funds on your card.
• If you’re in London on a business trip and need a receipt for your journeys, you’ll have to either register your card online or call the Oyster Card helpline (source: TFL web site and Major of London web site)
• If you find that you have been overcharged for your journey, you’ll need to call the Oyster card helpline (source: TFL web site)
• You’re allowed up to 2 hours to complete your journey. Normally you’d think that is plenty of time, but I have often found that a half-hour journey can easily take more than 2 hours during service interruptions. If your journey exceeds 2 hours, you’ll need to contact London Underground staff or the Oyster Card helpline (source: TFL web site).
• If your card fails, you’ll need to have it replaced at a Tube station ticket office and will need to contact the Oyster card helpline to have any funds on the old card transferred (source: TFL web site).

I deliberately did not mention any of the benefits of the Oyster card in the above list, because TFL does a grand job of that themselves. So go to the TFL web site and read about the benefits and make up your own mind if the Oyster Card is worth your time. While you’re making up your mind spare a thought for the millions of Londoners who have to deal with this every day!

My verdict - the risk of something going wrong is too high, and I really wouldn’t want to spend any time of my visit on the phone to the Oyster Card helpline. So in my mind the Oyster Card is not really an option for the majority of visitors to London. This leaves many visitors with only one option, to pay the highly inflated cash fares.

So the award for best tourist rip off goes to Transport for London.

3 Responses to “Tourists ripped off by Transport for London”

1. jason says:

   30 October, 2007 at 23:32

   Just a quick mention to the “best rip off” post. Tousists do still have the option to purchase daily travelcards and bus passes without the need to pay cash fares on all journeys, its “fare” to say that the cash price is high for a single journey (mostly on the busses overall) but lets not forget the £3.50 paper bus pass for a whole day, and travelcards. I believe that the whole network which icludes all modes does give great value for money and flexibillity if you do a little homework, and as a well travelled person myself it does not take long to find out whats the cheapest.

   Reply
2. Anni Poulsen says:

   31 October, 2007 at 0:04

   Hi Jason, thanks for your comment. I can’t say, I agree, but that’s OK, there’s room for both of us.

   Almost ten months after writing this post I’m afraid that I still don’t think the network offers value for money for most short-term visitors. The Oyster Card is great for those of us who use the network on a regular basis, just not for tourists in my opinion, not the current system anyway.

   Update: I have just revisited TFL’s website and it looks like they have addressed some of the issues mentioned above by introducing the Visitor Oyster Card.

   Reply
3. RICHARD A. YAO says:

   12 January, 2008 at 14:27

   Jason your comments are mostly true. The card fails too often, and if you do not have money in your pocket to buy another ticket at the time, you cannot travel because the Ticket offices in most cases outside zones12 are not there to replace. Think about the costs of the phone calls who pays for it if a card goes wrong. what about the inconvieniences to the customer of a failed card or a surrendered card with value over ten pounds, where the card is not originally registered. At times if you are forced out of the system by your no fault and you are in hurry to go to your destination the ticket offices are unable to refund your money unless you call the oyster help desk for correction.When you load your card on the internet it must be instantaneous with this day and age technology but it must take more than a day to be able to load at aspecific station. PLEASE TOO MUCH OF A NUISANCE.

   Reply