Great Western Coffee Shop

Oyster cards have been with us since 2003. Initially they were provided free, but in 2009 a refundable deposit of £3 was introduced, and in £2011 this was increased to £5.

Should you ever want to cancel your Oyster card, TfL have always been happy to give you a refund. This can be done at any tube station ticket machine so long as your remaining credit is £10 or less. The machine returns your £5 deposit and your spare credit, in cash, then cancels your card. Refunds of over £10 PAYG have to be completed by post.

It's been estimated that over 60 million Oyster cards haven't been used in the last twelve months, and that TfL are sitting on £400m of our money. A lot of people keep an old card lying around in case they ever need it, even though the relentless march of contactless makes it less likely that they ever will. But the real issue isn't obsolescence, or forgetfulness, it's disposability.

Of the 9 million Oyster cards issued each year, less than a quarter are still being used four weeks later and only 10% are still in play after a year. That's a significant level of card churn, and can't simply be explained by tourists going home.

So last week TfL introduced a significant change to encourage people to hold on to their Oyster cards for longer. They changed the £5 refundable deposit to a £5 fee.

Article continues ...

Oyster pay as you go credit no longer needed

You can get a refund.

Claim a refund in person

If your remaining credit is £10 or less, you can get a refund for the credit, and any deposit, from a Tube station ticket machine.

You Oyster card will be cancelled when we process this refund.

You need to pay £5 for an Oyster card.

If you got your Oyster card before 23 February 2020, you can get your £5 refunded when you don't need your card anymore. If you got your Oyster card on or after this date, you can get your £5 refunded once you've used it for one year.

Oyster cards aren't accepted at stations between Reading and Iver.

I'm totally confused now.  I have had an OYSTER Card for a few years now, but probably only use it once or at most twice a year, not living within 250 miles of London.  Can I still use it, and if neccessary top it up online or would it be more sensible to cancel it completely and just pay contactless when I need to?

You're asking a question that isn't answered by TfL because nothing has changed - as far as I know, all Oyster cards ever issued are still valid, and the latest change is not retrospective.

The advantage of an Oyster card over contactless is that you can link a railcard onto it and get discounted fares. For very occasional use (less than once per railcard renewal) this is hard to do, as you need to find a staff member at a TfL station and get them to do the linkage at a ticket machine.

Thanks.  I think I might just cancel the card as I don't have any discount railcards (and don't need them as I already, being an ex-railwayman, have free travel).

Another irritation with Oyster is the auto-top-up. Originally set at a GBP10 top-up when your credit fell below GBP10, so the most you had on your card was  GBP19.90. Now it is a GBP20 top-up when your credit falls below GBP20, so you card can hold between GBP20.10 and GBP39.90. Even though I visit London maybe half a dozen times a year, the auto-top-up has been a useful feature. Now, I think it is an expensive luxury. I would just use contactless, except my old-geezer's card won't get recognised!

People travelling into London are being urged to avoid using Oyster cards if they are only making a few journeys a week.

Passenger watchdog London TravelWatch has raised concerns over the automatic top-up facility for the cards, which has been raised from GBP10 to GBP20.

It said this could result in someone using an Oyster to pay for a GBP1.50 bus journey - then ending up with a much larger amount being debited from their bank account.

TravelWatch are it seems trying to say there's a flaw in the system as the optional auto-topup facility isn't necessarily the best arrangement for anyone who just makes occasional cheap journeys and is on a tight budget so doesn't want the money sitting on the card ready for next time...but that's not who it's aimed at. It has to top up by something approaching the highest fare as it can't know where you are going next so just adding a small amount may not be enough. If that's not what you want then topping up by a smaller amount in person is the best approach, or just use a bank card to travel if you don't have the complication of a linked Railcard.