Oyster card

Overview

The Oyster card is a payment method for public transport in London and some surrounding areas. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smart card. It is operated by Transport for London (TfL) and can be used as part of London's integrated transport network on travel modes including London Buses, London Underground, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), London Overground, Tramlink, some river boat services, and most National Rail services within the London fare zones. Since its introduction in June 2003, more than 86 million cards have been used. Oyster cards can hold period tickets, travel permits and, most commonly, credit for travel (pay as you go, or PAYG), which must be added to the card before travel. Passengers touch the card on an electronic reader when entering the system, and in some cases when leaving it; the reader validates the card and, when relevant, deducts the fare from the stored credit. Cards can be topped-up by continuous payment authority, by online purchase, at credit card terminals or by cash; the latter two methods are available at stations and convenience stores. The card is designed to reduce the number of transactions at ticket offices and the number of paper tickets. Cash payment has not been accepted on London buses since 2014. The card was first issued to the public on 30 June 2003, with a limited range of features; further functions were rolled out over time. By June 2012, over 43 million Oyster cards had been issued and more than 80% of all journeys on public transport in London were made using the card. From September 2007 to 2010, the Oyster card functionality was tried as an experiment on Barclaycard contactless credit cards. Since 2014, the use of Oyster cards has been supplemented by contactless credit and debit cards as part of TfL's "Future Ticketing Programme". TfL was one of the first public transport operators in the world to accept payment by contactless credit cards, after the tramways and buses of Nice, which began accepting NFC bank cards and smartphones on 21 May 2010. The widespread adoption of contactless payment in London has been credited to this. By 2016, TfL was one of Europe's largest contactless merchants, with around 1 in 10 UK contactless transactions taking place on its network.

Precursor

Early electronic smartcard ticket technology was developed in the 1980s and first tested by London Transport on bus route 212 from Chingford to Walthamstow in 1992. The trial demonstrated that the technology was feasible and that it would reduce boarding times. These results were then replicated on a larger scale in February 1994 when the "Smart Photocard" was launched and tested in Harrow on 200 buses running on 21 routes. Advertised as "the new passport to Harrow's buses", the £2 million trial was the largest of its kind in the world, and nearly 18,000 photocards were issued to Harrow residents. It ran until December 1995 and was also determined as a success: it reduced boarding times, was easy to use, and could record entry and exit stops and calculate the fare, the basis for pay as you go, which was introduced in February 1995. However, Seoul's Upass smartcard was the first to implement this technology on a wide scale, from late 1995, eight years before London introduced Oyster. In the UK, the first smartcard issued to the public was Nottingham's BusCard, in 2000.

Operator

The Oyster card was set up under a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract between Transport for London (TfL) and TranSys, a consortium of suppliers that included Electronic Data Systems (EDS), Cubic Transportation Systems (responsible for day-to-day management), Fujitsu, and WS Atkins (shareholders with no active involvement). The £100 million contract was signed in 1998 for a term of 17 years until 2015 at a total cost of £1.1 billion. In August 2008, following a number of technical failures, TfL decided to exercise a break option in the contract to terminate it in 2010, five years early. However, TfL said the break was intended to reduce costs and was not connected to the system failures. In November 2008, TfL announced a new contract with Cubic and EDS, two of the original consortium members, to run the system from 2010 to 2013. In 2026, the Indra Group took over from Cubic under a seven-year contract with options to extend.

Brand

The Oyster name was chosen after a lengthy research process managed by TranSys and approved by TfL. Two other names were considered, "Pulse" and "Gem", but "Oyster" was chosen because it was a fresh approach that was not directly linked to transport, ticketing or London. According to Andrew McCrum, of the brand naming consultancy Appella, who was brought in to find a name by Saatchi and Saatchi Design (contracted by TranSys), "Oyster was conceived, mainly, because of the metaphorical implications of security and value in the hard bivalve shell and the concealed pearl. Its associations with London through Thames estuary oyster beds and the major relevance of the popular idiom 'the world is your oyster' were also significant factors in its selection". The intellectual property rights to the Oyster brand originally belonged to TranSys. Following the renegotiation of the operating contract in 2008, TfL sought to retain the right to use the brand after its partnership with TranSys ended, and bought the rights in 2010 for £1 million.

Technology

The Oyster card has a claimed proximity range of about 80 mm (3.1 inches). The card operates as an RFID system and is compatible with ISO/IEC 14443 types A and B. Oyster readers can also read other types of cards including Cubic Transportation Systems' Go cards. From its inception until January 2010, Oyster cards were based on NXP/Philips' MIFARE Classic 1k chips provided by Giesecke & Devrient, Gemalto, and SchlumbergerSema. All new Oyster cards have used MIFARE DESFire EV1 chips since December 2009. From 2010, MIFARE Classic-based Oyster cards were no longer issued. MIFARE DESFire cards are now widely used as transport smartcards. In 2008, a fashion caught on for removing the RFID chip from Oyster cards and attaching it to wristwatches and bracelets. This allowed commuters to pass through the gates by "swiping" their hand without the need to take out a proper card. Although the RFID chips were charged in the normal way and no fare evasion was involved, TfL disapproved of the practice and threatened to fine anyone not carrying a full undamaged card, although it is not clear what the actual offence would be, were a case to be brought.

Architecture

The Oyster system is based on a closed, proprietary architecture from Cubic Transportation Systems. The card readers were developed entirely by Cubic, whereas development of the back office systems was started by Fujitsu and completed by Cubic. The system has the capability to interface with equipment or services provided by other suppliers. The Oyster website is not part of the closed system but interfaces with it. Similarly, Oyster readers are now embedded into ticket machines produced by Shere and Scheidt & Bachmann on the National Rail network.

In early 2007, TfL and Deloitte worked to migrate the on-line payment systems to a more open architecture, using a number of open source components such as Linux, to resolve issues of lock-in costs, updates, incorporation of new security standards of PCI DSS, non-scalability, low and inconsistent quality of service, and slower response time to business changes.

Registration and protection

Oyster cards can be registered, providing protection in case of loss or theft. Registration can be done online after the card has been used for a journey, or at a London Underground station, an Oyster Ticket Stop (shop) or a Travel Information Centre; to do so, the customer has to supply a security password and their postcode, which must then be cited when completing the registration online. Registration enables the customer to buy any product for the card and access to after-sales service, as well as protection against theft or loss.

Sales

Oyster cards can be purchased from a number of different outlets in the London area:

Ticket machines at London Underground stations, which accept banknotes, coins, and credit and debit cards. London Overground & Elizabeth Line ticket offices Online, using the TfL website Through the TfL app Selected National Rail stations, some of which are also served by London Underground Travel Information Centres About 4,000 Oyster Ticket Stop agents (usually newsagent's shops) By telephone sales from TfL. As well as the £10.50 fee for the card, a minimum purchase of £5 credit or a week Travelcard or Bus & Tram Pass is necessary at point of issue. Visitor Oyster cards can be obtained from Visit Britain outlets around the world, and from other transport operators, such as EasyJet and Gatwick Express, online, and from any ticket office. However, these limited-functionality cards cannot be registered. Any remaining credit on the card is refundable upon return of the card; the £5 price of the card is not refunded. Oyster cards were initially free, but a refundable deposit of £3 was subsequently introduced in May 2009, then increased to £5 in January 2011. Deposits and unused credit may be refunded by posting the card to TfL; refunds are available by cheque in pounds sterling, by bank transfer to a UK account, as credit to another Oyster card, or as a TfL web account voucher. Customers must provide proof of identity and address for refunds exceeding £15. Refunds of up to £10, including the deposit, can alternatively be claimed in cash at London Underground ticket machines. Although the £5 deposit was intended to cover the cost of the card itself, ticket machines have no facility to retain the card, so customers completing a refund transaction remain in possession of a deactivated Oyster card. For cards issued since February 2020, the £5 deposit was replaced by a card fee, which is credited to the card after the first transaction made more than a year after issue. On 4 September 2022, the card fee increased to £7 and became non-refundable. On 7 September 2025, the card issue fee was raised to £10. Unregistered cards can only be loaded with credit to use at adult pay-as-you-go rates, and adult 7-day Travelcards. Ticket vending machines on most National Rail stations will top-up Oyster cards and sell tickets that can be loaded onto Oyster. New Oyster cards are not available at most National Rail stations. At several main line termini, TfL runs Travel Information Centres, which do sell Oyster cards.

Reporting

Touch-screen ticket machines display the last eight journeys and most recent top-up amount. The balance is displayed on some Underground barriers at the end of journeys that have caused a debit from the balance, and can also be checked at newsagents and National Rail stations that provide a top-up facility. The Oyster Online service can also deliver regular Travel Statements via email. On request, TfL can provide a complete eight-week touch history for registered and protected Oyster cards, but records are not available for any earlier period. Oyster online also displays up to 8 weeks of journey history.

Touching in and out

While using an Oyster card on most journeys, the user taps the reader with the card at the beginning and end of the journey. This includes the London Underground, Overground, Elizabeth Line, and DLR services. Physical contact is not necessary, but the range of the reader is only a few millimetres. There are two types of readers, one in yellow, and the other in pink. On tram and bus journeys, passengers need only to tap the reader at the start of their journey. The exception is tram journeys to Wimbledon station, where trams arrive within the ticket gates; a touch-out is therefore necessary to leave the station.

Season tickets

Oyster cards can store bus passes of one week or more and a pay-as-you-go balance. They may also be used to store season tickets for Travelcards. An Oyster card can hold up to three season tickets simultaneously. Season tickets are Bus & Tram Passes or Travelcards lasting 7 days, 1 month, or any duration up to one year (annual). Travelcards are valid on all Underground, Overground, DLR, bus, tram and National Rail services within the zones purchased. Tube, DLR and London Overground Travelcards may be used on buses in all zones. Trams may also be used if the travelcard includes Zones 3, 4, 5 or 6. Although TfL asks all Oyster users to tap their card at entry/exit points of their journey, in practice Travelcard holders only need to "touch in" and "touch out" to operate ticket barriers or because they intend to travel outside the zones for which their Travelcard is valid. As long as the Travelcard holder stays within their permitted zones no fare will be deducted from the pay-as-you-go funds on the card. The Oyster system checks that the Travelcard is valid in the zones it is being used in.

Travel outside zones

If users travel outside the valid zones of their Travelcard (but within Oyster payment zones), any remaining fare due may be deducted from their pay-as-you-go funds (see below for how this is calculated). From 22 May 2011, Oyster Extension Permits (OEPs) were no longer required. Before that date, users who travelled outside the zones of their Travelcard, and whose journey involved the use of a National Rail service, were required to set an OEP on their Oyster card before travelling, to ensure that they paid for the extra-zonal journey.