This Ordinary Life

Today I will be sharing with you Transport of London (TfL)'s, the governing body that sits behind the Tube, vision for the future, the OysterCard. This is a must have for anyone that plans on being in London for a week or more.

This is a charge-card based system that is aimed as getting more people through the Tube's barriers at a faster rate and much more conveniently. It can be used on the Tube, public buses, the Tram (limited streetcar system in the south of the city) and some normal overland trains. At the moment it is also a very cheap way to travel with tube ticket prices in Zone 1 (£1.50) half the price or normal single tickets (£3.00). Oyster prices on the bus are also cheaper at £0.80 vs. £1.50 normally.

The way it works is that it allows you to either charge the card with money (this can be done either at tube stations or a number of local shops) which is pay-as-you-go or you can purchase a multi-trip ticket (multi-day, monthly and annually) which activates your card with the details of the ticket you purchased. The smart thing is that even if you pay-as-you-go, you should never pay more than the price of a daily ticket. Just to let you know that they only brought this in after great uproar from the public when they were spending several times the daily ticket rate!

TfL have also looked to next generation internet technology as you can manage your card online. This includes topping up your card and buying multi-trip tickets. This website is also very good for claiming back the money for delayed trips (20 minutes or more) as this is a little known fact to most travellers.

The foundation of this system are sensors at all tube stations that you have to swipe your card over when entering and exiting the public transport system (except for buses where you only swipe when boarding). These sensors are linked to a sophisticated computer system that recognises the type of card you have and registers where you swiped. It then deducts moeny from your card or validates your multi-trip ticket as appropriate. The fact that it registers where you are is a bit Big Brother, but it can be a bit entertaining as you can choose to view the last 5 journeys you made when recharging your card at a ticket machine.

The system actually works quite well, but does still have a few shortcomings...

- When the system doesn't register you, your go through the barriers to quickly and it still is registering the person in front of you or you forget to swipe somewhere where barriers are open. The system then registers an incompleted journey, which you then resolve by paying the difference at the ticket window. However, I am told this also deactivates the daily capping of pay-as-you-go users, even if you resolve the incomplete journey. When this happened to me, I was told "that is what you get for not swiping in and out". A very forgiving system.

- The other problem is that there is not an option to have your card automatically topped up. Therefore, it is up to the user to either go online or wait in line to put money on their card or to validate it with a new ticket. This occassionaly leads to uncomfortable situations where you are turned away from a bus (you can't charge up your card on the bus or in a train) because there isn't enough money on your card and nowhere to top it up. Automatic top-ups are in use for a number of other pay-as-you-go systems such as Toll Passes in the US. So, I hope TfL will hear my cry and introduce this in the near future.

All in all and despite a few minor short comings, an Oystercard is the must have accessory for travellers in London.