Topping Up
So you’ve bought your Oyster card and used up your initial credit. What now? TfL provide a wide range of methods to top up the balance on your card. Which you use depends largely on your circumstances.
Auto Top-Up
For regular travellers this is probably the best option. Once set up you will never need to worry about running out of credit again. You can choose to add either £20 or £40 every time the balance on your card falls below £8. Whenever you start a journey and the balance is below £8 you will hear an extra few beeps as you touch in and your balance will be increased by your selected amount. This even happens on buses and trams. When the oyster reader transfers its transactions to the central system your credit or debit card is debited with the amount. This is what you need to do to set it up:
- If you haven’t already done so, you need to create an account on the Oyster website. Then you need to associate the card with that account.
- Select “Add/renew/top-up ticket” from the card menu.
- Choose “Pay as you go with auto top-up” and select an amount to top-up immediately (between £5 and £50 in £5 multiples) and the amount to auto top-up later (either £20 or £40).
- Click on “Continue” and select a station to activate the order from. This can be any tube, national rail, overground or DLR station or a tramstop. You can’t activate auto top-up on a bus, but once activated the actual top-up can be triggered on a bus.
- Click on “Continue” again and enter your credit or debit card details.
- If you complete this process before 11pm then your order will be available from the next day, otherwise it will be the day after. It remains available for 8 days. If you don’t collect (activate) the order within that time then the initial top-up charge will be refunded and you’ll have to start again.
- You will receive an email confirming your order and another when it is available at your selected station.
- Simply touch in as the start of a normal journey at that station. The immediate top-up will be added to your card and auto top-up will be activated. Unless the station was a tram stop you must remember to touch out again at the end of the journey.
Manual Top-Up
If you don’t want to use auto top-up for whatever reason, especially if you use your card infrequently, then there are a number of places to manually add credit.
- Oyster ticket stop shops.
- Tube, Overground, DLR and some National Rail stations*.
- Online at the Oyster website. Follow the same steps 1-8 above, but only select an amount to top-up.
* At some National Rail stations you may find that you can top-up at the ticket machine but not at the ticket office itself.
This page updated 02 January 2011.
106 Responses
4. Click on “Continue” and select a station to activate the order from. This can be any tube, national rail, overground or DLR station or a tramstop. You can’t activate auto top-up on a bus, but once activated the actual top-up can be triggered on a bus.
So to make this clear for me..
I can set up the Oystercard to auto top up at a tube station/overground for the first instance … later that week, if I hopped on a bus and the Oystercard balance then went over than (say) £5, I can be assured that the card would auto-top up there and then.
If the balance on your card is less than £5 when you touch in on a bus then it will add your auto top-up amount to your card. Your bank/credit card will be debited once the oyster reader on the bus gets back to the depot. I don’t know what happens if there is a problem collecting the payment, but they can blacklist lost cards and I imagine that this is what would happen if you didn’t rectify the issue.
They can send you an Oystercard in the post with auto top-up already activated if you only uses buses.
To access my journey history I topped up on line. I nominated my nearest tube station which is fine.. except that I don’t wish to travel by tube as my next few journeys will be by bus.
How do I validate my Oyster top-up without making a tube journey?.
Hi Dave,
It is possible for LU ticket office staff to cancel the entry token after you’ve touched in. They used to allow you to do that in the days before Oyster was accepted throughout National Rail in London. I suggest that you try to go to your station at a relatively quiet time and ask at the ticket office before trying to touch in whether they will be prepared to cancel the touch in. You’ll need to return to ticket window immediately after activating the gate, and don’t actually go through the gate, just expain to the gateline supervisor.
I hope this helps.
A very comprehensive site; thank you.
I have a fairly idle question: as an occasional user who tops up manually, why do I need to specify a specific station to activate the top up? This doesn’t usually present a problem, but it quite easily could (travel plans changing and so on), and seems an unnecessary restriction: other types of online purchases are immediately applied.
Hi Sohcahtoa,
That’s a nice easy question. Each station or tramstop or bus operates in isolation for most of the day. They all hook-up to the central database at night and transfer details of all their transactions. Meanwhile, your card contains the most up-to-date information about your useage. So, when you order top-up online it is literally sent to the server at the specific station you request. Thus you can use any gate at that station because they are all connected to their local server, but any other station has no idea about your top-up. This is also why you can’t specify a bus, becasue you can’t know in advance which particular bus you’d get.
You can get your up-to-date journey history at a tube station because it reads the card and displays what it finds. Online you need to wait for the transactions to be transfered to the central database before you can view them.
Hi, I just purchased a £20 top up for my oyster card and I didn’t realise that you have to activate it within 8 days since you bought the top up and won’t be going into London until 12th jan which is longer than 8 days!
Can I cancel the top up or what should I do?
Thanks.
Hi Lauren,
If you look at point 6 under auto top-up above you’ll see that if you don’t pick it up you’ll be refunded and have to start again. I need to make it clear that this applies to one-off top-ups as well as activating auto top-up. Thanks for raising the query.
Mike.
Hi,
If I top-up online now, will I be able to use my card in 2 hours time on a bus? I noticed that the start-date is not until tomorrow, which means that it’s not really convenient as I will have to find the nearest top-up point, which is a bit of a walk away.
Thanks.
Hi Faye,
I realise that the time has passed already, but the answer was no anyway. If you look at step 6 of the process it says it will always be at least the next day.
Thank you (a bit belatedly) for the reply. I had no idea until the system worked until recently – and am so used to making payments online and having them instantly applied!
Hi i have a 16+ Zip card can i top up my card online ?
Yes, you can. Zip cards work just like normal Oyster cards in relation to top up, and auto top up if you want.
If I’ve topped up online and nominated a train station to download the top-up, can I swipe the card at that station and then go and get on a bus? If not is there anyway of getting the money refunded sooner so that I can pay over the counter in a shop?
You can swipe at the station, but if you don’t then make a journey you will get a maximum fare charged. You could call the Oyster helpline who might be able to refund you quicker, but I’m not certain. Failing that, it will refund automatically after 8 days.
Auto Top-up is a great system and I’d recommend it to any regular PAYG user. It’s particularly useful if you travel mainly on buses, as it’s the only way to top-up on a bus. But you do first have to order online and activate it at a Tube station.
This year, TFL increased the minimum balance for Auto Top-up from £5 to £8. This tipped the balance for an occasional traveller like me: I don’t want up to £28 sitting wastefully on my Oystercard. So I decided to cancel my £20 Auto Top-up. But guess what? You must “order” the cancellation online to be “picked up” at a Tube gate, just like an online top-up! My life isn’t that regular and it’s taken me weeks to finally get it cancelled. Although my online cancellation order stated that it would only be available to pick up for the usual 8 days, it in fact remained on my account (“ready at gate”) for 14 days.
That’s useful to know, thanks. Also, it might not have made a difference to you but you can add or cancel auto top-up at any rail or dlr station as well as any tramstop. It’s only buses you can’t do it on.
And you will find that a touch-out as well as a touch-in will collect top-ups and auto top-up instructions.
Thank you for your comment. Whilst I can believe that touch out may well collect manual top up instructions, I am certain that it will NOT trigger auto top up. The reason is that auto top up is designed to keep your card in credit by topping up when necessary. If you finish a journey with £4 on your card you will not be very happy if another £20 is credited when you might not use the card for some time. I also have auto top up set on my card and I have often finished a rail journey with the balance under the auto top up trigger. It has never credited a top up in that situation.
I topped up this morning in a shop, but the money I put on my card is not yet coming up on my oyster card details online. Does this mean the top up didn’t work or will it register the top up when I swipe in on the bus?
I don’t know how often shops communicate with the central system but I wouldn’t worry about it today. If you use it on a bus it won’t get recorded centrally until the bus gets back to the depot and uploads it’s reader. If you use it on trains then the balance seems to get transmitted reasonably regularly, but the full journey history takes 1-2 days to catch up.
Hope that helps.
Hi there,
I topped up 10 pounds online and chose brent cross to activate my card. However, my plans changed and I left from Hendon instead – the card had nto been topped up so I had to do it manually with 5 pounds. the tenner has been taken out of my account but is not on my card – any ideas about getting this sorted?
Thanks
Frances
Hi Frances,
The top-up will remain at Brent Cross for eight days and can be activated either on entry or exit. After that time it will be cancelled and the money returned to your account.
Hi
Last Year I explained about my problems with p.a.y.g. top up. Guess what they are still there! I got an e-mail that £25 was ready to be picked up at Waterloo on 10/5/11. When I touched in there was no top up. The card did register but only showed the £5 I had on it previously. I then had to pay £20 cash to top up at my destination. Strangely when I returned to Waterloo on 13/5/11 I got the top up! This was no use as I am not going back to London in the foreseeable future. I have made a complaint by e-mail and asked for a refund.
a not so cheerful Toneser
You’re not having much luck, are you? I’d be interested to know what they say in their reply. Are these problems at Waterloo Mainline station? I wonder if you can give me some more details including platforms used each time. It might be that there is an issue at this station, possibly because it is so big.
Hi Mike
I used the entry in the Underground station itself, the one that leads to Bakerloo & Northern lines. I used a wide gate as I had a large bag. Although I used a narrower gate on return. I explained the problem to the station staff when I topped up my card at the final stop. He seemed to know there was a problem and advised I use a “standalone” scanner? There does not appear to be such a thing other than at DLR stations?. Do you think he meant the scanner at the top up machine? Any help would be appreciated. This must be a common problem so why is there not more help from TFL?
Toneser
I’ve sent you an email.
On my point and your reply on the 11th of April, it is correct that you will not trigger an auto-top up if you’re under £8 touching out. You will collect any manual top up (including both online and refunds) and if you have _activated or cancelled_ auto top up on your card, it will take effect on a touch-out.
I agree. Both activation and cancellation are requests made at the time by the user while the actual auto top-up is not.
Hi
I refer to my posts on the 14th May. I have now had a reply from Oyster Customer Services. There is no apology or explanation as to why I did not receive the promised p.a.y.g. top up at Waterloo station until my return journey. I did state I had no plans to return to London for some time. I was advised that I could apply for a refund at a TFL ticket office, however if the top up was paid with a mixture of cash and payment card then the refund would be referred to their refunds office. I could also post the card to them and obtain the refund and deposit.
I would then have to go through the hassle of obtaining a new card for my next visit! TFL now have an interest free loan from me!
I expect I will leave the card as it is, at least I have it topped up for my next visit whenever that will be.
Oh dear. Thanks for letting us know. As you say, it’s probably best to leave the top-up there rather than go through the hassle of returning it and ordering a new one. What I might suggest next time is order the top up for your destination tube station. As long as you have enough to cover the entry into Waterloo it will then add the credit at the end.
Sorting out refunds for occasional visitors is definitely something they need to look at.
Hi Mike
Yes I will take your advice for future trips. There is definitly a problem at Waterloo and TFL do not seem too bothered to rectify it.
Hi Mike,
Nice work on the website!
I have bought a monthly travel card to put on my Oyster online – the travel card was meant to begin on June 2. I have not been able to get to Brixton station, which was my collection point, and now the station is closed for the weekend. So even though I’ve been travelling my travel card has not been activated.
Do you know if there is a way to change the collection point? And is there a way to have the monthly ticket begin today, and not june 2nd?
Thanks so much for any help!
Cheers,
Jo
Hi Jo,
I’ve never added a travelcard to my Oyster so I’m a little unsure of procedures in this area. I’ve gone as far as I can without paying for a travelcard and I notice that it says it will be available to pick up from 5 days before it’s start date (or the next day if it’s due to start within the next 5 days) to 2 days after. If they operate a similar system to online top-ups then if you fail to pick it up within this time they will refund you and you’ll have to start again.
I don’t believe that it’s possible to change an order that is in the system, and you certainly can’t order a product online to start the same day, but you can go to any ticket-stop or Underground station and buy a new ticket in person. Your unpicked up ticket should be cancelled tomorrow as long as you don’t touch in or out at Brixton today.
Hope that helps.
Hi again Mike,
Thanks very much for your response.
In the end I was able to get into the station (even though it was closed) and touch-in. The cashier then was able to validate the travel card. I ended up using PAYG credit for about three days, and this overlapped with the travel card, so I’m hoping I can get this refunded. I spoke to one of the customer service guys at TFL and he said this should be fine.
Thanks again for your help!
Jo
Thanks for letting us know, Jo. I hope you get the credit refunded too; that would be a good result all round.
Hello
Does anyone know if I can activate a pay as you go top-up I make on the Oyster online website at a bus stop?
Thanks
Simon
Hi Simon,
I’m afraid the answer is no. The only top-up that is possible on a bus is when auto top-up has already been activated on your card and you board the bus with a balance below £8. Any order submitted online has to be sent to either a station or a tramstop.
Hope that helps
Mike.
Hi,
I only come to London occasionally and need to know what is the minimum balance I have to hold on the card. It is all Zone 1 but I read that a charge of £7.40 is made at the start of each journey so is this the minimum I need to have at all times? For example, if I start of with £8 balance, after one journey charged at £1.90, at the next there would only be £6.10 which is less than the £7.40 and not allow me to start it. Can you clarify please.
Robin
You need the minimum fare* from that station to be able to enter a station. As long as you touched in properly you will be allowed to touch out and leave a negative balance, but that must be cleared before making a further journey.
*If you are close to, or have reached, the appropriate cap for your travel then the minimum required balance is that which will take you to the cap. That may of course be zero.
I lived in for a couple of years, but moved back to New Zealand last year.
I have 2 Oyster cards that I would like to topup 10 pounds each, and give the cards to my brother, who is moving to London this year.
But I cannot see a way to topup cards without validation?
Is this possible?
I am in New Zealand so cannot validate by touching card on a reader.
And my brother will be arriving in London in August, but not sure where he will arrive.
Can I do a a topup online? I have online access to my oyster cards.
Thanks
Unfortunately you cannot topup without touching on a validator. Plus, the order only remains at the nominated station for 8-9 days.
Hi, I have just been to put a weekly travelcard on my oyster.
I have just realised the cashier has put a monthly card on my oyster by mistake. Is there a way to refund the monthly travelcard and issue me with a weekly now?
I am in holiday for two weeks this month and don’t want to waste all that money.
You’ll need to go back to the same office again. Explain what has happened and see what they suggest. The worst case would be a refund minus an admin fee, but I’d hope they wouldn’t charge that. If you can speak to the same clerk who might remember you then even better.
Good luck sorting it out.
Hi, I have opted to cancel my £40 auto top up as I am no longer such a frequent traveller. So I nominated a tube station to activate the cancellation, however I would now like to change the activation tube station as my journey plans have changed- is this possible? Customer services telephone system is currently down and I cant seem to do a manual top up to another station while this is outstanding. Thanks for any suggestions
Hi Tessa,
The cancellation will remain at the tube station for 8 days before being cancelled itself. I’m not sure whether the helpdesk can change that any quicker, I always end up having to wait whenever any orders/refunds don’t work out. I’m also not aware that there is only one top-up transaction allowed at a time, though I can understand why that might be the case. You could certainly top up at the ticket machine at any station (apart from South West Trains ones) or any Oyster ticket stop (shop).
It is a pain that to cancel auto top-up (usually because you no longer use the card that frequently) requires you to plan to make a journey.
I have purchased an Oyster card and nominated a station (Kilburn Park) but my journey starts at Paddington! Will i be able to use my Oyster at Paddington and get to Kilburn ….
Hi Phil,
You need to have at least the minimum fare from the station you start at on the card to be able to enter the system. At a zone 1 tube station this is £1.90. When you touch out at Kilburn Park it will apply the top up before adjusting your balance so you won’t hit a problem, although the fare to Kilburn Park is only £1.90 anyway.
i tried to top up my oyster card in a machine by credit card and i didnit swipe my oyter card for second time then my oyster is not topped and the machine took my money from my credit card, i want to know if i can have my money back? thank you.
You’ll need to contact the Oyster helpdesk the next day. They should then be able to see the error and agree how to rectify it.
Hi,
I’ve topped up my oyster card online and it mentions that I need to activate it. I chose Waterloo. Does the ‘activation’ simply mean that when I enter the tube gates using it activates it or do I have to go to a ticket machine to activate it, then go through the gates?
Thanks
Hi Rhian,
It will be added when either entering or exiting through the gates at your nominated station. There is no need to go to a ticket machine.
I hope you chose the right Waterloo, as the London Underground and the two National Rail stations with that name all count separately!
Thanks for that. I knew Waterloo rang a bell somewhere. I have a funny feeling that they’ve cludged it so that the mainline and Underground both work, but they haven’t quite got it right so some of the gates don’t. Let’s hope it worked out ok!
I did the auto top up but unfortunately the bank details don’t match with my oyster online. I changed the details after visiting my bank. By now my Oyster is cancelled. I have over 20pounds in my balance, meaning I didnt use their auto top up amt at all. This is my first time. I am willing to forego the card deposit as well as the balance but Oyster wants me to settle this auto top up amt of 20pounds. How do I go about this? I tried many times, yet the msg sorry, they are unable to blah blah blah…..i called many times yet my problem is not solved. I am so aggitated and sad because I don’t want to “owe” them anything. Can I send them a bank draft to settle this?
Hi bealing,
Can I just check I’ve got this right. You set up auto top-up and activated it, picking up a deposit at the same time. Was the deposit also £20? For some reason the transaction wasn’t honoured by your bank. You haven’t used the balance from your Oyster and TfL have cancelled the card so you now can’t use it. Yet they are still chasing you for the failed deposit?
I have to say that I think there is a communication issue somewhere. Someone isn’t understanding or explaining the situation very well. I don’t think you can send a bank draft, but you can go to an Underground station with cash or cards. If you explain exactly what has happened and ask them what needs to be done to sort it out. You shouldn’t lose anything, not even the deposit. You only lose the deposit if the card is thrown away.
I have to say that I’m a little confused because manual top up transactions are usually taken before being added to the card. It is only the auto top-up that happens after the event. Did your card details change between your initial manual top up and the first auto top-up?
Thanks Mike for replying to my query. It’s an auto top up, they said the details of my card doesn’t match with my oyster registered details. Now that I have changed to another credit card (London bank registered card, not the initial card which is not) made sure both sides details match, still the transaction doesn’t get thru. And I am in limbo, meaning I owe them 20pounds now. I will call them again and hope they will advise me to go to a station to pay up. I don’t mind doing whatever I can to settle this, it’s giving me nightmares, literally.
Please don’t have nightmares. If the credit card details are definitely correct, have you tried asking the bank why the transaction is being refused? In any event, try the helpline again and ask whether visiting a tube station can sort the problem out. It may be better to start again with a new card. If you hand back the old card at a tube station with the £20 (assuming the helpdesk agree that is possible) they should be able to transfer the deposit and balance to a new card. You can then try setting up auto top-up again on the new card.
I can’t help thinking that something has gone wrong in TfL’s system here and the wrong card is being used. Hopefully starting again might cure it.
Hi there. I just purchased an Oyster card and had it delivered this morning. I am confused though. I hear that I need to nominate a station to first ‘touch in’ and therefore ‘Activate’ my card. At no stage was I asked to nominate a station in my online application. Neither did my letter accompanying my card specify any station or how to nominate one. So where do I go? Will any station be acceptable? Nothing is easy in life anymore. Just more complicated and ambiguous.
Hi Alastair,
I’m 99% certain that you don’t need to activate a card ordered online. It will come with whatever amount you asked for already recorded on it. If you also asked for auto top-up it should have that recorded as well. You only need to nominate a station when you already have the card and are purchasing new top-up online. This is because everything has to be recorded on the physical card as there is no communication between the card and the central system at the moment when you touch in or out.
Hope that helps.
Thankyou Mike. I guess that means I can just start using the Oyster card immediately (within 8 days) and make sure I touch in and out between stations properly. I do have the auto top-up feature too. I assume from your latter comment that the nominated station holds the top-up data and then sends the information to the physical card, rather than it all going straight through the central system all the time. Presumably because that would take time and be like an information overload for the main system. Then all the information gets sent over later. Anyway, thanks for your help Mike. It seems clearer to me now.
Yes, you should be able to use it immediately, and don’t worry about the 8 days, that is only for picking up online ordered topup. Whenever you place an order online it is sent to a station to be added on touch in or out. Once auto top-up is activated the system will add the amount selected whenever you touch in anywhere with less than £8 on the card. Later on, when the station or bus uploads it’s data, the central system will then charge your bank card and send you an email.
when i top up on line i am required to nominate a station to ‘activate’ the top up. if i arrive in London at London Waterloo mainline, do i have to enter a tube gate to ‘touch in’, and if so, can i ‘touch out’ again immediately without making a journey but effectively activating the card? will this incur unecessary costs?
or, can i simply ‘touch in’ as i pass through waterloo mainline on my way into london. to activate the card… again without incuring costs for a journey i dont make.
the reason i ask is when i arrive in london waterloo i will likely walk to my first engagement and use the Oyster card later in the day – at another station unknown at this time so can’t specifiy an activation station on line.
does any of this make sense??
Hi Stefan,
You cannot usually touch in and then out again without being charged for a journey. Your top-up will be loaded at either touch in or touch out at your nominated station, so if you have some credit left you could pick up at the end of your journey. Otherwise, you can order the top-up upto 11pm the night before if that helps to know where you might be. Finally, the ticket machines at Waterloo mainline can now do manual top-up, so you could do it all when you arrive.
thanks mike; some very good detail on here!!
i wonder if i arrive at Waterloo mainline and then put an additional mimimal top-up amount on using a ticket machine if that would serve to ‘activate’ the online top-up too?
Sorry, Stefan. Online top-up can only be activated as part of a journey.
Hi,
I have still £4 credit in my Oyster card, but would like to top up as I’m likely to use more than £4 this weekend.
If I top up manually on line, say £20 (not auto-top up), do I have to use all my credit in a certain period of time?
What happens if I can’t “activate” the card during the period of time?
Hi Kyoko,
Your credit lasts until you use it, it never expires. You need to touch in or out at your nominated station to pick up your top-up within 8 days, but then it will stay until you use it. Once you pick up the top-up your balance will suddenly increase by £20.
Hope that helps.
Hi,
Yesterday I top-up my oyster card at ticket machine at Earls court station (pay as you go) for 10 pound, and before I touch the yellow sign to finish (after I purchase by my debit card), I accidentally cancel this top-up process. On the screen it also said it is cancelled. So after that I top-up 10 pound again, this time is ok I checked the card and it top up 10 pound. Today I check my bank account it shows that I pay for TFL 20 pound not 10. Or that 10 pound will refund back to my account later? Do you have any suggestion what should I do? Best,
Hi Marisa,
My first port of call would be the Oyster helpdesk. They should have a record of what happened and know how this situation is handled. If they cannot resolve it then I would contact your bank and dispute the amount deducted. But try the helpdesk first.
Hello Mike, yesterday I ordered payg top-up online. I nominated Kilburn High Road because I know I will be travelling from there tomorrow morning and I have received the e-mail telling me the money is ready to be uploaded. However, my plans for today have changed and I will be travelling home on the tube, but not via Kilburn High Road. Will my top-up still be waiting for me at Kilburn High road tomorrow morning despite me having made a different journey today (I have enough money on my card for today’s journey).
Hi Louise,
Yes, no problems. The money will remain at your nominated station until you touch in or out there within the 8 days following the order. It doesn’t matter what else you do in the meantime.
Hi,
I have a spare Oyster card for friends from abroad stopping by, but it seems I cannot top it up online because one can only register one Oyster card number under an account (and I already have my own one registered of course). How can I proceed knowing I have given the card to my next friend coming ahead of his trip and now would like to top it up online so that he doesn’t lose too much time queuing at Heathrow ?
Hi!
I was doing the manual top-up on one of the DLR stations this morning, but forgot to touch the reader for the second time. Obviously, my card has not been topped up. Did I lose the money or can I claim a refund? I kept the receipt
Thank you
Hi Steffie,
You can have more than one Oyster card attached to an online account; indeed I do this myself. When logged in to Oyster online you select “Add existing card” from the menu on the left sidebar. You’ll need the card number and the security answer if it is registered.
Hope that helps.
I’m sure you should be able to claim a refund. Call the Oyster helpdesk or visit the ticket office at an Underground station and ask them what to do.
I am, having difficulty making a payment online to my Oystercard and getting the message “Sorry, we are unable to process your payment at this time. ….”. My bank has confirmed that the payment is being authorised and the address matches that which I can see against my Oystercard account.
Sorry to hear that, Simon. You’ll need to call the helpdesk on that one as there is clearly an issue with the Oyster system.
If i top up today can i use it today? I’ve added money but it’s not showing up! Will i be able to get home later?!?
Hi sg,
If you have topped up online then no, this process is activated the next day. If you top up at a station or ticket stop then it should be immediate.
Hi
I topped up my oyster card with £5 at stanmore on 12th November. When i reached Wembley park i had problems with my card. I was told card was damaged and the £5 didn’t go on (i have receipt) The man gave me a new card with the balance i had already minus £1.30 for the journey. I called oyster helpline only to be told i will only get partial refund £3.20. This seems unfair as it not my fault the £5 did not go on to my card. Why should i lose out? I used the online form to complain and had no answer, Please advise
Hi Graham,
That doesn’t quite seem to add up. I must admit that I’ve had slow responses before from the helpdesk email. They probably will respond eventually. The only other thing you can do is write to the helpdesk office. Oyster card helpline, 1st Floor, Albany House, 55 Broadway, London SW1H 0BD.
When adding PAYG from a tramstop, does it automatically deduct £1.30 for a journey?
Yes, unless the card has capped (either by making 4 bus/tram journeys or a travelcard cap).
Random trivia: If you touch in to continue a journey when an OSI applies, you will never trigger auto-topup. For example, if you have £9 credit and touch in at Baker Street, then touch out at London Bridge LU (£7.10 left) and touch in again at London Bridge NR, you will not auto-topup.
Cheers for that Thomas,
It does seem logical though. When touching in at the end of an OSI you are not starting a journey which is the only time auto top-up should be triggered.
Hi
This has already been answered I think but just wanted to double check. I’m using a bus on boxing day as the trains are not working. I want o use my oyster but don’t have much credit. If I try and top up on line I can’t activate it as I’m only using a bus. Does that mean the only way I can top up is to go into a shop? Not sure how many will be open on boxing day. Probably have to pay cash on the bus which is a bit annoying!
Hi Michelle,
You could top it up today at a tube station or NR ticket machine. There should be some newsagents open on Boxing Day as they do print papers. Many NR stations have ticket machines outside which will still be working. Hope you work it out.
Hi,
For people abroad who want to visit Londen with a pre paid visitors Oyster Card: they can order a card online at transport for Londen. Whilst ordering online there is a activation fee of 3 pounds. For the first use, can you travel straight away with the card at the tube or do I need to register it somewhere first? Greetings from the continent, Peter.
Hi Peter,
You can use the card straight away. Also, if you plan to return to London later then make sure you keep the card as it never expires. You don’t get the £3 back so you don’t want to be paying that every trip.
Hi this is Muhammed,
I had done a oyster top-up of 20 pounds on 5/1/12 and i followed the procedure correctly but when i checked the top-up amount was not on my oyster card and instead they had debited the amount from my debit card. Now can anyone help me in getting a refund or what is the procedure to get my money back???
Hi Muhammed,
You’ll need to contact the Oyster helpdesk. They should be able to assist. If you don’t get any joy there then you could contact your bank and dispute the transaction.
Hi Mike
I bought an annual season ticket zones 1 to 4, a couple of months ago (using a company cheque, not a travel warrent) through a season ticket loan agreement with my ex-employers.
I subsequently left the firm and have no need for the ticket anymore. When I left the firm, they deducted the balance of the loan from my final pay packet.
If I were to apply for a refund (Oyster travel card), can I:
1 Do this at any station?
2 Will the refund go back to my ex-employees to return to me? How long does this usually take?
3 Can I just exchange the ticket for just a zone 3 and 4 travel card for the remainder of the term of the ticket and be refunded any difference?
I would be grateful if you could help me out with the above or give me a steer in the right direction. I have been on the TFL website/google/etc and cannot find a clear answer.
Regards
Johnny
Hi Johnny,
You can apply for a refund at any underground station, but the refund may need to be sent by cheque. It should go to you because you hold the ticket. Your firm supplied you with a loan which has been repaid. If you reckon you can make use of a zone 3-4 travelcard then exchanging is the way to go because you will get more value back. It’s probably best to go to a larger underground station outside of the peak hours.
Hope that helps,
Mike.
Thanks Mike, your advice is much appreciated.
Regards
Johnny
Hi Mike, I would love auto top up but only ever use the bus as its too difficult to use the tube stations near me with 3 small children. Don’t use other stated transport options either. Is there any way of starting auto top up without having to take a journey on trains, dlr, tube etc? Eg at a station desk? Thanks Sharon
Hi Sharon,
Yes there is a way. You need to order a new card online. You can order a PAYG card with auto topup already enabled and at least £10 credit. If you then take your old and new cards to a tube station ticket office they should be able to transfer or refund the credit and deposit from the old card.
Alternatively you can try ordering auto top up from your nearest tube station, then before picking it up speak to the ticket office and ask if they’ll cancel the entry charge. If they agree, you then touch in and return to the ticket office. It’s best if you chose a quiet time, but I’m not certain that staff have to do this anymore. I’d recommend the new card personally.
Hi..
I topped up my oyster on Monday this week as normal for a weekly travel card.. I went to and from work on Monday but have been sick the rest of the week. Could I get a refund for part of this as it hasn’t been used. This happened the other week and had to lose out on the money I had spent because it hadnt been used. Thanks laura
Hi Laura,
You can’t get refunds just because the ticket isn’t used unfortunately. You might have been able to get something if you’d surrendered it on Tuesday, but there would have been an admin fee deducted. It’s also not pro-rata, so after 3-4 days there is no value left. I hope you’re better soon.
I recently tried to top up at a ticket stop (shop) with a single bus journey (£1.35) and was told that the minimum i could top up was £2. Obviously, I did not want the additional 65p and was skeptical about this minimum charge so found a different shop (when i asked about a minimum charge the man looked at me like i was insane). I know that shopkeepers get 2% of the transaction value but why if we only need a single journey should we have to pay more? Is this down to shopkeepers discretion or, as I would think common sense, is a minimum charge supposed to be the minimum that could be topped up to actually make a trip?
Hi Mike, I am seeing you helping people. I need a suggestion. Today i went to make a weekly bus pass my oyster card, the first time my oyster was not recognised by the machine, there was a error message saying i need to touch oyster again. but the process terminated saying it hasnt charged for the transaction. I did successfully second time. But when i see my bank balance it has charged for both. What can i do now?
Thank you for your suggestion.
Hi Jeff,
Minimum top-up levels are entirely at the discretion of the vendor. Many Underground stations enforce a £5 minimum to encourage people to use the machines where anything from 5p upwards is possible. What I would say is that the balance on the card never expires, so your money is safe. And if the card is registered then you can even get a refund of balance if the card is lost or stolen.
Hi Suman,
You need to contact the Oyster helpdesk. They should be able to help you, but if not then contact your bank and dispute one of the charges.
Hi Mike,
I have just renewed my monthly travelcard for the first time online tonight (to start monday 6th). I’m confused by the email receipt slightly. Am I right in thinking that if I just use my card as normal tomorrow it will automatically register my purchase or do I have to scan the card on one of the top up machines?
Thanks,
Great website by the way!
Hi Ali,
Sorry for the delay replying. Yes, when you touch your card to start or end a journey at your nominated station it will register the travelcard to start from the start date. It will even do this on the start date so you will switch to the travelcard from PAYG at the instant you touch in.
Hope that helps.
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