TfL ticket offices to stop retailing oyster

[johncrossley]

Generally spending abroad using a card is a sensible thing to do. If yours still takes the archaic approach of a flat rate charge per transaction rather than a percentage, find a better bank!

There are quite a few decent UK issued bank accounts and credit cards that simply charge the interbank rate, so no flat charge or percentage commission. That's good for UK residents when abroad. But do bank accounts and credit cards in other countries offer such good deals when they go abroad, for example to London? I know there is the Revolut card which is available in many developed countries.

 

[mattdickinson]

I may be over-simplifying things, but I think it's down to cost. The current devices operate with a simple whitelist/blacklist capability. During the trial period your card had to be on the whitelist to work. Once the system went live you just mustn't be on the blacklist. I'd imagine that this functionality is not bespoke to TfL. Adding the ability to store a third list might be prohibitively expensive, especially if TfL are the first to want such a thing.

As an aside, the blacklist is updated very frequently, something like every 30-45 minutes.

According to page 5 of TRU#129, TfL plan to update their inspection devices during 2022. No mention of whether anything involving railcard discounts is planned to change though.

 

[Hadders]

Most foreign-issued contactless cards will be accepted by the TfL system, but there are some exceptions that will be rejected when touch-in is attempted. I'd suggest that actually using it with a foreign card could be unwise though, as you'd incur currency conversion losses and the card issuer could charge a foreign transaction fee on each payment.

You get one daily transaction rather than a series of transactions for individual journeys.

 

[XAM2175]

You get one daily transaction rather than a series of transactions for individual journeys.

Sorry, I meant it in the sense that you'd incur it over each travel day as opposed to a one-off transaction to load an Oyster card.

 

[Hadders]

Sorry, I meant it in the sense that you'd incur it over each travel day as opposed to a one-off transaction to load an Oyster card.

Ah ok, but it's not really any different to buying a daily ticket in that respect. If the commission is a % then it doesn't matter, I do agree it could be an issue if it was a fixed sum but I've no idea if fixed fees per transactions are a thing.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Ah ok, but it's not really any different to buying a daily ticket in that respect. If the commission is a % then it doesn't matter, I do agree it could be an issue if it was a fixed sum but I've no idea if fixed fees per transactions are a thing.

They are with some banks but the answer is to get a better bank.

 

[su31]

[Slightly off topic] I heard a long while ago that Barclays (the Oyster brand owner at the time) were looking at phasing out Oyster and then London Underground ticket machines would've been stocked with those pre-paid debit cards you see sold over the counter in shops.
That way, the card could've been used for purchases other than just travel.

 

[Taunton]

I don't believe Oyster was ever owned by Barclays, it was owned by Cubic (actually legally TranSys, principally part of Cubic), under a Private Finance Initiative, who devised the actual operation and hold the patents, which have been a source of legal/financial disagreement with TfL ever since. Cubic are a mainstream company in this area, they had previously worked for Hong Kong on the comparable Octopus card, and have since rolled it out elsewhere, such as Sydney, Australia, with the Opal card.

The Octopus in Hong Kong certainly is used for other than local travel - just about all corner shops etc accept it for purchasing everything, and it's expanded further to being the electronic identity card used for entry to offices and schools. It's actually quite difficult to do anything in Hong Kong without one. There were initial suggestions for the same in London, from the days before Visa etc debit cards were widespread, obviously Oyster Shops fitted with the kit would have been the first, as in Hong Kong, but this fell foul of further disagreements between TranSys and TfL. Using Oyster on the Riverbus or Cablecar, just for straight payment, outside any capping etc for the day's travel and not with TfL fares, uses aspects of this technology.

 

[mattdickinson]

[Slightly off topic] I heard a long while ago that Barclays (the Oyster brand owner at the time) were looking at phasing out Oyster and then London Underground ticket machines would've been stocked with those pre-paid debit cards you see sold over the counter in shops.
That way, the card could've been used for purchases other than just travel.

Barclays have never owned the Oyster brand. There were plans to extend Oyster functionality at one point to use in shops. Barclays also issued a combined Barclaycard and Oyster card (the Onepulse card)