Oyster Card purchase amount

Firstly Oyster cards are very much old technology these days. You can just use a contactless card or phone or smart watch to pay. The system will charge you once a day and will work out the cheapest option for you.

If you do want to use Oyster cards (some people prefer to use the card rather than a credit or debit card) you can still buy them when you arrive. They cost £7 each and that is non refundable. As to how much cash to load on to them, as a guide the cap for travelling within zones 1-2, which will cover most of the central London sights, is currently £8.50 and will go up a little in March. You will also need more to get to and from the airport if you’re coming in and out that way.

Each person will need their own Oyster card.
Put about 30 pounds on each card.
As you use up some of that, more can be added to each card toward the middle of the week.
I use the Oyster card on transportation because getting it out all the time I'd rather lose an Oyster card than my credit or debit card.

Oyster is used on the tube--tap in & tap out.
The London buses--tap in but don't tap out.
The water taxi/Uber Thames Clipper--tap in, tap out.

If you have pounds left on your Oyster card at the end of your trip, you can just keep it for a return trip to London, even if that trip is 5 years later. Or get a refund. (The 7 pound cost for each card is not refunded. The amount remaining that you have added to the card is refunded.) Or give them to your friends, kids or grandkids who are coming to London.

There’s a kiosk in Heathrow. Last summer it had attendants to help answer questions and help you work the machine dispersing tickets. We didn’t get oyster cards because the attendant was pretty adamant that we didn’t need one if we had tap credit cards or Apple Pay on your phone or watch. Six of us did just fine with our credit cards, easy peasy and no extra costs involved.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with an Oyster card if you have a contactless debit card or Apple Pay on your phone/watch. You can just use these to tap in/out and the best fare is automatically calculated for you- it will never charge you more than the cost of a weekly pass across seven days of travel. Everyone will need to have their own mode of payment (two people can't use the same debit card to enter). The only thing to consider is your bank will likely charge you a foreign transaction fee for each tap but this should be just a few pence each time.

And now you can see that each person on this Forum has their own travel style, some using one method, others using another.
Every way described here will work.

When I was using an Oyster I'd never have more than £20 or so on it. I was never stuck for places to top up, at shops (convenience stores) or at stations.

Never registered an Oyster on TfL's system. I'd be into a negative balance sometimes when I was really skint. You can still travel (on the bus at least) if you have any positive balance, even if it's not enough to cover your fare. I'm sure I had to take advantage of that a few times waiting for payday.

On the Thames Clipper only tap in and out when the crew member tells you to, actually on the pier. Those fares are not included in your daily/weekly cap.
In particular when boarding don't tap in until the boat arrives and is actually boarding.
Oyster isn't valid on the special evening Illuminated River Tour run by the Clippers.
You can also use Oyster on the London Cable Car (again excluded from the cap).

There will not be a foreign transaction fee every time you tap, just once a day for the accumulated fee. And, of course, there will be a fee to pay for any cash you load on to an Oyster card in some form or another should you choose that. I.e. there will be a fee to pay whichever payment method you choose, unless you have or are able to get before you come, a card with no foreign transaction fees.

Gerry, I love that word "skint" although I realize that anyone who IS skint, probably doesn't appreciate that. :-)

My take on these stored-value cards that transit systems are forcing people to use is that it only benefits them. they don't need to deal with cash and, most importantly, they get your money in advance, make you pay for the card and it's quite likely that you won't use it all up. so then they get to keep it!

How many times have you have had a few bucks left on a gift card and just tossed it? Ka-ching! Tap and pay is just so simple, just do it.

"your bank will likely charge you a foreign transaction fee'

Foreign transaction fees are worth watching out for but are becoming far less common. I have cards with several banks, and none charge a fee.

Each person needs their own card, no matter if it is a bank card from home or an Oyster Card.
I’ve used the same Oyster Card for over 10 years, I just top it up when in London.

I prefer it to tap and pay, as I wouldn’t to drop and potentially lose my own cc or debit card and have that hassle while away from home.
If I lost an Oyster card then no big deal really.
Apple Watches or phone apps are not for me, but many people use only those.

GerryM. Thanks. I have two Oyster cards from a decade ago that have money on them. Good to know I can go negative if applicable to use it up…altho I think I have almost $20.00 dollars on one. I wouldn’t want to end up being like poor old Charlie on the MBTA who couldn’t get off for the sake of a nickel ”He’ll ride for ever through the streets of Boston as a man who never returned…” Fun song, sorry I went local … Now I will be singing that all day long…

Back to the amount you would need for a week, I think I used £30 or so for my last four night stay in Dec. ‘23.

If you are going to use Oyster, then I’d suggest keeping as little as possible on there and just topping it up at the kiosks. If you decide to use cash, you can use most coins to do at the kiosk, although don’t do this at rush hour if there’s a queue for the kiosk.

I found it a handy way to get rid of coins under £1, although I don’t think the kiosks take 1p or 5p coins.

These days, I use contactless for the tube and busses and almost never use cash for anything.

‘Assume you will return’ is a good motto but I’d still not want to bring home an Oyster with a lot of £££ on it. Easy enough to stick in a junk drawer and forget about it or plans change and you don’t end up in London for a few years.