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oyster card questions

We are making our first trip to England next month. We will arrive at Heathrow, but are initially passing through London, taking the tube to Victoria Station to travel by train to our first destination, then a week later returning via Victoria, and taking the tube again to King's Cross for another train to our second destination, and, finally, three days later, returning to London for two nights before we head back to Heathrow and home.

Long preamble, I know, but here come the questions: Is an oyster card time-limited, i.e., if we get them when we arrive, will they still be usable a week and a half later? Also, should we buy visitor oyster cards before we leave? Can they be purchased when we arrive at Heathrow? And what's the difference between a regular oyster card and a visitor card? Thanks for your help.

Posted by
5457 posts

The difference between the visitors and regular oyster is the way that the issue fee is totally non-refundable with the visitors card. The regular card has a £5 deposit that is refundable and can be bought at Heathrow.

In practice Oyster cards don't expire. People use them years later.

If you have a suitable contactless card or other method such as Apple pay you don't need an Oyster card at all now as you can use that payment method directly. See https://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/contactless for details.

Posted by
980 posts

I went a year and a half without using my Oyster Card (regular, not the Visitor card) and it still had the money it when I last used it and charged up fine. The only thing that does "expire" is the ability to access your Oyster Card account online if you haven't used it in a while but its on the order of several months.

I really don't get the point of the visitor card other than they will mail it to you before your trip. If you have time you can easily purchase an Oyster Card at Heathrow.

DJ