On 30 Oct, 15:02, "Stephen Osborn"
wrote:
Sorry if this has been covered before but I searched & could not find it.

I have an Oyster PAYG and have friends staying with me for the weekend.
They live way out of London and so it does not make sense for them to get
Oyster cards. *When we travel on the bus together can I use my Oyster card
to pay for them as well?


A definite No - an Oyster card can only ever be used by one person at
a time.


On the TFL site it says that you can share an Oyster card if it has pay as
you go with Auto top-up, however I don't have Auto top-up and that answer
does not make it clear that multiple people can share teh card at the same
time.


If the card is just being used in 'PAYG mode' then it is transferable
regardless of whether or not it has Auto top-up enabled. If a
Travelcard or Bus Pass is loaded on the Oyster card then technically
speaking it is not transferable, though this rule is virtually
unenforceable (though I suppose TfL and ATOC might possibly be
interested in an annual Travelcard that was being systematically
shared by a number of people).

There are some ambiguities here - is it legit to lend your Oyster card
that's loaded with a zones 1&2 Travelcard to a friend so they could
use it to pay for a Tube journey in zone 6 (they'd only be using it
for PAYG after all)? I would strongly suspect that's verboten. What
about lending your friend an Oyster card loaded with a Bus Pass so
they could use it on the Tube (and only on the Tube)? I also suspect
that would technically foul the rules.


Also on the TFL site it says that you can lend your Oyster card for visitors
to anyone when you are not using. *That implies that two people cannot use
it at the same time but does not make it clear if the restriction only
applies to Oyster card for visitors or to all Oyster cards.


It applies to all Oyster cards.

Day Travelcards are probably what you're after. Or you could obtain a
few extra Oyster cards and hold on to them so future visitors could
make use of them,