Visited this NG once before and got some good advice. Misplaced some of it
g. Would someone mind repeating the following:
From Heathrow Terminal 4, where does one go to get a PAYG Oyster Pass.
Following that, the path to the Piccadilly Line.
MLD

On Apr 13, 6:38 pm, "MLD" wrote:
Visited this NG once before and got some good advice. Misplaced some of it
g. Would someone mind repeating the following:
From Heathrow Terminal 4, where does one go to get a PAYG Oyster Pass.
Following that, the path to the Piccadilly Line.
MLD


Heathrow Terminal 4 has its own Underground station on the Piccadilly
line, so simply go to the ticket office there - ask for an Oyster card
with whatever amount of PAYG credit you want on it. There is a £3
refundable deposit for the card. You can either provide your details
and have it registered, or otherwise have an unregistered card.

The one alternative is to buy an Oyster card before you arrive in
London - if you live in certain countries VisitBritainDirect will sell
you a "Visitor Oyster card" in your local currency and send it to you
by post. See this webpage for more information (confusingly it refers
to Oyster PAYG using its old name "Pre-Pay"):
http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/oyster/

Note that "Visitor Oyster cards" are functionally the same as standard
Oyster cards, except (a) they are unregistered and (b) there isn't a
refundable deposit, rather there is a small fee charged instead.

I'd advise anyone arriving at Heathrow Terminals 1, 2 or 3 who need
tickets to at least try their luck at the TfL Travel Information
Centre which is bang opposite the entrance to "Heathrow Terminals
1,2,3" Underground station as it never seems to be as busy compared to
the ticket office at the station proper. There is however no such
facility at either Terminal 4 or Terminal 5 at Heathrow, but I don't
think the queues can be as bad at either of those locations though.

(A bit of background with regards to the geography might be helpful
here - Terminals 1,2 and 3 are all clustered together in a central
area, whilst both Terminals 4 and 5 are some distance apart and as
well as having separate stations they also have separate road access
too.)

Hope you enjoy your time here.

The one alternative is to buy an Oyster card before you arrive in
London - if you live in certain countries VisitBritainDirect will sell
you a "Visitor Oyster card" in your local currency and send it to you
by post. See this webpage for more information (confusingly it refers
to Oyster PAYG using its old name "Pre-Pay"):
http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/oyster/

I never knew that. But a quick looks shows the price is a *little bit
high* - in part perhaps because the GBP-EURO exchange rate used is what
it was not what it is (sob). A 10 GBP Oyster Card costs 18,45 Euro
including delivery to Germany. On the other hand, the UK needs the
money so please buy early and in bulk!

If you know someone in the UK you trust with your money, or who trusts
you with their money, it would be cheaper for them to buy an Oyster card
and post it to you. I know of no barrier to that. And if there is a
barrier I am sure someone here will educate me
--
Robin

In message
, at
11:21:06 on Mon, 13 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:
There is a £3 refundable deposit for the card. You can either provide
your details and have it registered, or otherwise have an unregistered
card.

Isn't there some issue to do with refunding people with overseas
addresses?

The one alternative is to buy an Oyster card before you arrive in
London - if you live in certain countries VisitBritainDirect will sell
you a "Visitor Oyster card" in your local currency and send it to you
by post. See this webpage for more information (confusingly it refers
to Oyster PAYG using its old name "Pre-Pay"):
http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/oyster/

Note that "Visitor Oyster cards" are functionally the same as standard
Oyster cards, except (a) they are unregistered and (b) there isn't a
refundable deposit, rather there is a small fee charged instead.

And there are some vending machines that sell them. LHR T4 is such an
obvious place to have such a machine, I'm sure they won't have installed
one...
--
Roland Perry

On Apr 15, 12:07*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
11:21:06 on Mon, 13 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:

There is a £3 refundable deposit for the card. You can either provide
your details and have it registered, or otherwise have an unregistered
card.

Isn't there some issue to do with refunding people with overseas
addresses?

AIUI the deposit and unused credit can be refunded in cash in a
straightforward over-the-counter transaction at a Tube station ticket
office if it's under a certain amount, but I don't know what that
amount is.
See this TfL Help page:
https://custserv.tfl.gov.uk/icss_csi...entityNum=3334

I think that if the card is registered then you'd need to quote the
answer to your security question. If the card is not registered then I
think it may have to be registered first before the money could be
returned. I am, as you can see, rather hazy on the details with
regards to this all! (Unfortunately I can imagine some ticket office
bods might be similarly hazy on these matters!)


The one alternative is to buy an Oyster card before you arrive in
London - if you live in certain countries VisitBritainDirect will sell
you a "Visitor Oyster card" in your local currency and send it to you
by post. See this webpage for more information (confusingly it refers
to Oyster PAYG using its old name "Pre-Pay"):
http://www.visitlondon.com/travel/oyster/

Note that "Visitor Oyster cards" are functionally the same as standard
Oyster cards, except (a) they are unregistered and (b) there isn't a
refundable deposit, rather there is a small fee charged instead.

And there are some vending machines that sell them. LHR T4 is such an
obvious place to have such a machine, I'm sure they won't have installed
one...


Pedantry time! The vending machines do not sell "Visitor Oyster cards"
as such - rather they sell unregistered standard Oyster cards, or
rather I should say they 'vend' them as the £3 deposit is refundable
(in theory at least!).

The principle difference between "Visitor Oyster cards" and standard
Oyster cards is that the Visitor version does not have a refundable
deposit, instead there is a non-refundable "fee" charged when they are
purchased. I don't know whether it is possible to register a Visitor
Oyster card at a later stage - at some point I suppose I could do an
experiment by obtaining one and then attempting to register it. (With
'standard' unregistered Oyster cards it is possible to register them
at a later stage.)

Some of the Oyster vending machines sell Oyster cards with no credit
pre-loaded for £3 (i.e. the cost of the deposit), some sell Oyster
cards with minimal credit pre-loaded - I've seen ones selling cards
for £5 with £2 credit pre-loaded, not sure if there are any other
variations.

If you feel like you're suffering from deja vu then that's because we
did this whole topic at length a while back! Your well argued point
was that Oyster cards with a substantial amount of credit pre-loaded
on them should be sold from vending machines at major points of
arrival into London such as airports and termini stations. (Whether or
not they'd be branded "Visitor" is not so crucial).

In message
, at
06:36:26 on Wed, 15 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:
Some of the Oyster vending machines sell Oyster cards with no credit
pre-loaded for £3 (i.e. the cost of the deposit), some sell Oyster
cards with minimal credit pre-loaded - I've seen ones selling cards
for £5 with £2 credit pre-loaded, not sure if there are any other
variations.

I've only seen them selling £5 ones. I thought they were non-refundable
(and therefore in effect "Visitor Cards"), but if you say they are
normal ones...
--
Roland Perry

On Apr 15, 2:54*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
06:36:26 on Wed, 15 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:

Some of the Oyster vending machines sell Oyster cards with no credit
pre-loaded for £3 (i.e. the cost of the deposit), some sell Oyster
cards with minimal credit pre-loaded - I've seen ones selling cards
for £5 with £2 credit pre-loaded, not sure if there are any other
variations.

I've only seen them selling £5 ones. I thought they were non-refundable
(and therefore in effect "Visitor Cards"), but if you say they are
normal ones...

They are the normal ones, I was with a friend who bought one last year
at Paddington.

On 15 Apr, 14:54, Roland Perry wrote:
I've only seen them selling £5 ones. I thought they were non-refundable
(and therefore in effect "Visitor Cards"), but if you say they are
normal ones...

The condom-machine style ones sell ordinary Oyster cards. The original
trial batch took £3 for the deposit and no credit (I don't know if any
of this type still exist) and later ones are £5 (inc £2 credit). Both
types have a refundable deposit as far as I know, and are distinct
from Visitor Oyster cards.

(AIUI, Visitor Oyster Cards come with slightly different terms so they
can be sold easily by third parties, whereas the vending machine cards
are sold by TfL and therefore can use the ordinary terms)

(and it would be a hell of a lot simpler if the ticket machines could
issue cards directly, like they do in Tokyo)

U

On Apr 15, 2:36*pm, Mizter T wrote:
On Apr 15, 12:07*pm, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
11:21:06 on Mon, 13 Apr 2009, Mizter T remarked:

There is a £3 refundable deposit for the card. You can either provide
your details and have it registered, or otherwise have an unregistered
card.

Isn't there some issue to do with refunding people with overseas
addresses?

AIUI the deposit and unused credit can be refunded in cash in a
straightforward over-the-counter transaction at a Tube station ticket
office if it's under a certain amount, but I don't know what that
amount is.
See this TfL Help page:https://custserv.tfl.gov.uk/icss_csi...ion.do?entityN...

I think that if the card is registered then you'd need to quote the
answer to your security question. If the card is not registered then I
think it may have to be registered first before the money could be
returned. I am, as you can see, rather hazy on the details with
regards to this all! (Unfortunately I can imagine some ticket office
bods might be similarly hazy on these matters!)


The unused credit can only be refunded in cash at a ticket office if
only cash or debit cards have been used to top the card up. If a
credit card has been used, refunds can only be done via the Oyster
Helpline.

In message
, at
10:21:17 on Wed, 15 Apr 2009, remarked:
The unused credit can only be refunded in cash at a ticket office if
only cash or debit cards have been used to top the card up. If a
credit card has been used, refunds can only be done via the Oyster
Helpline.

I can see why they might say that, but it's a bit harsh if the
Credit-Card funded top-up is a year or two old. You'd have thought that
news of a fraud would have permeated through by then.
--
Roland Perry