Around London with Oyster

Source: Source: https://cdn.londonandpartners.com/visit/general-london/transport/70372-640x360-visitoroyster640.jpg 

What is the Oyster Card?

I'm sure fans on English and specially football enthusiasts are having a good idea about London and it's suburbs. Today we are going to talk about an amazing system which is used in London for the sake of making transportation easy.  It is called the "Oyster Card". This was introduced by Transport for London (TFL). This is an irreplaceable commodity for Londoners are it's tourists.

History of Oyster Card?

This was first introduced in 2002. The first batch of cards were distributed among the employees of London's transport services. Since 2003 it was open to the public. With time being Transport for London has introduced discounts and offers via Oyster Card. In other words it's cheaper for a passenger to simply re-charge the oyster card and use it rather than buying tickets for each and every ride that they make. I personally believe this is a very good method to promote the new system among the general public.

Source: http://wanderingengland.blogspot.com/2016/05/riding-underground.html

This is a simple RFID card. You can use this card to travel on any public transportation medium in London such as busses, trains (underground/overground), trams, and ferries.

How does it work? 

It is extremely simple! First you have to purchase a card. You can get one from a grocery store or at a railway station itself. Next you have to top it up with few pounds £££, you could do that from either from a grocery (off-license) shop or from a kiosk at a railway station. Finally you can start using your newly purchased oyster card when ever you see the Oyster Card logo at a public transport. The RFID reader will communicate with your card and automatically deduct the money out of your account and open the gates at train stations. (In busses, the driver will keep his eye until you successfully touch the card before boarding in). 

Source:https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Oyster-Reader.jpg 

Benefits of using the Oyster Card?

• You will never have to dig down for change
• You don't have to bother to get change from the bus driver or the conductor 😢  😝
• No need of purchasing separate tickets for busses, trains and different public transport mediums 🚌 🚅
• Cheaper than ordinary tickets (offers & discounts)

The most fascinating thing out of this for me is to see that every Londoners, regardless the age are using the Oyster Card in their daily lives. This is a perfect example of successful IT systems implementation.