Choose your settings
Book your tickets now
24 April to 8 September
18.40 Liverpool Street to Stansted Airport...
Mondays to Fridays until 12 December
06.28 Monday to Friday LIVERPOOL STREET to...
Mondays to Fridays until 12 December
The National Express East Anglia Network
Monday 1 to Tuesday 30 September
05.28 Saturday LIVERPOOL STREET to ENFIELD...
Saturday 6, 13, 20 September
Home > Tickets & Timetables > Transport for London
Getting around London using public transport - London Underground (tube), London buses and Dockland Light Railway
For information on getting around London using public transport including London Underground (tube) and London bus information please visit Transport for London website.
An Oyster card is a plastic credit card sized 'smart card' which is accepted by Transport for London (TfL) as a ticket for travel with the London Fare Zones. The card has a micro-chip embedded within it that is capable of storing and conveying details of electronically stored season tickets ie. 'in-boundary' travelcards and TfL Bus Passes.
The chip also records details of money added to the card, known as pay as you go (PAYG). The card holder can use PAYG to travel on both TfL (tube and buses) and participating National Rail services.
The Oyster card is neither a travel document, a ticket or a permit to travel. Nor is it a credit card or debit card. It is simply a way of storing a ticket such as a Travelcard season, and a cash value for payment of single journeys.
An Oyster card can hold up to three 'products' at the same time. These may be Travelcards, bus passes or 'Pay As You Go' (PAYG). Travelcards can be loaded onto the Oyster card up to a month in advance of their start date.
If you do not 'touch in' at the start of your journey and 'touch out' at the end of your journey, you may be charged more than the advertised Oyster single fare and the daily price capping promise will not apply. You may also be liable to a Penalty Fare or you may be prosecuted.
You can buy new Oyster cards, renew Travelcards and top up your PAYG at some National Rail stations. These are usually those stations which serve both the Underground and National Rail.
If you have a Travelcard on your Oyster card you can use it on any National Rail service within the zones for which it is valid.
There are only a few journeys within the National Rail network where PAYG is valid. At the start of your journey you must touch in, by placing your Oyster card on a reader. A PAYG entry charge of £5 or £4, representing the average rail fare, is deducted at National Rail stations where PAYG is accepted - when you touch the Oyster reader on exit the card balance will be adjusted so that you pay the advertised fare.
Liverpool Street to Walthamstow Central
Liverpool Street/ Stratford to Tottenham Hale
Liverpool Street to Seven Sisters
Liverpool Street to Stratford
And from January 2008 it can be used for intermediate journeys between these points.
From January 2008 the following stations will be part of the PAYG scheme:
Bethnal Green, Cambridge Heath, London Fields, Hackney Downs, Rectory Road, Stoke Newington, Stamford Hill, Clapton, St James Street, Walthamstow Central, Stratford and Tottenham Hale Oyster Card validators (funded by TfL) will be provided at these stations, and passengers using PAYG must touch in or out as appropriate.
On some short distance return journeys, for example Bethnal Green to Liverpool Street, it may be cheaper to purchase a Cheap Day Return rather than use your Oyster pay as you go. Please check before you travel.
If you do not touch in and touch out when using Oyster pay as you go on valid National Rail services you will be charged £4 or £5 depending on where you failed to touch in or touch out and the daily price capping promise will not apply. You may also be liable to a Penalty Fare and you may be prosecuted.
