At this point contactless has enough consumer adoption to be the easier option. If you're a tourist and don't have a contactless card you can use Google pay etc.

however, you are (maybe) being more anonymous, if you use a normal oyster(if you haven't added personal info to it)

And Apple Pay.

You can get an Oyster refund from machines in almost every station now. It's cheaper even for a single trip.

Why use Oyster over contactless? I don’t want to carry yet another card.

Oyster vs Contactless

Oyster

+ prepaid - load it up and go

+ the system manages the maximum fares

+ automatic refunds for 'minor' corrections/errors

+ app available to track transactions albeit not real-time

+ can be registered online to receive reports and the ability to manage account

+ max fares for no-touch are sandboxed i.e. in red up to a certain amount + no journeys, until they are resolved and/or further funds are added to clear the event

Contactless

All of the above with some caveats

- no limit on credit/debit cards i.e. if the pad fails to recognise touch-in/out events it results in a maximum fare. These events might also incur additional charges depending on your issuer

+ there are nuances due to misaligned systems and thus exists a cheaper way of calculating weekly maximum fare when acting as a 'Travelcard'

= refunds have a similar route but with added protection of consumer laws. YMMV

Oyster/Contactless can also be used on certain river services and the Emirates Air-line.

Due to implementation, there is a high-latency between touch events and notifications from the app. So, it might be prudent for some to limit the expenditure.

As for carrying less plastic, Revolut might be an option? However, as a short to medium term visitor, Oyster makes more sense - even considering the refundable deposit.

https://tfl.gov.uk/

http://mappinglondon.co.uk/

> Oyster/Contactless can also be used on certain river services and the Emirates Air-line.

You can buy an airline ticket on Emirates... using your Oyster card?

The only reason would be for regular visitors who don't have British bank cards, but do pay an unreasonable transaction fee to their bank for foreign purchases.

TFL gather together all journeys made per day, so no matter how many journeys are made with the same contactless card there will be one charge made. However, an awful foreign bank might charge $2 per transaction, which could be more than the refundable deposit on an Oyster card.

It's more nuanced than that. I have to use Oyster over contactless because it's the only way to get the 1/3rd discount when you have a 16-25 or 26-30 railcard. They can't currently be connected to a contactless card.

I thought they also grouped into a week ticket?

You would still be charged every day until you reach the cap, then not charged until the next Monday.

It takes half a second to scan rather than a second with a bank card. Gotta keep the queue moving. ;)

You can get monthly and annual passes on Oyster, not contactless, which are cheaper and have some other benefits like not fineing you if you touch in and not out.

I get an annual travelcard on it. This works out to marginally cheaper on Tube charges overall, but there's another benefit to it as well.

A slightly better draw is that you also get a Network Rail Gold card, which entitles you to a 33% discount on some train journeys. The partner and I use this quite frequently when visiting various parts of the UK!

Contactless can't be used for monthly and annual travelcards, as well as concessions. Additionally the capping works slightly different, for example if you only use buses or trams they have a weekly cap that only works with Oyster.

For most visitors, contactless will give the same prices as Oyster, and is a lot cheaper than paper tickets.