A Mathematical Mystery

I used my Oyster Card for the first time last Monday (29 September), on a day trip to London. I've had it for about a year, but owing to cirumstances beyond my control I didn't have chance to use it until then. It still had the initial £5.00 credit from when I first ordered it. After checking out the Transport for London website, I decided to put an extra £5.00 onto it to tide me over.

I used the TfL website to add a fiver about three weeks ago. I had an email telling me that it was only valid for seven days, and needed to be 'activated' at my nominated station (Earls Court) before it would be added to my balance. If it wasn't activated, it would be automatically refunded to my bank account. Needless to say, I was travelling nine days later. When I arrived in London, I therefore had to put a further five quid onto my card to see me through the day.

I made the most of the card, mind you: one tube journey in Zone 1, and five bus journeys in Zones 1 and 2. To put this into perspective, a single ticket for a tube trip in Zone 1 costs £4.70 cash, or just £2.20 on the Oyster Card. A single bus journey costs £1.45, regardless of its starting or finishing point. I make that a total of £9.45. However, the maximum daily fare is apparently 'capped' at £7.00 – not a bad saving, when you work it out, and considerably cheaper than paying cash. (In fact, you can't pay by cash on London buses any more; they accept only the Oyster Card or contactless card payment.)

Last Saturday, I received an email telling me that my online top-up had failed, and that the money would be refunded to my bank account. It eventually hit my account yesterday, just in time for me to buy some electricity this morning. Out of interest, I checked my Oyster Card balance earlier today: £3.40. That means that my tube jaunt and bus-hopping last week cost me a total of £6.60 – not only cheaper than paying cash, but also cheaper than the capped fare according to the TfL website.

I'm not going to bother with the online top-up next time I go to the Big Smoke. I'm just going to add another fiver at the machine when I get there. I can't make the maths add up, though. Maybe it will make more sense after the second attempt.

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