The pay as you go credit on your Visitor Oyster card never expires so you can keep your card until your next visit, or lend it to family and friends. If you don't need your Visitor Oyster card, you can get the remaining credit refunded.
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London Underground: Half a Billion Pounds Left on Unused Oyster Cards. There are over 82 million Oyster cards which haven't been used in at least a year. New data has revealed that Londoners have racked up a total of over £550 million in unspent Oyster card credit.
Unused credit on your Visitor Oyster cardThe pay as you go credit on your Visitor Oyster card never expires so you can keep your card until your next visit, or lend it to family and friends. If you don't need your Visitor Oyster card, you can get the remaining credit refunded.
What to do? As Oyster for Visitor cards can't be registered, the balance can't be checked on line. You'll need to touch in at a Tube, DLR, or Overground ticket machine which will show the balance remaining on the card, and that balance will remain in situ until used.
Children under 11 travel free on most public transport services in London when accompanied by a fare-paying adult, or with a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard. Children aged 11 to 15 years old can get free or discounted travel with a Zip Oyster photocard, or a Young Visitor discount.
The credit on your card never expires - it stays there until you use it. If you run out of credit on your card, it's easy to top it up and use it again.
If you want to do it over the phone, call TfL customer services on 0343 222 1234 between 8am and 8pm. For full info on what to do about lost, stolen or faulty Oyster cards, see the 'Refunds and replacements' section of the TfL website.
You can use your Oyster card to pay as you go at any time without providing your personal information to TfL. You can also add weekly and monthly season tickets to your Oyster card without needing to register your card or create an online account.
It's memory space, TfL recently said that there were 16.5 million dormant Oyster cards out there with just under 30 million pounds of credit on them. No computer system really wants to have to remember 16.5 million details on its active servers if it can avoid it. So dormant accounts are moved off the active system.
Is it cheaper to use Oyster or contactless? As both cards use the same Pay As You Go system and are compatible with the TfL Oyster & Contactless app, the costs are comparable. As a tourist in London, it can be worth getting an Oyster Card as part of the London Pass.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock. Children under 11 travel free on most public transport services in London when accompanied by a fare-paying adult, or with a 5-10 Zip Oyster photocard. Children aged 11 to 15 years old can get free or discounted travel with a Zip Oyster photocard, or a Young Visitor discount.
If you only have pay as you go credit on your Oyster card, you can lend it to someone else. Two people can't use the same contactless or Oyster card for a journey. If you have a Travelcard, Bus & Tram Pass or discount added to your Oyster card, you can't lend it to someone else.
It's memory space, TfL recently said that there were 16.5 million dormant Oyster cards out there with just under 30 million pounds of credit on them. No computer system really wants to have to remember 16.5 million details on its active servers if it can avoid it. So dormant accounts are moved off the active system.