TfL Ref: FOI-0955-1718

Thank you for your email received on 17 July requesting information about Oyster cards.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our Information Access Policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. You asked:

1. The total amount of operating Integrated Smart cards (Oyster card) for the period 2005-2015.
   
   

    

   
   
   

   The total number of Oyster cards issued during the period 2005-2015 was 75.2m.

   
   
   

   The cost of producing a card ready for use has been coming down from about £1 to less than 60p, due to improvements in procurement. However, Oyster shares the cost of many features of the wider system. For example, the cost of operation would include those associated with the station entry and exit gates, the ticket vending machines, the back office computer system, communication between the gates and the back office, and the customer call centre. Each of these is also associated with some or all of the other ticket media such as magnetic tickets, Contactless bank cards, and various passes.

   
   
   

    

   
   
   
2. The amount of public transportation ticket transactions that utilize electronic payment methods for the period 2005-2015
   
   

   We do not have comprehensive data on transactions, and even if a number could be produced would be difficult to interpret, for a number of reasons, including:

   
   
   
   • The profile of season ticket purchases and top-ups varies very widely, for example an annual season ticket is normally purchased once a year, a monthly season could be processed once a month, or less frequently, perhaps much less frequently
     
     
   • A transaction for Pay As You Go could vary from a small top-up to a large one
     
     
   • Contactless transactions for a card are made on a one-per-daily-use basis
     
     
   • We count the revenue from cash transactions, but not normally the number of transactions.
     
     

      

     
     
     
3. The amount of transportation ticket transactions utilizing the Oyster card and the amount purchased with cash for the period 2005-2015

The above issues regarding transaction information being incomplete and difficult to interpret also apply to this question, but in addition there is the complication that purchases involving the Oyster card may sometimes be made conducted electronically using a bank card and sometimes using cash, while what are sometimes called “cash” purchases, i.e. purchases of magnetic tickets as opposed to purchases and top-ups of Oyster cards are also sometimes using a bank card and sometimes using cash.

Therefore, instead of transactions, the following analysis of travel from 2005/06 to 2015/16 shows journeys, which is a statistic that we routinely monitor:

Please note:

1. ‘Magnetic’ here includes single and return tickets (and in the early years, carnets, i.e. batches of single tickets)

          2. Most rail travelcards are issued on Oyster, although National Rail can issue them on magnetic cards –but for purposes of this analysis these are all included under ‘Oyster Travelcard’

          3. For buses, ‘Oyster Pass’ here includes anything from a one-day Bus & Tram Pass or Travelcard to an annual Bus & Tram Pass or Travelcard.

          4. Magnetic tickets, passes and PAYG top-ups can each be purchased either by cash or bank card, so the only purchases that are totally electronic are Contactless journeys and Oyster products purchased online.

If this is not the information you are looking for, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely,

Melissa Nichols

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London