"The cheapest and most convenient way for visitors to travel on public transport in London is with a Visitor Oyster card"
Giles Bailey
TfL's Head of Group Marketing Strategy and Integration

The cheapest and most convenient way for visitors to travel on public transport in London is with a Visitor Oyster card

Transport for London (TfL), Visit London, the capital's official visitor organisation, and UK short break specialist Superbreak have launched a new deal to enable visitors to buy and receive Visitor Oyster Cards before they arrive in the capital giving them quicker, easier journeys and more time to enjoy their trip.

The agreement means that visitors are able to purchase a Visitor Oyster Card via Superbreak's website: http://www.superbreak.com/ or Visit London's at http://www.visitlondon.com/ and it will be sent out with £10 worth of travel loaded onto the card.
 
London's Oyster card is an electronic smartcard which holds cash and travel cards enabling passengers to pay for Tube, bus, Docklands Light Railway and tram journeys. Launched in 2003 it has been a huge success with more than ten million in circulation and 38 million journeys a week made using Oyster.
 
It is the cheapest way to buy single fares and over several journeys in one day, Oyster will calculate the cheapest fare for your travel simply by touching in and out on the Tube and Docklands Light Railway and touching in on the buses and Croydon Tramlink.

Benefits

Giles Bailey, Head of Group Marketing Strategy and Integration for TfL, said: "The cheapest and most convenient way for visitors to travel on public transport in London is with a Visitor Oyster card.

"This agreement with Superbreak will give easier access to Oyster to millions of visitors to the Capital, so they can take advantage of the same benefits enjoyed by Londoners every day.
 
"Visitor Oyster cards can be used for future visits to London or they could be given as a gift or lent to friends and family."

James Bidwell, Visit London Chief Executive, said: "It is important that we provide visitors with the best possible information on how to enjoy London. Oyster cards provide the most cost-effective way of getting around the capital and being able to offer the cards online means that the Visit London website really does provide a one-stop shop for visitors to London.

Cheaper fares

"visitlondon.com has recently been redesigned to allow London's visitors to navigate information quicker and easier and book a range of products and services including hotel rooms, theatre tickets and restaurants. Buying an Oyster card online greatly increases the information and assistance we provide visitors."

Ray Jones, Marketing Director at Superbreak, comments: "This is the first time any prospective visitor to London has been able to buy their Visitor Oyster card from a leading travel operator before they arrive in the Capital.
 
"Always cheaper than paying the cash fare, your Visitor Oyster Card will also automatically calculate the cheapest fare for a day's worth of trips, so you don't have to. The card can be bought either on its own or as part of a short break package, making it even easier to visit London."
 
Visit London, the Capital's tourist information body, has also added a function to its website to allow visitors to purchase the Visitor Oyster Cards from Superbreak. 

Note to editors:

  • For 24-hour information on public transport in London, call: 020 7222 1234
  • TfL's Realtime pages display live travel information on London's public transport network: www.tfl.gov.uk/realtime 
  • Journey Planner checks the transport network's status before providing results. The best available route is shown automatically: www.tfl.gov.uk/journeyplanner
    Travel alerts via SMS and email can be set up at: www.tfl.gov.uk/alerts
  • Around 80 per centof all Underground and bus payments in London are now by Oyster card
  • In the three years since the introduction of Oyster card, the proportion of cash payments on London's Underground and buses has fallen to just three per cent
  • As an example, with Oyster pay as you go you can place £10 on your Oyster card and when you touch in and out at the yellow readers with your card on the Tube and Docklands Light Railway or touch in on the bus or tram the reader automatically deducts the correct fare
  • Oyster is available to buy or be topped up at all 275 Tube stations and there are also more than 2,200 Oyster Ticket Stops agents across the capital
  • When passengers use the Oyster card to touch in and out on the yellow readers on the bus, Tube, DLR and tram the system automatically works out the right fare for the journey within in a fifth of a second from up to 1.83 million permutations
  • Almost three times as many passengers can pass an Underground payment gate using Oyster card as can using printed tickets - 40 a minute compared to 15 a minute
  • For more information regarding Superbreak, go to www.superbreak.com or call 01904 644455

Contacts:

  • For further press information on Visit London please contact: Rania Wannous at Visit London on 020 7234 5841 or rwannous@visitlondon.com
  • For further press information on Superbreak please contact: Madeleine Roast, Magnetic PR tel: 020 8547 4006; fax: 020 8547 1569; email: madeleine@magneticpr.co.uk  
  • For further press information on Oyster please contact Dan Maskell at Transport for London on 020 7126 4910 or email: danmaskell@tfl.gov.uk