Tag: Money

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Buying tickets and paying for travel

Whatever type of public transport you are using, whether it’s bus, tube (Underground), train, tram, DLR (Docklands Light Railway), you must pay your fare. Ticket inspectors operate on all these services, and, if you get caught not having paid, you will be fined, arrested or worse.

Cash fares are never accepted. You must use a cashless and contactless system. The card or device must be placed flat on the reader for a short time to register.

If you have to tap out, make sure that you use the same card or you may be double charged the maximum fare.

Here are the key alternatives:

Oyster card

You can buy an Oyster card at a ticket machine at any tube station, some train stations, City airport and many small (usually food or convenience) stores in and around London.

When the new card comes out of the machine it is ready to go.

You cannot buy an Oyster card on a bus.

You can buy a card on-line, but only if you live in the UK. Some visitor centres have them too.

They look like this:

The card itself is currently £7 though that is refundable. The cards do not expire, neither does any credit on it.

You can register your card with TfL on-line that will make it easier to check balances, top it up and get a replacement if required.

What can you put on an Oyster card?

You can charge your Oyster with credit, at any machine or in some stores. You will need a contactless card at a machine to pay for the credit, or cash can be used in shops (plus a limited number of machines).

This will allow you to use the card as a pay as you go card, with a cap (ie maximum total spend per day) in certain zones (at the time of writing, for example, an adult zone 1 cap is £8.50).

You can also add a daily or weekly pass (ie 7 days) to your Oyster card. If you are coming for a week, then a 7 day pass may be the best value for money.

A one (1) day pass for zones 1, 2 and 3 is £15.90 at the time of writing. A seven (7) day pass is £50.20

Remember these are for unlimited travel in all these zones on tube, bus, DLR, Overground…

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Money matters IV

Here in the UK, if you buy something, it may be subject to a fixed, country-wide sales tax called Value Added Tax (VAT). It’s 20%. Some items don’t have a tax and are exempt or zero rated, but for most things it’s 20%.

We have been to North America and we know the procedure. You go into a shop, find what you want at $50 (say), take it to the sales desk and blow me, they add another 8.26% to the price and it’s more than you thought. But you knew they were going to do that, and you had to stand there looking embarrassed waiting to find out what you’re actually going to pay. You’d need a calculator to work it out, as does the assistant, and it’s never a nice surprise.

And in the next state it’s 11.96%.

So in London you go to Selfridges and find a nice tie for £50, and VAT is 20%, so you dig out your calculator to find what you’re going to pay, or just leave it to the staff. Right?

WRONG.

Here in the UK, and in most of the civilised world, the price on the item is the price you pay. No calculations required, no uncertainty, it’s the price. Your till receipt may show a tax breakdown, but who cares.

It is s simple and easy, and we don’t get why so many people find it hard or complain (Americans, we are thinking of you. It doesn’t matter how much the tax was and how much the base cost of the thing is, the cost of it is what you pay. It’s not complicated. Why would you want it complicated?).

Whether there’s a price ticket, even in a sale, or a barcode you can scan, or a label on the shelf, that’s the price. End.

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