Website Review: Oyster Calculator

Screenshot of website

If you’re new to Oyster® and London and you’re not sure how the Oyster system works for using Tube or rail system
, this site may help you on using your Oyster card. The website currently have an Alexa Ranking which placed at 2,219,181 worldwide.

Using the website

Example of journey which shows the Off-Peak Oyster fare

So first off, if you have a normal Oyster card in which you paid £5 deposit for then I might recommend you to top up £10 onto your card. 

If you’re travelling from Heathrow to Kings Cross St. Pancras and you’re travelling after 09:31am you need to select the Departing times to “09:31-12:59” on the selection box. Then it would cost you £3 to travel, but you only need one line which is the Piccadilly line. But you must touch in or out by the barriers or the readers or else you be charged the maximumfare.

Example of the price if you touch in before 9:30am weekday

If you click on show workings, it shows you what lowest zone you going to and the highest zone you come from and it tells you the price cap of £8.50. If you touched in before 9:30am then the fare go up to £5 single and the price cap up to £15.80. The peak prices apply for weekdays.

Example if your using the Oyster to roam around the Tube network.

Regardless how many trains or buses you take the price will still be capped at £8.50 (after 9:31am weekday) on the image I give you the example how multiple journeys work without being overcharged. But beware; if you spend long roaming around the London Metro system, there is the MaximumJourney times which you end up paying the maximumfare.

But if you like to roam around much, then I would recommend you to get a paper Travelcard which cost £8.90 (zone 1-6 off peak.) The National Rail ticket stations still sell the paper Travelcard but rarely some newsagents do.

Example of using the Oyster on buses only.

If you don’t like to travel by Tube or Rail, then you would stick by travelling by buses only. The adult Oyster single fare is £1.45 (which is also the same price on Contactless Bank cards) and the cap is £4.40. The price cap for buses will be enabled if you take more than four bus journeys then you pay less than £5 for bus travel. The price cap applies till 4:30am on the following day.

Example of using the Job Centre Plus discount Oyster card.

If you have a different Oyster card like the Job Centre Plus and you only travelling by buses to get around London, you only pay the discount Oyster rate of £2.20. Discounted fares also available on Tube and Rail services.

Other pages

On the about page, it gives you questions about the Oyster card mentioning how much people would spend on their oyster and asking if they don’t what the daily cap for their journey. But it’s only answer is nothing much to promote the users back to the main page to use the Oyster calculator feature.

On the help page, it gives you a quick FAQ about the Oyster card like that you put in your journeys in order to get the fare shown, then the question about “when the One Day travel start and end?” Also at the end it redirects you back to the main page.

With the contact button, if you press it the browser opens up the email interface like Outlook so you can send an email to the web owner about the problem using the Oyster Calculator.

Conclusion

Using the Firefox Browser on Android, it shows that the website works perfectly on your smartphone.

I say the website is good, especially if you’re going out to a day trip or attending appointment or meeting in Central London then the website will give you the price how much you spend on your Oyster card. 

Website URL: http://www.oystercalculator.co.uk/

Alternative websites to Oyster Calculator
http://www.farecalculator.co.uk/
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/fares/single-fare-finder
Note: These sites won’t give information about using the London Bus services but it is still inclusive to the “Travelcard” daily price cap.