World Photo Book: Touching in and out

You must touch your Oyster card on the yellow card readers when travelling.

Why touch in and out? So we know where your journey started and ended and can charge you the right fare if you're using pay as you go.

How to touch in and out

What you need to do is slightly different, depending on whether you are using buses, trams, rail, river services or the Emirates Airline.

Your Oyster card is a contactless smartcard that uses radio frequency to communicate and exchange data with the card reader. If you have other contactless cards, (like payment cards or building passes), in the same wallet as your Oyster card, they may not be able to be read together. You should take your Oyster card out of your wallet to touch it on the yellow card reader

Bus and tram - touch in only

What to do: Touch your Oyster card on a yellow card reader only at the start of a journey:

inside the bus when you board
at a tram stop before you get on a tram

Don't touch it again when you get off.
What happens: If you've enough pay as you go credit or a valid Travelcard or Bus & Tram Pass, the card reader will show a green light. If a red light shows - you can't travel until you top up your pay as you go credit or renew your season ticket on your Oyster card or buy a paper ticket.
Wimbledon trams:

If you travel by tram to Wimbledon, always touch in at the start of your journey and make sure you touch out at the gates when leaving Wimbledon station
When travelling by tram from Wimbledon, always touch in at the gates when you enter Wimbledon station and again on the yellow reader on the tram platform before boarding a tram. Do not touch out at your destination tram stop

Tube, DLR, London Overground and National Rail - touch in and out

What to do: Touch your Oyster card on the yellow card reader at the start and end of your journey.
If you're at a station without gates or the gates are already open you must still touch in and out.
What happens: If you've enough pay as you go credit, or a valid Travelcard you'll see a green light. If there are gates, they'll open. If you don't have enough credit or a valid Travelcard a 'seek assistance' message will be displayed and the gates will not open. You can't travel until you top up or renew your season ticket on your Oyster card or buy a paper ticket.

If you don't touch in and out

You may pay a maximum pay as you go fare of up to £8.30. You could also get a Penalty fare or be prosecuted.

When stations are very busy we may leave the gates open to control crowds and ensure that people can leave the station quickly and safely. If so, you may not be able to touch out but we'll aim to fix this for you when you touch in to start your next journey.
Pink card readers
You might see pink card readers on some Tube, DLR, London Overground and National Rail stations.
They're not for recording the start or end of a journey but for route validation (they tell us your route, for example, you may be charged less if you don't travel through Zone 1).
Changing trains If you have to change trains (without changing stations) during a journey and are using pay as you go ( even if it's only for some of your journey), you should:
Touch in at the start of the journey and out at the end

Touch in at the start of the journey and out at the end
Touch on a pink card reader if there is one
Don't touch any other yellow card readers during your journey. If you do, you may be charged for two separate journeys

If you need to change stations during your journey

Touch out when you leave one station
Touch in again when you enter another station

In some cases this may mean changing from one train operator to another. For example, when changing from the Tube to National Rail at Walthamstow Central, touch out on a gate as you exit the tube station and touch in on a validator when you enter the National Rail station.

Same station exits

A same station exit is recorded when you touch your Oyster card on a yellow reader when you enter a station, but then touch out to exit at the same station within a set time.
This can happen when you change your journey plan, for example, because of service disruption. If you touch in and out at the same station without making a journey, the following charges apply:

Between 0 and 2 minutes: a maximum pay as you go fare of up to £8.30. If, having touched in and out within two minutes, you then re-enter the same or a different station within 45 minutes, the maximum pay as you go fare will be refunded and a new journey started. This does not apply if you touched out on a yellow card reader that is not on a ticket gate or take a bus or tram before re-entering
Between 2 and 30 minutes: the minimum pay as you go fare from that station
More than 30 minutes: the system will assume that two separate journeys have been made. However, they will both be incomplete, so you will be charged two maximum pay as you go fares of up to £8.30

We apply these charges to discourage fare evasion.

You may be eligible for a refund if you have been charged for a same station exit. Speak to a member of staff, go online or call Customer services on 0845 330 9876 (08:00 to 20:00 daily).

River - show to staff

Pay as you go (Thames Clippers only)

Show your Oyster card at the kiosk on the pier or to a ticket seller on the boat. You can pay for a paper ticket using your pay as you go credit - this is 10% cheaper than the cash fare. This does not count towards the daily price cap.
Other operators do not accept pay as you go as a way of paying for travel on their river services.
Travelcards on Oyster cards
Show your Oyster card to the ticket seller and you'll get a third off your ticket.

Emirates Air Line

Pay as you go

Touch your Oyster card on the yellow card reader at an Emirates Air Line gate at the start of your journey and touch out at the end to pay a discounted fare.