The Oyster saga

Kew Gardens, May 2026

In London the Tube has been transformed within my lifetime, with the demise of smoking carriages, air conditioning introduced into some lines (particularly the new ones), free passage along the length of the train, and (to my sorrow) the Circle Line no longer being circular. The graffiti remains consistently present, though. I thought the Oyster card was quite a good idea when it was introduced, removing the delays in ticket buying, standardising fares in Zones, and bringing tube and buses together into one payment system.

It was Mr M who told me that I could link my Oyster card and my Senior Railcard to get discounts. I looked online for instructions, and it said I needed to create an Oyster account, then go to the railway staff in person with my card. For quite a while I'd been using my contactless bank card, but to get the discount I had to use my actual Oyster card, which was in Leamington. Having discovered its location, the next time I came to London I brought my ancient Oyster card, but then I discovered that to get the linking and discounts it had to have been used in the last six weeks.

So I topped up and used the Oyster card, but although I had a Transport for London (TfL) account with my Oyster linked to it, tapping into machine said 'not registered'. I thought it might be too soon as I had only linked the Oyster earlier that day. Home I went to Leamington.

Next time I brought the Oyster card and used it, but it still showed up as not registered. Lola II looked at what I had done, and we decided that what I'd created was a Transport for London account, and I probably needed to create a separate Oyster account. So I did that, went back to the station, but the system still didn't recognise the card as registered. All of these steps took even longer when you count all the times I asked for help at a station but the appropriate people who could log into the system were not available.

Next, I phoned the number on the card, which started with 0845 and my phone warned me was obsolete. It really is a very old card, probably one of the first wave to be sold. I found a more up-to-date phone number, and a very helpful lady said despite my card not showing as registered, the train staff should be able to complete the registration on a machine in the station - I just hadn't yet found the right person.

During the extensive phone menus one thing I had heard mentioned was the issue of 'original Oyster cards'. So mentioned this to the helpful lady, who thought a bit more and gave me a reference number to use. If station staff still couldn't help I might need to buy a new card, in which case I could phone their number with this reference and I would be refunded the cost of the new card.

I'd been trying to get this sorted for about six months by this time, and I did consider just giving up, especially as I had no idea (and still don't know) how much the discounts might be on journeys that I take. One thing that the Oyster system has certainly removed is any idea of how much journeys actually cost. Anyway, I finally resolved to take my problem to central London rather than the stations local to Maternal Manor or Lola II and Mr M's house.

I explained the problem to one of the staff, who directed me to the other side of the station where I explained it again. I was all ready with the phone number and reference number that the helpful lady had given me on the phone, but he took my card, I entered my post code, he entered my senior railcard number and Bingo! it was done. I think he was slightly taken aback by my rejoicing - I insisted on a high five - but it was such a relief to find someone who really knew what they were doing.

I've now received my 60+ Oyster card, so I'm not even using that one any more. Should I try to link it to my Senior Railcard?