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Buy Oyster card at Waterloo train station


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Can anybody confirm if it is possible to buy Oyster card at Waterloo train station? If yes, is there a ticket machine (cash or credit card or both) or have to go to the train ticket counter. Also is it possible to set up a Young Oyster Card discount at the train ticket counter.

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Can anybody confirm if it is possible to buy Oyster card at Waterloo train station? If yes, is there a ticket machine (cash or credit card or both) or have to go to the train ticket counter. Also is it possible to set up a Young Oyster Card discount at the train ticket counter.
It's possible that you may need to pop down to one of the Tube station ticket machine areas to do these, rather than at the mainline station ticket facilities. That is certainly where I would expect to find the expertise to do the latter task.

 

The way down to the Bakerloo/Northern Line ticket machines is by platform 17; the way down to the Jubilee Line ticket machines is down the escalator opposite platform 4 (or thereabouts) and turn left when you're at street level (but before actually going outside onto the street).

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It's possible that you may need to pop down to one of the Tube station ticket machine areas to do these, rather than at the mainline station ticket facilities. That is certainly where I would expect to find the expertise to do the latter task.

 

 

 

Yes, was just about to say the same. This TfL page suggests that of the National Rail stations only Victoria ticket office can do it.

 

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/travel-for-under-18s/travelling-with-children

 

Just to clarify for the OP, there are no ticket offices on the underground network anymore, but there will be staff in the ticket machine areas, as m’learned colleague said. And the Underground machines are different to the Network Rail machines - the ones in the videos above are Underground. I’m surprised by Bob’s assertion that you can buy Oysters at all mainline stations, I’m not sure that’s right. But could be wrong!

 

 

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If you have a contactless debit card, you do not need an oyster card , as it will work in the same way, with a daily max charge. You do need to have the )))) symbol on a chip card, and you must tap in and out on the same card every time you travel that day.

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Thank you for all your help. Contactless credit/debit card is no go as there will be foreign charge. In that case we need to go the Waterloo tube station to buy the Oyster Card and then go back to the Waterloo train station to get a black cab.

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Thank you for all your help. Contactless credit/debit card is no go as there will be foreign charge. In that case we need to go the Waterloo tube station to buy the Oyster Card and then go back to the Waterloo train station to get a black cab.

 

 

 

That rather prompts the question why you want to buy Oyster Cards before taking a black cab, but the important phrase from an earlier post was “pop down”. The tube station ticket halls are directly underneath the railway station, one level down, so you are not going far out of the way.

 

 

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If you have a contactless debit card, you do not need an oyster card , as it will work in the same way, with a daily max charge. You do need to have the )))) symbol on a chip card, and you must tap in and out on the same card every time you travel that day.
Our contactless cards did not work last year when we tried them. We ended up getting Oyster cards. They worked for other transactions.
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Contactless credit/debit card is no go as there will be foreign charge.
What charges would your card issuer make? If it's simply a percentage charge (UK cards typically charge 2.5% to 3% for a FX transaction), then that's basically what you're going to have to pay for any GBP spending, by whatever route you do it (including using the card to buy an Oyster).

 

If you're concerned about some per-transaction FX charge that your bank/card company may make, then you may want to bear in mind how contactless payments work on TfL: the usage of your card is collated for the entire charging day (journeys starting from 0430 to 0429 the next day), and then one single charge is sent to your bank/card company for the whole day's usage. You would not be paying any per-transaction charge on each journey that you make. You might want to bear that in mind when working out what is best.

 

... you must tap in and out on the same card every time you travel that day.
To clarify this slightly:-

 

You must touch in and touch out using the same card for every Tube/DLR/rail journey you make. That allows the proper fare to be calculated for that journey, to take into account which zones you've travelled through. (Buses and trams only require a touch-in, no touch-out needed.)

 

You are free to use a different card for every journey if you like. However, if you do this on a single day, then you can potentially lose the benefit of the daily cap because the system will charge each card for the travel registered that day, and it can only apply the cap if all of the travel that's subject to the cap is charged to the same card.

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To the original poster: how are you going to buy/ put money on the oyster card if you are concerned re foreign exchange charges.

US banks technology sounds amazingly 'third world' and backward compared to Europe, with no chip / pin which has cut fraudulent use enormously and also contactless being much more limited. Also few seem to offer credit cards without overseas extra costs.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Can anyone tell me if a regular Chip and Signature Credit Card can be used in the machines to purchase an Oyster Card?

Can the machine accept cash (paper notes)?

We don't have any contactless credit cards or chip and pin credit cards. Our credit cards only require a pin for cash advances. So having trouble figuring out how to pay.

Thanks in advance!

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Can anyone tell me if a regular Chip and Signature Credit Card can be used in the machines to purchase an Oyster Card?

Can the machine accept cash (paper notes)?

We don't have any contactless credit cards or chip and pin credit cards. Our credit cards only require a pin for cash advances. So having trouble figuring out how to pay.

Thanks in advance!

Machines accept cash, no idea about chip and signature...

 

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Chip and signature cards do not work in machines or ATM's, without either contactless or a 4 figure pin .your options will be limited to get cash or pay especially outside London or large hotels / restaurants/ shops.

Actually our Visa card states the following "Your card doesn't require a PIN to make purchases outside of the U.S. Speak to the merchant if a terminal prompts you to enter a PIN when traveling abroad." Only need pin for cash advances.

We have a chip and pin ATM card if we need it, but our bank charges ridiculous fees so I am getting currency before we leave.

 

Actually just gave up and ordered a contactless card from my American Express account.

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Actually our Visa card states the following "Your card doesn't require a PIN to make purchases outside of the U.S. Speak to the merchant if a terminal prompts you to enter a PIN when traveling abroad." Only need pin for cash advances.

 

 

We have a chip and pin ATM card if we need it, but our bank charges ridiculous fees so I am getting currency before we leave.

 

 

 

Actually just gave up and ordered a contactless card from my American Express account.

 

 

 

 

Speak to the merchant is fine when there is one. However, using a ticket machine doesn’t come with a person.

 

 

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Speak to the merchant is fine when there is one. However, using a ticket machine doesn’t come with a person.

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Yup.......Exactly why in my last sentence I mentioned I got a Contactless Card from my American Express Account.

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Chip and signature cards do not work in machines or ATM's, without either contactless or a 4 figure pin
Speak to the merchant is fine when there is one. However, using a ticket machine doesn’t come with a person.
Any ticket machine in a Tube station does come with a person - there will always be staff members on hand to help. Unfortunately, I suspect that if the machine simply will not take a chip-and-signature card that has no PIN, there may be nothing that they can do because they may not be permitted to override the PIN requirement.

 

The only thing I can think of concerning that advice is that there may be an override PIN that can be entered whenever a machine demands a PIN. Or it may even be the case that the PIN that's used for cash advances will work in an automated machine when making a purchase, despite the bank's marketing materials. After all, the verification of the PIN against the chip takes place locally before the machine attempts to communicate with its bank. But I don't know whether a chip-and-PIN card that uses a PIN for cash advances is/can be coded to allow the PIN to be used only for cash advances.

 

I think that every Tube station ought to have at least one machine that takes notes, so drawing cash and then using that to pay for an Oyster will definitely be a viable workaround.

 

And we've had the generic chip-and-signature discussion before. IIRC, the main difficulty with those is staff training. Normal payment machines in shops and restaurants etc are set up for chip-and-signature cards to be used in the traditional way, and since the last chip-and-signature discussion I have watched many overseas visitors successfully using chip-and-signature cards in London. So I do not think it is universally true that they will not work with payment machines when making purchases. It's probably only fully-automated machines that may pose a problem.

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To the original poster: how are you going to buy/ put money on the oyster card if you are concerned re foreign exchange charges.

US banks technology sounds amazingly 'third world' and backward compared to Europe, with no chip / pin which has cut fraudulent use enormously and also contactless being much more limited. Also few seem to offer credit cards without overseas extra costs.

 

As an American, I agree with you. It is not easy here in the U.S. to get a true chip and pin card (not chip and signature). Even one of our major issuers of a credit card marketed for travel has refused to date to issue a chip and pin card. I finally had to join what we call a "credit union" and keep a minimum of $1000 in a savings account there (earning almost no interest) in order to get a chip and pin card. I do not otherwise need or want this particular credit card, and it stays with my passport and is only taken out for foreign travel.

 

On the second issue, it is not as difficult now to get a credit card with no foreign transaction fees, but seems harder to get an ATM card without one.

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From the Chase FAQ re: their chip and signature Visa and MasterCard. Several 'ifs' , 'shoulds' and 'mays' ....I guess it's a crap shoot

 

What if I encounter an unattended kiosk while traveling abroad?

 

Internationally, chip has already been adopted as the industry standard. You’ll be able to use your chip card anywhere that Visa and MasterCard are accepted. Note: As of July 2015, unattended kiosks that accept Visa/MasterCard should now accept payment with or without PIN according to their new guidelines. If a merchant/kiosk asks you for a PIN, first verify that Visa/MasterCard are accepted. If so, you may be able to select one of the following to bypass the PIN prompt: “Cancel,” “Enter” or “Continue.” If the card reader still will not accept your card without a PIN code, there may be staff in the area to assist you. Otherwise, local currency may be needed in this situation.

https://www.chase.com/digital/fraud-security/security/faq-credit
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Off topic for this board, but in a similar vein, US gas station machines sometimes ask for your zip code, which, as a Canadian, I don't have. The credit card companies have come up with a workaround; you enter the 3 numbers from your Canadian postal code, followed by 2 zeroes. I tried it and it works.

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Similar advice is sometimes given to those of us in the UK: Use the numeric parts of your UK postcode, and pad out to five digits using trailing zeroes.

 

AIUI, the reason this works is because most of the address verification task (if the merchant or your card issuer require it) is done using the numeric parts of your address, not the alphabetical parts.

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I ordered contactless cards from AMEX. No foreign fees on AMEX cards. Went to the Tube website, set up accounts and registered my cards.

 

Got to Tube station and would not work. Nice man there tried to help but to no avail. Had to buy a ticket as this was my last day in London and would not need any further rides. Card did work in ticket machine.

 

Will have different plan on next visit.

 

Gail

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I ordered contactless cards from AMEX. No foreign fees on AMEX cards. Went to the Tube website, set up accounts and registered my cards.

 

Got to Tube station and would not work. Nice man there tried to help but to no avail. Had to buy a ticket as this was my last day in London and would not need any further rides. Card did work in ticket machine.

 

Will have different plan on next visit.

 

Gail

If you have a smart phone you could load it onto Google or Apple Pay and do it that way.

 

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