New website lets you request refunds on your Oyster card

 
Emer Martin18 May 2012

Millions of Tube passengers who are overpaying on Oyster pay-as-you-go cards will now be able to track their payments online and request refunds if there has been an error.

Transport for London today said it wants to “revolutionise” the Oyster scheme by making the complicated system accessible on the internet and much easier to understand.

It emerged last year that commuters have been paying tens of millions of pounds extra for journeys they do not make and refunds often go unclaimed because the system is so complicated.

London TravelWatch, which represents the capital’s transport users, had estimated that as many as eight million passengers a month had been overpaying for a range of problems, including not touching in or out at stations.

TfL today said users will now be able to keep track of their journey history and check what they paid using new online accounts.

By the end of the year, commuters will also be able to request refunds online.

Since 2004 Oyster card users who pay for their travel online have been able see their journey history on personal accounts.

But now all season ticket or Oyster pay as you go users can create an account and track up to eight weeks of journey history.

Shashi Verma, TfL’s Director of Customer Experience, said: “We want to charge people for what they actually do. We don’t want to charge them any more or less. The new online accounts will revolutionise our service because any discrepancies will be immediately obvious to the user.

“People can now log on and see where they have forgotten to touch in or out or if faulty equipment has meant they have not been charged the correct fare.”

The accounts will also show where passengers have benefited from the system of automatic refunds introduced by TfL recently.

In March the Standard revealed an anomaly which meant commuters were charged £4.60 for going through one entrance at Paddington and exiting the station 100 yards away, without taking a journey, which would not be automatically remedied.

Mr Varma said: “There was some mistake because this should not be the case at Paddington. If this does happen, it would become clear on the account that this had happened, and the user will see it.”

Mr Varma added that visitors arriving in the capital for the Olympics would also benefit but the accounts are aimed at making “regular users’ lives easier”.

He said: “Anyone can create an account and it is very user friendly.

“The Olympics gets special attention but we have a big challenge already just to keep London moving smoothly. We want the service to be as good as it can be now, to make regular users lives easier.”

To set up an account go to www.tfl.gov.uk/oyster.

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