This press release was originally issued by the press office of the Greater London Authority.

This is good news and will bring real benefits to the commuters who use the Chiltern services

Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, today welcomed Chiltern Railways' acceptance of his offer to purchase and install Oyster equipment at all of its London stations, and urged other train operators to come on board.

The offer to train operating companies, worth £20m, will allow passengers to get the full benefits of Oyster pay as you go.

This follows the Mayor's recent announcement that the 10 millionth Oyster card has been issued.

The Mayor of London Ken Livingstone said: "This is good news and will bring real benefits to the commuters who use the Chiltern services.

"I welcome Chiltern's decision to adopt Oyster at their stations. This clearly shows that there is no justifiable reason why other train operating companies should not also adopt Oyster and accept my offer to pay them £20m to install Oyster equipment."

In May 2006, the Mayor offered a funding package of £20m to the train operators, which will finance the purchase and installation of the technology to accept the pay as you go system at every station in Zones 1-6.

The train operating companies have until 31 January to accept this deal.

With the introduction on the rail network of the familiar six zones already used for Underground and Travelcard tickets, London can move to a unified ticketing system based on the Oyster smart card.

Time savings

Transport for London (TfL) Commissioner Peter Hendy said: "This is yet another step toward to a fully integrated ticket system in London.

"Passengers will see a real benefit in being able to move easily between rail, Tube, Docklands Light Railway (DLR), tram and bus using an Oyster card."

Around three quarters of journeys on London's buses and Underground are now paid for by Oyster card compared to only five per cent by cash - bringing huge time savings to passengers and the transport system.

Almost three times as many passengers can pass an Underground payment gate using Oyster card as can using printed tickets - 40 a minute compared to 15 a minute.

  • Oyster pay as you go will be available at all Chiltern stations within Greater London. This includes some stations that already accept Oyster, such as Marylebone but also four new stations - Northolt Park, Sudbury and Harrow Road, Sudbury Hill Harrow and Wembley Stadium
  • In just over three years since its launch, Londoners, commuters and visitors have snapped up more than 10 million Oyster cards, and now only five per cent of journeys on the Tube and bus networks - just one in 20 - are paid for by cash
  • TfL has agreed to provide Oyster Card validation equipment in all national rail stations within Zones 1-6. This will include smartcard readers, station equipment and back office support systems. The train operator must install the equipment, as well as operate and maintain it
  • As an example, with Oyster pay as you go you can place £10 on your Oyster card, and when you touch in and out at the yellow readers with your card on the Tube, DLR, tram or bus, the reader automatically deducts the correct and cheapest fare
  • Oyster is available to buy from around 2,500 locations including Tube Stations and over 2,200 Oyster Ticket Stops in local shops. In addition they can be obtained online, over the phone via 0845 330 9876 or at Travel Information Centres across London. You can find your nearest Oyster outlet through the TfL website
  • Train operating companies that have now accepted the deal are c2c and Chiltern. South Western has been mandated to accept Oyster pay as you go through its new franchise agreement and the North London Railway, currently operated by Silverlink, will accept Oyster pay as you go when TfL take over running of services in November