5th May: Oyster Cards

It's Oyster Day, so here are 10 facts about the Oyster Card, a little piece of plastic needed for getting around London.

1. The card was first issued to the public in July 2003.
2. By June 2012, over 43 million Oyster cards had been issued and more than 80% of all journeys on public transport in London were made using the card.
3. Oyster was chosen as the name because TfL didn't want anything associated with transport, ticketing or London. Oysters also imply security and value (the pearl in the shell) and suggests the saying "the world is your oyster". Oysters are harvested from the River Thames.
4. As well as the cards people who live in London use, there are visitor Oyster cards which tourists can buy from outlets around the world for a refundable £5 deposit.
5. 7 million Oyster Cards are in regular use.
6. There are 24,939,352 Oyster cards in circulation that have not been used in a year or more. Between them, they hold £46,631,475 worth of deposits. £52,735,881 worth of pay as you go balance.
7. Oyster cards never expire. So if you're the owner of one of the above cards and know you won't use it again, you can get your money back.
8. The number of people who can pass through the ticket gates per minute is 40. Only 25 people could pass through per minute in the days of paper tickets.
9. There have been three different designs of standard Oyster cards. The first had red roundels on them. There have also been some limited edition ones, celebrating: the Wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton; Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee; London 2012 Olympic Games; the 150th Anniversary of London Underground and TfL's Year of the Bus.
10. The little plastic wallets have been redesigned several times, too including a limited edition for charity designed by Katharine Hamnett.