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Frequently Asked Questions about the key
Here's where you'll find useful tips on how to:
- Maximise your savings by choosing the right key type
- Top up easily and on-time
- Use your key on the bus
- Report a lost, stolen or damaged key
- Share your key with friends, family or colleagues
- Use your key on other Oxford Bus Company services
Maximise your savings by choosing the key type that matches your travel patterns
How do I use my key on the bus?
How do I top-up my key?
How do I top-up online?
I've forgotten my password. What do I do?
Do I have to wait until my key has expired before I can top-up?
Won't I lose money if I buy a top-up "prematurely"?
How do I make sure there is a 'gap' between the end of one Time-Based key and the beginning of the next?
How quickly does a top-up take effect?
How do I know how many travel-credits I have left?
What happens if my key is lost or stolen? Do I lose all my travel-credits?
On the key homepage, it talks about "registering" my key. Do I need to "register" my card?
So, what are anonymous "keys"?
Can anyone else use my card?
Why don't you just print the expiry date on my key?
Why do you need so much of my personal data for a bus ticket?
Routes and Zones on the city bus network
I travel between Abingdon and Oxford, or Didcot and Oxford. Which key should I buy?
Do I need more than one key if I travel on more than one service?
The 18-and-Under key
The Young Person espress key
The Over-60 espress key
1) Time-Based keys
Maximum savings for the Daily Commuter
Time-Based keys offer you the cheapest possible prices if you follow the same daily travel pattern.
You can buy Time-Based keys which last for:
1 week, 2 weeks, 4 weeks (28 days), 13 weeks (91 days) or 1 year
Time-Based keys are available for:
city
espress
airline
park & ride
2) Multi-Trip keys
Maximum flexibility for minimum cost
Multi-Trip keys are designed to offer maximum savings if you travel frequently,
but don't follow the same travel pattern every day.
A Multi-Trip key means you can come-and-go as you please ' whenever you
please. And you still make big savings.
What's more, a Multi-Trip key is fully transferable, and can be:
- Used by more than one passenger at the same time (restrictions apply on the airline)
- Lent to someone else when you're not using it.
- Given to someone else as a gift.
So, if you want to travel with companion(s), the Multi-Trip key offers you the lowest prices.
Multi-Trip keys are available for:
espress
airline
park & ride
3) The 5-day carnet
Reduced fares for occasional travellers
Do you travel infrequently in and around Oxford City? Perhaps you're a
consultant working only occasionally in Oxford. Perhaps you have visitors to
show around the city?
If so, the 5-day carnet offers you big savings.
A Carnet can be used on any 5 days within 1 year. The 5 days do not have to be
taken consecutively.
Carnets are available for city routes and zones.
If it's a 5-Day Carnet which matches your travel patterns, click on the get the key button, and select your 5-Day Carnet from the drop-down box.
You simply place your key on the white circles on the reader - and wait for a beep.
You don't throw your key away when your travel-credits expire. You simply top it
up with new travel-credits. There are 2 easy ways to recharge your key:
- Online at www.oxfordkey.co.uk. Please note it may take 48 hours before the top-up can be applied to your card on the bus.
- In person, at our travel shop on the third floor of Debenhams.
Log into www.oxfordkey.co.uk
You'll need:
- The serial number printed on the front of your key (including any 000's at the front of the number)
- Your personal password. You set this when you applied for your key
- Your date of birth
This is why we collect this data when you apply for a key ' to enable you to make
the most of the online top-up facility.
No problem. Just email us at thekey@oxfordbus.co.uk, or call us on
08456 05 50 50. You'll need to give us the following information, for security purposes:
- Your date of birth
- Your full card number (printed on your card, including any 000's at the front)
- If possible, you should send us your email from the same address you gave us when you originally bought your card.
No. You can top-up at any time before your key has expired. So it's easy to
make sure your key has plenty of travel-credits charged up.
No. You won't lose out by topping-up before using up your existing travel-credits.
Here's how it works:
If you buy a Time-Based top-up
- The "start date" of your top-up runs from the first time you use it ' and not from the date you buy it.
- Your key will use up all existing travel-credits before starting to eat into your top-up.
So, let's say your original travel-credits run out on 31st July. Even if you buy a
Time-Based top-up on 1st May, for example, your new credits won't "go live" until
1st August.
If you buy a Multi-Trip top-up:
- Your top-up is valid for 1 year from the date of purchase. This should give
you plenty of time to use up all your travel-credits.
- Your key card will use up all existing travel-credits before starting to eat
into any top-up.
So, let's say you have 4 trips remaining on your card. You buy a 24-trip top-up
on 1st August. The card will 'use up' the original 4 before starting in on the top-up.
You have until 31st July the following year before your 24 new trips expire.
A Time-Based top-up automatically attaches itself to the day after your original
purchase finishes. However, there may be times in the year when you WANT to
leave a gap between the end of one Time-Based key and the beginning of the
next ' for example, when you go on holiday.
This is easily done. Just make sure you run your key down to 'empty' before
buying your top-up. This new top-up will only go live the first time you use it,
allowing you to leave a gap of any length.
- Online top-ups take 48 hours to go live. You should allow for this.
- Debenhams top-ups. Take effect immediately.
There are 4 easy ways to find out how much you have:
- The screen on the card reader on the bus shows you, every time you use your key.
- Go online at www.oxfordkey.co.uk and go to the "top-up" screen. This will
show you your outstanding travel-credits. You can check without having
to make a top-up. The online system is always 24 hours behind, so won't
show travel-credits bought that day.
- Pop into our travel shop in Debenhams and we can check for you.
- Call us on 08456 05 50 50 and we can check.
Tell us what's happened as soon as you can. We will "hotlist" your old card which means it will stop working. You can:
- Email us at thekey@oxfordbus.co.uk
- Call us on 08456 05 50 50
And no, you don't lose your unused travel-credits. We will check your
outstanding travel-credits on our system, issue you with a replacement key, and
transfer your travel-credits. ("Outstanding" means the travel-credits at the time
you report the theft, not at the time the theft occurred ' just like a stolen credit
card. We're sorry, but we can't refund any travel-credits used by the thief.)
Please note, we charge a £5 fee for replacing the card.
Most people do NOT need to register their keys.
If you buy a personalised key from us in Debenhams or online, it is already "registered".
The only people who need to "register" cards are customers who bought an anonymous key.
These are only sold at the Park and Ride Car Parks.
They are designed for first-time visitors to Oxford who don't understand how the
key works ' or the Park & Ride system in general.
However, these anonymous cards aren't identified to the individual passenger.
So, they provide no protection against theft, loss or damage.
"Registration" on the web-site offers passengers with anonymous keys the
chance to convert them to "full" keys.
That depends on the type of key you've bought!
Brookeskey, Schoolkey and GreenTravel2Workkey cards are photocards and are not transferable
Other Multi-Trip keys are fully transferable. You can:
- Lend it to anyone else when you're not using it.
- Travel together with an unlimited number of companions*. Simply swipe
the key once for each person travelling.
*Please note, if you have a Multi-Trip key for the airline, the total number of travellers is limited to 4. On all other services, the number of travellers using one key is unlimited.
If you have a Time-Based key other than those mentioned above you can:
- Lend it to anyone else when you're not using it.
However, you cannot use it to travel with a companion.
If you have purchased a key for:
- 18-and-Under'
- Young Person '
- Over 60'
'then your key is transferable, as long as the recipient fits the same criteria. It
is the user's responsibility to ensure they are carrying the correct ID.
We don't print an expiry date on your key as it is designed to be topped-up and used again and again.
We need your name and address to send you your original key.
We only collect your date of birth and your personal password so that you can
use the online top-up facility. These are the security questions used here on the
website to make sure the top-up is applied to the correct key.
We also use these security questions to transfer existing credits to a new card
when an old key is lost or stolen.
We do not keep any payment details, either electronically or as paper copies.
The city network offers 25 individual bus routes, covering the whole of Greater
Oxford ' and beyond. Routes cover Headington, Botley, Rose Hill, Blackbird
Leys ' plus services to Abingdon, Didcot, Kidlington and Wheatley.
These routes have been grouped into 4 Zones:
Zone A ' Central Oxford
Zone B ' Kidlington
Zone C ' Abingdon and Didcot
Zone D ' Wheatley
This means that you can buy keys that allow you to travel on multiple routes
within an area on just one ticket.
To view our full fares table or zones map, please click on the buttons below:
Please take extra care if you are travelling from Abingdon and Didcot as the overlapping key types are confusing!
The Abingdon route key
The Abingdon "route" key entitles you to travel on any of the following services:
- city X2 between Abingdon Saxton Road and Oxford City
- city X3 serves full route
- city X4 serves full route
- city X13 serves full route
- city 13 serves full route
- city 35 serves full route
- city 4/A/B/C between Abingdon, Botley and Oxford City
You can get on and off these buses at any point on their journey.
It does not entitle you to use any other buses anywhere on our route map.
Specifically, it does not entitle you to travel on
the X2 south of Abingdon, Saxton Road.
The Zone AC key
This allows you to travel between Didcot & Oxford, and Abingdon & Oxford, plus
anywhere within Zone A and anywhere within Zone C. You can get on and off
anywhere within those 2 zones.
You cannot travel in Zone B with this key. You can only travel as far as the
Water Eaton Park & Ride.
The Zone ABCD key
The ABCD key covers the whole city network ' including the Park and Ride
services. You can get on and off any of our city services, at any of our stops.
The Zone C key
Zone C entitles you to travel between:
- Abingdon
- Didcot
- Wootton
- Shippon
- Radley
- Cumnor
It does NOT entitle you to travel further into Oxford than Cumnor (on the city 4
route) or Sugworth Crescent (on the city 35 route)
Generally speaking, you have to have a separate key for each service that you use.
For example, we cannot put your Multi-Trip Park & Ride on the same key as
your espress 1-week.
We can't even put a Zone A travel-credit on the same key as a Zone C travel-credit.
We can print a different name on each of your cards, so you know which is
which.
However, you might not need more than one key. Don't forget that the key
you've already bought may entitle you to FREE transport on our other services.
Please check the grid below. It shows you the services you can travel on for
FREE if you have a Time-Based key. Select your key from the top line and then follow the column down to see which other
services you can use it on.
| A Time-Based key on : |
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Entitles
you to
travel on: |
Airline |
Espress |
Park & Ride |
Zone A |
Zone AB |
Zone ABCD |
Zone AC |
Zone C |
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| Airline |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
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| Espress |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
No |
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| Park & Ride |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
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| Zone A |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
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| Zone AB |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
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| Zone ABCD |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
No |
No |
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| Zone AC |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
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| Zone C |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
No |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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Special keys for special passengers
We offer the following concessionary fares:
Reducing the costs of travel for children and young people. Up until their 19th
birthday, young people get a discount of 33%, compared with the adult price.
The 18-and-Under key is available across these city bus zones:
| 18 & Under |
Zone A |
Zone AB |
Zone ABCD |
Zone AC |
Zone C |
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| 28 days (4 week) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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| 91 days (13 week) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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| 1 year (365 days) |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
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N.B. "18 & Unders" used to be called "Scholars"
Offering discounted travel to London for Young People holding a valid identity
card. The Young Person espress key is only available as a 12 trip Multi-Trip key.
Qualifying cards include:
- British NUS card
- National Express Student Card
- National Rail Student Card
- Young Persons Railcard
You may be asked to show your ID card on any journey.
Offering a 50% discount off the adult Multi-Trip fare between Oxford and
London. For anyone, of any nationality, who's at least 60 years' old.
Proof of age may be requested on any journey.
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