London Underground

So…The London Underground. I sometimes get fed up of how much people whinge about public transport, especially in regards to London. In my experience public transport in London is pretty good, fast, reliable and not as unsanitary as most people like to make out.

History and Facts

The London underground comprises of 12 lines which serve 275 stations and is the world's oldest underground system. The lines vary; some are ...
...boroughs in the whole of London which are not served by the Underground, this is largely attributed to the geology of said Boroughs and the fact that historically they were being served by effective railway line systems during the early 20th century when much tube building took place. Services began on January 10th 1863 and since then the London Underground commonly referred to as "the tube" has expanded significantly and now caters for ... more

So…The London Underground. I sometimes get fed up of how much people whinge about public transport, especially in regards to London. In my experience public transport in London is pretty good, fast, reliable and not as unsanitary as most people like to make out.

History and Facts

The London underground comprises of 12 lines which serve 275 stations and is the world's oldest underground system. The lines vary; some are deep level whilst others are sub surface, each given a different name and represented by different colours on the tube map. There are only six boroughs in the whole of London which are not served by the Underground, this is largely attributed to the geology of said Boroughs and the fact that historically they were being served by effective railway line systems during the early 20th century when much tube building took place. Services began on January 10th 1863 and since then the London Underground commonly referred to as "the tube" has expanded significantly and now caters for over 3 million passenger journeys a day.

Tickets and Prices

When I first moved to London I found the ticketing system for the tube quite confusing. From my various day trips to London I got the concept of a day ticket but that about as far as my knowledge extended. Luckily Transport for London publishes a great many helpful leaflets which you can pick up from any tube or rail station, as well as these they have a great website which is also helpful in gaining a comprehensive list of various types of tickets and prices. Here are some the questions that I found myself asking…

Where Do I get tickets from?
Tickets can be obtained at the stations, however this can be a bit of a nightmare especially at busy stations as busy times, which is pretty much all of them all of the time. You can find yourself queuing for quite sometime if you decide to go down this route, however if your just making a day trip to London you can buy travel passes from most rail stations which is a good idea because you can just jump off your train and straight onto the tube (or bus/DLR/Train with a travel pass). The most effective way of travelling on the tube (or bus) is Oyster…

What is this Oyster Business?
Now this one really confused me when I went to London. Basically it's a "pay as you go" type system whereby you pay an initial fee to get an actual oyster card which is just a credit card size piece of blue card which you slip into your purse/wallet that can stay there and all you have to do is place it on the yellow oyster reader which will then let you through the barrier, of course you'll need credit on it. Credit again can be bought from any station, but again you may end up queuing for quite some time, even to use one of the electronic machines. Tip: The Travel Centre in Victoria train station can do this for you and never seems to be busy….perhaps because it's a little tucked away. So basically every time you make a journey the relevant amount of money is taken off your oyster card, best thing is that you can use it on the tube or bus, however "pay as you go" will not allow you to use rail services. It is also cheaper to use Oyster; they have made fares on Oyster slightly cheaper which I think is in a bid to get everyone using it. I had one of these while I was in London and found it invaluable…it speeds things up no end. Its also worth noting that season tickets (see below) can also be put on any oyster card, which is really good as it saves you carrying around a pieced of flimsy card which can easily get lost or damaged. These season tickets can be used on Tube, Rail and Bus.

What if I'm just visiting for a few days?
Easy….One or Three day travel cards. These are really great if you are just visiting for the day or weekend and will undoubtedly save you money. They can be used on buses and national rail as well as the tube. Prices vary in regards to what Zones you wish to travel in as well as what times you wish to travel. Peak travel Cards can be used all day any day, whereas off Peak travel Cards can be used after 0930 Monday to Friday and all day Saturday and Sunday. The more zones a travel card covers the more expensive it will be, for instance a peak travel card for zones 1-2 is £6.60, for zones 1-6 it is £13.20. However there is little difference in off-peak prices so if you can hang on until after 9.30am its beneficial, zones 1-2 off peak is £5.10, but 1-6 is only £6.70.

Will a season ticket save me money?
Yes, these can save you an awful lot of money. I sat and worked out what would be most cost effective for me and found a combination of weekly and monthly season tickets would be best, but obviously this varies according to how much you use the tube….its most definitely worth taking the time to sit down and work it all out though. I wad very lucky and just put student travel cards on my oyster card which was pretty cheap, however if you are looking at buying an annual season ticket for zones 1-2 its £928…so not cheap, 7 -day is £23.20 and monthly is £89.10. Obviously as with anything you have to work out if your usage is going to be sufficient that you will actually be saving money in purchasing one of these.

Zones???
In regards to the tube London is split into 6 zones. Zone One is central London, containing stations such as Oxford Circus, Piccadilly, Temple etc…and Zone six is the outermost zone containing stations that most people won't have even heard of. Zones are important to ticketing because in order to understand which ticket you need, you need to know what zones you're going to be travelling in, there is no point buying a zone 1-2 ticket when you need to get to Cockfosters (Zone 6).

Value for money?
As with most things in London prices on the underground can seems bit steep but I wouldn't say that they are out of proportion or not worth it. In most cases you get what you pay for.

Use

Looking at a map of all different coloured lines with funny names was a bit confusing at first but then I realised that actually it was all pretty idiot proof. All you need to know is the colour of the line which goes through the station you want to be at and what direction on the tube map that station is in regards to your current location. So for example if you're at Oxford Circus and want to be at Marble Arch (you should walk…lazy!) or….you look at the map and see that Marble Arch is on the red line called the Central line and that it is west of Oxford circus on the map so you need to take….Central Line West, and the best thing about it is…there are signs all over the station so its hard to get lost. How do you know where to get off??? There is a nice lady who comes over the speaker and tells you what station your approaching, and if you miss that…it's plastered all over the walls when you get there.

Safety

I personally have never felt unsafe on the tube, when your in an actual tube carriage and you look around there are plenty of safety precautions and there is little that would make you unsettled or fearful for your own safety. I have also used tubes at night and have rarely found them to be completely empty, every now and again the odd homeless guy gets on and asks for money but that's about it. Obviously we unfortunately live in a society now where terrorism seems to be an ever present threat, some people chose to make this a consideration of how they travel but personally it was never an issue for me, I didn't want fear to dictate the way in which I went about my daily life, but whether you take that into consideration is an individual choice

In my opinion, as long as you "mind the gap" and keep your wits about you the tube is pretty safe and if something does bother you there is never more than a few minutes until the next stop where there are plenty of staff who can be notified if needs be or you can simply just take the next train. I wouldn't recommend falling asleep on the tube though and its always wise to keep an eye on your belongings, its also essential to keep them on you at all times.

Comfort and Service

Yes it gets crowded, yes it can be claustrophobic and smelly and yes there can be delays. I have experienced them all however, if you're smart enough you can avoid an awful lot of it. In regards to delays, there isn't much that can't be avoided, not in central London at least, the trick is to remain afoot of what is going on on what line. This can be done easily, the Transport for London website updates on the state of service regularly and boards can be found all around stations about various delays, you can also ring the London travel information Hotline. Crowded and claustrophobic, I personally never found this a problem, every now and again I would hit a busy time and end up squashed against a door for a few minutes….what can you do. However most of the time I managed to avoid being stuck under some sweaty guys armpit by simply avoiding busy times and busy lines, I found that as time went on I knew where was going to be busy and when….and thus could avoid them. In regards to comfort this again is just something you learn from experience, what lines have the nice trains and what lines do not; some are pretty plush…newly refurbished whilst others are a little older.

Trains are literally every few minutes and you never find youself wating long, its always wise to make sure your in the middle of the platform just as they arrive though....means you can leave sufficient space for people to get off but nip on quickly in front of most people. Also...I learnt the hard way....if you want on to get on a busy train, no one will let you on, so give as good as you get!

Service, I thought it would do to mention staff here. I have had differing experiences with London underground staff, some have been helpful and polite and others unhelpful and miserable. There have been numerous occasions where I have seen people struggling with prams and bags and offered little help, I also often wonder if I showed them my library card would they just let me on the tube…they were paying that little attention. On the whole travel on the underground requires little interaction with staff and so long as the engineers keep it running safely and smoothly I can't say I'm all that bothered. However I am in the beneficial position of speaking English, I wonder whether tourists who are perhaps in need of a little more assistance would feel the same…

Overall….

Overall I think the underground is hugely underrated, it's a reasonably priced comprehensive service which is an integral part of London. While it is by no means perfect and I'm sure many people could point out its many faults I do believe that in respect of the amount of people it caters for and area it covers its operation is impressive and it provides a vital service to the millions of people who use it every day.

Right….Just to be sad, my favourite station is Westminster which is on the Circle and District lines because it's just very nifty and space age and usually pretty clean. My favourite Line is Piccadilly…because it goes through Knightsbridge, gotta love Harrods….
 

...less