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.

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…

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.

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.

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.

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

Comfort and Service

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….