10 Tips to Surviving the London Underground

Call it the Under Ground, Tube or Metro or what ever takes your fancy. The London underground is one of the oldest underground systems in the world. Dating back from 1863, what began as steam engines towing windowless carriages between Paddington and Farringdon Street is probably now one of the most recognized transport systems in the world.

The overland can mean rest and recovery on your journey

Some may say with some justification that nothing much has changed these days as the purpose of building it in the first place was to ease congestion in the city centre. Now it is the main artery of London. Without it everything grinds to a halt.

So here are a few survival tips that every tourist should know:

1/ that Londoners despise tourists with big bags and backpacks travelling on the Tube at peak times. I know that sometimes it is unavoidable as you have to catch a train to one of London’s Airports or out to somewhere in the UK. If you can avoid the rush hour, do so. The problem is that the entrances, escalators and the Tubes them selves etc are really narrow and at rush hour (7-9.30am and then 4.30-6-30pm) it is extremely busy and hard to even get on the tube by yourself let alone with your bags.

2/ fellow passengers in general won’t look you in the eyes when travelling on the tube. I used to play a little game of trying to make eye contact with my fellow passengers to see if I could get them to smile. Rarely was I successful. Most will avoid eye contact at for any reason and will have their nose in the book or stare into space at the advertising

This is an overland versus and underground map

3/ the London underground is based mainly on a compass system of North West, South and East. I.e. The trains run West to East or vice versa and North to South or vice versa. A simple way at looking at is that High Street Kensington is in the West and Liverpool Street is in the East. Taking a train from High Street Kensington to Liverpool Street you would travel east bound and if you take the train from Liverpool Street to High Street Kensington you will be travelling westbound. Like wise North to South, Kings Cross to Earls Court is South Bound on the Piccadilly Line while Northbound is the other way.

4/stations on the station map bare no geographical reference to their actual locations. An example of this is that on the tube map it shows that Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Charing Cross and The embankments are some way apart. In fact they are all within 5 minutes of walk from one another. Make sure you check a street map before catching the tube as you may end up saving lots of money by walking.

5/ London’s transportation system is divided into 6 different zones. You can buy day passes that cover Zones 1 and 2, and Zones 1,2,3,4, 5 and 6. If you need to travel in another zone you can extend the zones at any ticket window after you get off the train.

6/ often it is cheaper to buy a day pass rather than individual tickets. This especially applies to Zone One. Day passes bought at Underground stations cover both Tubes and Buses and are valid from 9.30 in the morning to the last train

Time for a read before it gets too crowded!

7/ to get onto the tube you have to pass through security barriers. Put your ticket into the machine and the barrier opens. If the ticket is invalid it will come up and won’t let you in. Like wise leaving a station you will have to pass through the barriers again. If you have problems with your ticket, show it to one of the staff. They will be able to help you.

8/ the underground is not air conditioned. This is important in the middle of summer. Always carry a bottle of water with you. If you are feeling unwell, get of at the next stop and seek help.

9/ don’t carry your bike on a tube through central London in rush hour. London underground is not set up for this and considers it to be dangerous, because of the safety risks. There are lots of sections of the underground where the carriage of bikes is prohibited.

10/ the underground starts running at on average at 5.15am and stop at 1.00am the next morning. Please note that catching and early morning flight may be an issue as the Piccadilly line does not start running until 4.50am and it takes about 45 minutes to get to Heathrow from Central London. Also you may need to catch a cab to either Victoria (for Gatwick) Paddington for Heathrow and Liverpool Street for Stanstead to ensure that you catch the appropriately timed train to the airport. The Gatwick, Stanstead and Heathrow express trains are not part of the London Underground Network!

Once conquered, the underground will become your best friend. Respect it for what it is…one hell of an amazing transportation system that will get you beyond points A and B with little to no trouble.