Contactless Caps Your Spend, The Elizabeth Line Is The Best New Tube, And The 24 Is A Sightseeing Tour
Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat contribute reporting from a city that is genuinely worth visiting.
The London transport system is, by international comparison, genuinely excellent. The Tube, Overground, Elizabeth Line, DLR, buses, and Thames Clipper, when used together, will take you almost anywhere in London faster than any taxi could. What follows is the visitor’s practical guide.
The One Rule
The single rule, before anything else: pay with your contactless bank card or phone. Do not buy paper tickets. Do not buy day passes. The contactless system, run by Transport for London, automatically caps your daily spend at the equivalent of a day pass, and your weekly spend at the equivalent of a 7-day pass. It is the most generous fare-capping system in any major Western city.
You can also, if you prefer, buy an Oyster card and top it up. Either works. Contactless is simpler.
The Lines Worth Knowing
The Elizabeth Line, opened in 2022, is the newest London Tube line and is, in my view, the best in the system. It connects Heathrow to Paddington to central London to Canary Wharf to Stratford. If your hotel is on the Elizabeth Line, you have won the transport lottery.
The Northern Line is the workhorse of central London transport. The Piccadilly Line connects Heathrow to central London directly. The Jubilee Line is fast and reliable. The District Line and the Circle Line are slower but cover the western and central sights. The Overground is excellent for travelling around the edge of central London. The DLR is fun and frequent for the East End and Greenwich.
Buses Are Underrated
London buses are, for visitors, deeply underrated. They show you more of the city than the Tube, they are cheaper (capped at £1.75 per journey, with hourly transfers free), and the upper deck of a London double-decker bus is, on a clear day, one of the better urban viewing platforms in any major city.
According to Time Out London, the bus routes worth riding for the experience itself include the 11, the 24, the 88, the 159, and the RV1 (which runs along the South Bank). Each is, in effect, a free sightseeing tour for £1.75.
The Thames Clipper
The Thames Clipper, also known as Uber Boat, is the river-boat service operating along the Thames between Putney and Woolwich. It is more expensive than the Tube (£8-£12 per single journey, depending on zones), but it is, in good weather, the most pleasant way to see central London from a different angle. I recommend at least one Thames Clipper trip per visit, ideally Greenwich to central or central to Greenwich.
Practical Tips
Practical tips, in summary: stand on the right on escalators (left is for walking). Mind the gap when boarding (the announcements are not optional). Move down inside the carriages when the train is busy. Do not eat smelly food on the Tube (it is widely disapproved of). And, when in doubt, ask a member of staff. London transport workers are, in my experience, helpful when asked direct questions.
For more visit my author page and read prat.uk. See also The Daily Mash.
