London Underground (The Tube or The Underground) (Underground in general)

Member Name: hunnybabyuk

Product:	Underground in general
Date:	13/09/09 (50 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very big system to get almost anywhere with high frequency, great oyster fares & easy to use map

Disadvantages: Very rude & unfriendly staff most of the time and trains can be very dirty & scruffy sometimes

The London Underground is most commonally called 'The Tube' or 'The Underground' by locals and tourists, the tube is a system of high speed & high frequency trains running across the entire City of London. It's operated by Transport for London (TFL) who are the Passenger Transport Executive for London, they are in charge of franchising bus operations & tram operations, setting fares and regulating public transport in the capital.

The network dates back to 1863 when the first trains operated on what was the FIRST ever underground rail network in the world and in 1890, it became the first to run electric trains.

The tube operates on 11 lines, each indicted on the famous tube map by a different coloured line, the lines & corrosponding colours are...
Bakerloo (Brown)
Central (Red)
Circle (Yellow)
District (Green)
Hammersmith & City (Pink)
Jubilee (Silver)
Metropolitan (Dark Magenta)
Northern (Black)
Piccadilly (Dark Blue)
Victoria (Light Blue)
Waterloo & City (Turquoise)

There are 268 stations that are served by tube trains & a further 6 stations are served on the old East London line by replacement buses, the East London line was coloured orange on the tube map but will be changing over to the new London Overground network shortly.

Trains run on a high frequency system and not to a general timetable, this means trains turn up every few minutes for most of the day to most of the stations along the line. This means if you miss a train you only usually have to wait a few extra minutes for the next one. No having to carry around or look at timetables. Its just turn up and go.

The tube, as you can see from the map, is split into 6 zones, Zone 1 is the most central Zone & covers most of central London, it then goes out as zone 2, zone 3 & so on in a circle around the map to zone 6 for the most outer parts of the city, there are also zones 7 to 9 which are outside London on the Metropolitan line.

There is then a wide range of tickets available to suit all passenger types and journeys, from single tickets to multi-modal. Single tickets can be purchased for travel on the tube depending on which zones you wish to travel in determines the cost of the ticket, you can also buy a return which is twice the cost of a single ticket. Travelcards and season tickets are also available for regular travellers and visitors/tourists to the city. Tickets can be purchased at staffed ticket offices where available or ticket machines which accept cash (notes & coins) or cards.

The other way to pay for the tube is to use an Oyster Card, which is a credit card sized pre-payment card known officially as a Smartcard. You can then charge it with credit, and use to pay for travel, by simply scanning on the nice yellow card readers at stations & on buses. You can use it to load travelcards on it OR use it to pay-as-you-go, simply scanning the card in replacement of a ticket and it will deduct the credit from your card, bit like a pay-as-you-go phone. It's a lot cheaper to use Oyster to pay-as-you-go rather than waiting in lines to buy tickets all the time, infact tube fares are upto 50% cheaper when using Oyster and bus fares are cheaper too. Oyster can be used on all tube, bus, tram and overground services and SOME National Rail services. THis is a great system and not just for locals, you can get an oyster card even if your only there for a daytrip or a short break just go to a TFL Travel Centre, London Underground ticket office or approoved agent to get one. It really helps to speed up your journey, especially on the tube as queues can be VERY long for ticket machines & counters especially in central London, it also saves you a lot of money. Infact use it to pay-as-you-go and once you reach the travelcard cost it will STOP CHARGING YOU and travelcards cost LESS on Oyster.

Travel for passengers with a wheelchair can be difficult as when they tube was built, wheelchair access wasn't considered and because of the complixity of some stations its virtually impossible, if not extremely complex to make them accessable, the tube map now indicates which stations are accessable by placing a wheelchair sign next the station name. TFL have a customer service team who can plan journeys for passengers who will need step-free journeys.

The trains are old and can be a bit scruffy, some do have graffiti on and some are a bit scatty but TFL are investing in NEW trains and they try keep them up to scratch but so many people throw litter & vandalise them everyday. The trains can get very hot during the Summer when theres no ventilation and its crowded you deffinately should take a bottle of water with you to keep you hydrated and have the windows at the end of each carriage open to let air blow in, its very refreshing when the trains going at top speed & the winds blowing through.

The trains are always getting delayed for whatever reason and at weekends you can almost certainly expect your line to have a closure somewhere along it for engineering works as part of plans to refurbish and improove the network as part of a multi-million pound investment over 10 years.

Staff are generally rude and unfriendly, always look misserable & don't usually smile apart from the odd few, you can guarantee if theres a problem or you have a question they may help you but really will show you how much they don't care if something goes wrong you can almost guarantee they won't be able to help you as they don;t have the information. Thats NOT all underground staff though some ARE nice and ARE helpful and some DO smile but the general attitude of staff in general is usually rude and unfriendly.

Overall I think the tube is a great system you can get to almost anywhere in London quickly and efficently every few minutes from early morning till late at night, there are many fares to choose and with Oyster its quick, easy & cheaper to go by tube than by car (paying stupid congestion charges). The map is extremely easy to follow with the colour coding and on the map you have a list of every station, in alphabetical order and a grid to help you find it.

The downsides are staff and some of the trains are very scruffy & old.

Summary: London Underground