Public Transport

London is served by an extensive network of underground (tube), and overground trains and buses.

East London also has the Docklands Light Railway (DLR).

There is a tram service between Wimbledon, Croydon and Beckenham in south London.

Riverboats run between Putney in west London and Woolwich.
They can divided into sightseeing cruises and river buses, the latter tend to be faster and cheaper, but are largely enclosed and may not offer as good a view or have a commentary.

Bicycle hire is widely available, both from fixed docking stations, bicycle hire shops, and from hire bikes left, seemingly randomly, on the street, in parts of London.
Electric Bikes are becoming increasingly available to hire.
Privately owned Electric Scooters, although a common sight, cannot legally be used on public roads, pavements or cycle paths.

However parts of London have trial schemes allowing the use of rental electric scooters. Rules governing their use may vary, but generally riders must be 18 or over and hold a full or provisional drivers licence. The scooters may be speed restricted, and have identifying numbers.

• Black Cabs (nowadays not always black)
  Have an orange “Taxi” light on the front, and a white licence badge displayed at the back. They can be picked up from taxi ranks or hailed on the street (when the orange light is illuminated). They can also be ordered online, by phone or by using apps such as Gett and FREENOW.
• Mini Cabs
  Should be ordered online or by phone, or at a minicab office. They cannot (legally) be hailed on the street. They display blue and white “Private Hire” badge in the rear window.
• Uber, Bolt and Ola
  Operate in London. Download their apps to use.

Information

The Transport for London (TFL) website includes transport maps, information on fares and tickets, a journey planner, and status updates for underground and overground train lines.

Paper copies of the tube map are usually available at underground stations.

→ TFL website

A number of Apps can be downloaded giving travel information including Citymapper and TFL Go `.

Street maps can be bought in most news agents.

How to Pay

Oyster Card - is an electronic pre-payment card for travel on public transport in London.
They can be bought and topped up at underground and overground railway stations, and shops which display the Oyster logo.

• Underground (tube) trains
• Most overground trains in London (and for some journeys outside London).
• Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
• Buses
• Trams
• Some Thames river boat services

Navigating the Underground

To locate the entrance to an underground station look for the signs at street level.

• The different underground lines are colour coded on tube maps and the signage at stations usually clear.
• Underground trains are described on display boards and in announcements either by their direction of travel - “Eastbound”, ‘Westbound” , “Northbound” or “Southbound”, or with reference to their final destination.
• Trains do not always travel the full length of a route, so the destination displayed may not be the last station on the line.
  
• Some underground lines have two or more branches. Check the direction you want to travel and, if the line splits, on which branch your destination lies.
• A white circle on the tube map indicates a station where you can change between tube lines.
  At some stations this can simply mean taking another train from the same or an adjacent platform, at others it may involve following the signs to a platform on a different level.

For payment purposes the underground is divided into zones. Zone 1 being central London and Zones 2,3,4 etc. a series of more or less concentric rings.
The fare payed for a journey depends on the zones travelled through.

Traveling by Bus

• Most bus stops have a timetable and some also an electronic display indicating when buses are due. If not there should be a number to text to get that information.
• Zoom in and click on the blue bus symbol on Google Maps for details of buses that serve that stop.
• The Citymapper app has similar information
• At a bus stop with the word "Request" indicate to the driver of an approaching bus that you wish to board. If it does not the bus should stop anyway if passengers are waiting.
• Once on a bus there are usually announcements and/or a display with the name of the next stop.
  Press the bell once to indicate you want to get off at the next stop.
• Night buses operate on some routes.
  Night Bus Map

Walking

Driving in London

Central London has a Congestion Charge Zone. A daily charge of £18.00 (if paid in advance, or on the day of travel) is payable by most vehicles driving in the Zone between the hours of 07.00 - 18.00 Monday to Friday, and 12.00 - 18.00 Saturdays, Sundays and Bank Holidays.
A much larger area, encompassing almost all roads within the M25 orbital motorway, is also designated as an Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ), and vehicles not meeting the required standards are subject to a charge. For cars this is £12.50 daily - 24 hours a day 7 days a week. This is in addition to the Congestion charge, where applicable.

A Low Emission Zone operates within most of Greater Lonodon for drivers of larger vehicles, including lorries and coaches.