London's Transport

It is almost 2 years now since I recorded two episodes of the London Walks podcast. One episode gave advice on how to get to and from London's airports. The other concerned how to get around London by public transport. These episodes are now out of date, and so the time has come to record them once again. This time I am putting all the information in one place, and in only 40 minutes offering a lot of information in one place, from a local as it were to someone who may be unfamiliar with the transport system in this greatest of capital cities.

At the outset, I must make it clear I am giving you my personal recommendations. You may find some aspects conflict with what you have been told or with what you have read elsewhere. Listeners who live in London may disagree with me, but I offer you my advice based on what I do myself, with no axe to grind and nothing to gain from what I suggest you do.

The podcast is in 3 parts. Firstly I talk about London's airports. Secondly I mention the trains to and from continental Europe. Thirdly I discuss ticketing systems in London, and advise what are the best choices in our integrated transport whether you are staying one day, one week, one month or even longer.

London has 5 airports. London City in Docklands is the smallest and is mainly used for business travel. It is easily and quickly accessible from central London via the Underground and the Dockland Light Railway (DLR). Listeners from abroad to the London Walks Podcast are more likely to arrive at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted or Luton. These are all large airports, ranging from 20 - 40 miles from the City. All are easy to reach by public transport, and I advise on the choices and the tickets to buy.

My top tips are:

1. It is easier and maybe even quicker to use the Underground rather than the Heathrow Express, when you take into account the time taken getting to and from Paddington, buying a separate ticket, and waiting up to 15 minutes for the next train. This advice is particularly relevant now that Terminal 5 has opened if your plane arrives and departs from Terminal 4 which is no longer directly served by the Heathrow Express Train. The Underground is also much cheaper, costing less than a fifth of the total price for most journeys.

2. If you have 2 or more in your party, consider taking a taxi. The total price might be as much as £45 - £50 but divided between as many as 5 passengers a cab is affordable. You also get to hear the political views of your friendly and garrulous cab driver. She or he will have done The Knowledge - a fearsome test taking more than 2 years study. Once qualified, cab drivers will know hundreds of routes by heart, most streets in Greater London, and all the places on those routes. The cabs are clean, undamaged and tightly controlled by the quaintly named Public Carriage Office. A great way to travel.

3. I do not recommend the Gatwick Express. It is expensive (costing up to £17.90) and no longer more modern, more comfortable, or even very much quicker than alternative trains. Look for the Southern train which is clean, modern and comfortable. It stops once or twice, adding a few minutes on to the journey but costs half the price.

4. Luton and Stansted are easy to reach by train. Luton is cheaper by far, but both take around the same journey time. Travellers on a budget can save huge amounts by taking the Easybus, which costs as little as £2.

5. It is no longer sensible to fly from London to most places in nearer continental Europe. The Eurostar is very fast indeed - you can spend 10 hours in Paris on a day trip and pay a good price for your ticket if you plan ahead. My top tip is to look at a wonderful personal web site by The Man in Seat 61. This is a comprehensive guide to getting around Europe by train. Please consider making a donation towards his work (after you have donated to London Walks using the Pay Pal button at http://londonwalks.org).

6. It makes no sense to use cash on London's transport. Paying cash is prohibitively expensive by design. If you are staying one day, buy a paper Travelcard. If you are staying longer, get a pay-as-you-go Oystercard. You can buy one with a £3 deposit when you arrive, or get a visitor Oystercard for £2 from some travel agents worldwide which can be charged with cash and used from Heathrow right off the plane.

Links:

Transport for London - start here

What is Oyster?

Buying Oyster cards from overseas agents

Oyster ticket stops

How to use Oyster cards for visitors to London

Stansted Express

Gatwick by Southern Railway

About London's airports from BAA the current operator

Ordering transportation tickets from USA

National Express Dot2Dot transfers to Heathrow

Eurostar