Going Down the Tubes! London

Unless you’ve spent time in a big city…I mean a REALLY big city, chances are you don’t understand the complexities of the transport problem.  Think of Los Angeles.  I had a friend who lived there, a music lover and concertgoer.  I figured he was pretty much in musical heaven.  Not so. From where he worked in L.A., it took him five hours to get to many of the venues.  But, L.A. has no underground metropolitan railway. 

Now check out London.  Huge city.  Bustling with possibilities.  Huge Metro system, known affectionately as The Tube.  In central London, you can get almost anywhere in thirty minutes or less…usually less.  Hey, the average speed of the trains is over 20 mph.  And on the Metropolitan Line, trains can reach 60 mph.  Try doing that in London traffic.

How big is the whole Tube setup?  249 miles.  So how does it rank in size?  Right behind Beijing and Shanghai.  Busiest in Europe?  Right behind Moscow and Paris.

Sometimes the distances are really short.  The trip from Leicester Square (home of discount theater tickets) to Covent Garden (setting for the film, My Fair Lady) only takes 20 seconds.  It may be the most popular 20 seconds in London.

We stayed on the southeast side of London, right near a tube station.  Matter of fact, I pick my hotel based on the proximity of a tube station and how many metro lines pass through it.

But, wait a sec.  I’m getting ahead of myself.  You probably don’t know how extensive the London Metro system is.  Here’s a glance:

The Piccadilly, Circle, Central, and District Lines pretty well cover the town.  Circle Line (London’s Oldest  circa 1863) makes you think it goes in a full circle.  Well, it did, but not anymore.

 The Tube system is dead easy to use.  Buy an Oyster Card and load it up with a few Pounds Sterling.  Any time you need to add more money, it’s also a no-sweat operation to check your balance and add more.  The cards are electronic and so are the card readers found in every tube station.

At peak hours, about 57,000 pass through the busiest station, Waterloo, and last year over a billion folks used the tubes.  With that many passengers, you know the tube system has GOT to be easy to use.

 Tube maps are also posted in every station, as are a list of the stops for each of the lines.

Trust me.  Even if you have never used the London Underground before, you won’t waste more than five minutes figuring it out.

But, what if you want to go to a specific location, Harrods Department Store, for example, and have no idea which tube stop is nearby? Just ask an attendant, or check your city map or guidebook.  All the big attractions list the closest tube stops.  When you finish your journey, the names of the big attractions are also posted, so you’ll know which exit to take.

What if you’re looking for that special pub, or that quaint little boutique?  The Internet will give you the tube stop.  For pubs, I also recommend a wonderful book, fancyapint, which gives reviews of hundreds of pubs, and also lists them (with a map) for each tube station.  For even the most convinced Beer-a-holic, there’s no reason to go without a brew, no matter where you are in London.

 Besides convenience and economical transportation, another reason to use the tube is the sheer history of the Underground system.  After all, it’s been around for more than 150 years.  During the Second World War, the tubes were not only used as air raid shelters, but as an aircraft factory that stretched over two miles.  The War Cabinet met in the Underground until their permanent bombproof quarters were finished.

Part of the Piccadilly Line closed during the war and treasures from the British Museum were stored there.

Here’s another tasty historical tidbit:  Aldgate Station (Circle and Metropolitan Lines) rests on a massive plague pit, containing more than 1,000 bodies.

Want to win a bar bet?  What are the tube station markings for the London Underground … the red circles, with a blue stripe through the middle called?  Roundels.

 What’s the only line to connect with every other line?  The Jubilee Line, built to commemorate Queen Elisabeth II’s twenty-fifth year on the throne, 1977. It wasn’t finished until 1979, which may hint at a universal truth about government workers.

Enough, we could go on and on about the longest, the first, the this and that.  Suffice to say, the London Underground is a marvel of convenience and safety.  I’ve already got my Oyster Cards ready for my next visit to my favorite city.