London Public Transport
Specific information on public transportation in London
Heathrow Airport transportation
Heathrow is Britain’s biggest and the world’s busiest international airport, and is located about 14 miles to the west of central London in the Borough of Hillingdon. Heathrow is still expanding with a new Terminal 5 opening in March 2008 and a third runway and possible sixth terminal under discussion.
There are a number of ways for visitors using Heathrow to get to and from the airport, here’s a look at the options should you be going through there.
London Underground One of the first views of London
Date: April 29th, 2008 |
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Tube platform markings
There are two related stories in the news today regarding the London Underground Tube system. The first in the Evening Standard concerns figures released under the Freedom of Information Act that show that at least one Tube station a week was forced to close last year due to overcrowding.
Stations that tourists and visitors use a lot, Oxford Circus and Victoria, had to be closed five times each
Date: February 22nd, 2008 |
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Safety on London Buses
The London Assembly has released a new report on crime and passenger safety on London’s buses. The report called Crime and disorder on London’s buses states that crime rates are higher than two years ago, at around 1 crime for every 50,000 passenger journeys, and makes a special metion on the levels of anti-social behaviour which it links to the Mayor of London introducing free bus travel for under 18s. Pickpocketing is also a problem.
I’ve heard some debate on the subject on the radio and anecdotally a lot of bus drivers and older passengers seem to be blaming the large groups of teenagers for the problems, with stealing
Date: January 11th, 2008 |
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St Pancras International opens
The first Eurostar service between the newly refurbished St Pancras Station and Gare du Nord in Paris took place today taking 2 hours 12 minutes to complete to the trip. Waterloo had been Eurostar’s London base for the last 13 years but the move to St Pancras links Eusrostar to the recently completed £6billion High Speed 1 rail link. It also means passengers arrive on the northern side of the River Thames, next to Kings Cross Station and close to Euston and the rail links they offer. There are also a lot more hotels and hostels located around the Kings Cross/Euston Road area.
As part of the opening of St Pancras International there’s a programme of events called Arrivals taking place until 25 November
Date: November 14th, 2007 |
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Oyster Card updates
The are a couple of stories in the news today relating to the prepay Oyster card used by millions of people in London when travelling on buses or the London Underground.
The price of a single bus or tram journey when paying by Oyster card has dropped from £1 to 90p, a rare cut in pricing on public transport in Britain which always seems on a steep trajectory upwards. A single journey that’s paid for in cash will still cost a minimum of £2 though,
Date: October 1st, 2007 |
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London travel disruption
It took years of political wrangling and £4.3 billion to build but when Heathrow Airport’s new Terminal 5 open for business on Thursday it was supposed to be the ultimate passenger experience for British Airways customers. Smooth, efficient, comfortable, with none of the hassles, delays and lost baggage that have plagued BA this last few years.
Unfortunately the opening two days couldn’t have gone worse and long haul flights have not even started using T5 yet. One in five flights were cancelled today, with one in seven predicted to be cancelled tomorrow, over 100 in the first 48 hours over the new terminal being open.
Date: March 28th, 2008 |
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Together for London
TfL(Transport for London) have launched a new campaign to get users of buses, Tubes and trains in the capital to be a bit more respectful of other passengers. Together for London aims to get people to cut down listening to music on public transport or at least tone down the volume, stop yakking loudly on mobile phones, not bring smelly takeaway food on to buses and Tubes and to offer their seat if someone in needs requires it.
There’s going to be a poster campaign featuring different scenarios and the director Mike Figgis who made Leaving Las Vegas and Internal Affairs
Date: January 30th, 2008 |
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The return of the Routemaster?
Anybody who grew up or lived in London from the 1950s onwards will be familiar with the red Routemaster buses which soon after their introduction became one of the symbols synonymous with London for visitors or people thinking of travelling here.
Ken Livingstone the current London Mayor pulled the plug on the Routemaster in 2005 and among the replacement vehicles are the unpopular and unwieldy extended Bendy Buses. The reason given for scrapping them was the thing that made the Routemaster so appealing in the first place, the open platform at the back of the bus that allowed passengers to jump on and off without waiting for the bus to reach a stop and the doors to open.
Date: December 19th, 2007 |
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Eating out and about in London
Who says the London Underground is a dirty, smelly place full of grumpy people, its really what you make of it. The kids in the clip above thought a Tube train was the ideal place to have a dinner party and share a glass of wine with friends, and it looks like they were right.
Date: October 4th, 2007 |
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Eurostar sets Paris-London speed record
The Eurostar has set a new record for a train journey between Paris and London today when it used a new stretch of high speed rail line in the UK to clock up a time of 2 hours and 3 minutes from the Gare du Nord in Paris to St Pancras in London. It left Paris at 10.44 CET, arrived in London at 11.47 GMT and hit speeds of 200mph along the way.
Eurostar has been based at Waterloo station in London since it started service but this November will move its operations north to the renovated St Pancras International
Date: September 4th, 2007 |
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