The London Underground is a staple of London. It is the quintessential way of getting around but for someone who isn’t familiar with how it works it can be terrifying. It was for me when I first started commuting and working in London. Whilst I did have experiences on it as a child, there’s always the fear of getting on the wrong line, or missing your stop and ending up somewhere you don’t know, or even misreading the map and ending up in Angel instead of Mill Hill!
Quite frankly, understanding the Underground and how it works is essential to living in or visiting London as you’ll find yourself on it quite often. This guide aims to give you a rough understanding of how the network… works? In the future, I do plan on writing up line-by-line breakdowns but this article is mostly for getting an understanding of how it all behaves and some general “survival” advice.
What is the London Underground
To put it simply, the Underground is a Metro Network that spans most of London. I say most as there are sections, mostly in South East London that it doesn’t cover, however that is a story for another time. It’s made up of 11 different lines with 272 stations (as of 2021 when the Northern Line Extension to Nine Elms & Battersea Power Station opened). Each of the lines all travel through Central London, with most of the Central London stations having an interchange to different lines, making it easy to get around. To make it a bit more complicated, Transport for London have other train lines that do not fall under the “Underground” umbrella, which are The Elizabeth Line, The Overground (split up in to 6 additional lines), the DLR, Trams and even National Rail stations, but more on them another time.
The eleven lines are
Sub-Surface Lines
- The Metropolitan Line – Central to North West London (and out to Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire) – Shares track with the Circle & Hammersmith & City Lines
- The Circle Line – A loop around Central London, with a branch out to Hammersmith in the West – Shares track with the Metropolitan & Hammersmith & City Lines
- The District Line – East to West – Shares track with the Hammersmith & City and Circle Lines
- The Hammersmith & City Line – East to West – Shares track with Metropolitan, Circle and District Lines
Deep-Level “Tube” lines
- The Jubilee Line – East to North West
- The Central Line – North East to West
- The Northern Line – North to South
- The Piccadilly Line – North East to West (If you fly in to Heathrow Airport this is the line you’ll catch!)
- The Victoria Line – North East to South
- The Bakerloo Line – Central London to North London
- The Waterloo & City Line – Waterloo to Bank (Central to Central really)
Each line is represented by a colour (shown above) which is handy to learn for when you’re first getting to grips with the system. For example, I once had to make a change at Kings Cross St. Pancras (which has 6 Underground Lines going through it and National Rail) where I got off the Northern Line and had to make a connection to the Piccadilly Line. The thing is, I couldn’t remember the name of the Piccadilly Line and my phone had no signal for a map (in typical Underground fashion) but what I could remember was that the line I needed was Dark Blue. I looked up at the wayfinder signs, saw the Piccadilly Line was dark blue and headed straight for it. I made my train and went happily on my way.
These colours are consistent throughout the network and are shown on wayfinding signage, station name signs (the ones that run along the top of the walls on the platforms) and on the Tube Map (see below)
BIG NOTE: Not all stations have the line running at the top of the platform on the name signage. The above ground stations don’t have this, neither do a lot of the stations in the far out reaches of London (however, most of these ones have no connection to other lines so you’ll still know what line you’re on… hopefully)
How do you pay for this?
There are a multitude of ways to pay for the use of the Underground, however the most simplest way is with Contactless. However, for those without a contactless bank card there are paper tickets available, or another industry changing method to pay. Each station falls in to a Fare Zone which determines how much you pay for your journey. There are 9 zones in total (however to note, on the Underground, Zone’s 7, 8 and 9 are only on the Metropolitan Line on it’s far reaches). You’re also charged depending on the time of day you travel. This is split in to Peak and Off-Peak times. The Peak period runs only on Monday to Friday from 6:30am to 9:30am and then again from 4pm to 7pm. Every other time outside of this is considered Off-Peak and is cheaper. Peak fares are based on when you tap in, not when you tap out so if you tap in at 9:25am but tap out of 10:15am (which is considered Off-Peak) you will still be charged the Peak Fare.
For example, if I was to travel from Tower Hill in Zone 1, to West Ruislip in Zone 6 in the busy morning commute period, I would pay £5.80. However, if I was to do this same journey in the off-peak, it would be £3.60.
Contactless Cards
You can tap in and out of the Underground with a contactless bank card, or a device with Apple Pay or Google Pay. This is by far the simplest way to pay as you don’t need to queue for a ticket or faff around, you just pop your card or phone on the yellow reader and off you go! A handy tip if you use your phone is to set your card as your “Express Travel Card”. On iOS devices, this can be done in your Wallet and Apple Pay sections of your settings. On Android, you turn off verification for travel purchases.
Oyster
Oyster is an alternative to contactless cards and revolutionised transport payments around the world. You can buy a card from any travel desk in an airport (if flying from outside the UK) or at any ticket machine on the TFL network. All oyster cards require a £5 deposit, however this £5 can be used as credit on the card straight away. I would recommend straight away putting at least £30 on there which will last you most of your first week if you’re planning on not travelling much (this will give you £35 in total including the £5 you pay when you first buy the card)
Paper Tickets
Standard paper tickets are available to purchases from the ticket machines, but I would highly recommend you don’t buy these if you don’t have to. The reason being is that they cost more than tapping in and out. For example, my previous example of a journey from Tower Hill to West Ruislip would cost your £7! IF you’re travelling on the tube often, that adds up fairly quickly. If you’re at the ticket machine, you may as well buy an Oyster Card and save yourself some money.
Travelcards
Firstly, I must note, the 1-day travelcard is no more. This used to be a great way to get around London before contactless became a thing. You would buy a Paper Ticket that cost around £15 and you get unlimited access around the entire TFL network (not just the underground) for the day. Nowadays, this can only be purchased as an addon to a ticket from a National Rail station and is still great if you’re day tripping from outside of London.
Additional Note – Fare Caps (Contactless & Oyster Only)
As part of an incentive to get Londoners using the tap in/out method, TFL have fare caps in place that stop the system from charging you once you hit a certain amount. Think of it as TFL rewarding you for using the network a lot in one day. The cap depends on which zone you travelled to in each day. For example, if you only travelled in Zones 1 and 2, then you’ll only be charged until you hit the fare cap for Zones 1 and 2. Any journeys you make after you hit the cap will be free! However, if, for example, you travel in Zones 1, 2 and 3 and hit the cap for those zones, but then make a journey in to Zone 4, your daily fare cap will be uplifited to include Zone 4 and you’ll be charged again until your total for the day hits’ the Zones 1-4 cap. The caps are:
You’ll notice on this table that there is a column for “Monday to Sunday” – as well as a daily cap, there is also a weekly cap which works in the same way as the daily cap, just over the week.
General advice to survive the Underground
I could do massive write ups about the different tips and dos-and-don’ts of the network, however we would be here all day and I can already sense you getting bored of me, so here is some general advice.
- It gets hot! – Especially in the Summer, it gets VERY hot on the Underground. The Deep-Level lines don’t have Air-Con so you’re purely relying on ventilation from the speed of the train. It can get very hot so be prepared to cook for a bit, and maybe bring some water.
- If a train is too busy, or you miss one, another one is right behind it, don’t rush – This moreso applies in Central London as in the further reaches it can be a bit longer, but there is more than likely another train right behind it so you won’t have to wait too long. I find myself waiting for the next train if one is too busy and it adds not much time to my journey.
- STAND ON THE RIGHT OF THE ESCALATOR! – I can’t stress this enough. It’s clearly signposted on the escalators that you should stand on the right. The left is for people who want to walk down. I’ve lost count of how many tourists I’ve seen stand on the left and get shouted at, pushed out the way or given the dreaded British “tut” when they do this by commuters. It is a sin to stand on the left.
- Don’t stop moving – If you stop in the middle of a corridor, or block the gates, you will get the “tut” so keep moving. Have your ticket or payment method ready in your hand before you get to the ticket barriers, move to the wall of the platform when you’ve decided where you want to wait for your train and when you’re travelling from platform to barrier (or vice-versa), walk with purpose.
- Take your bag off on the train – Lot’s of people will be on that train, especially during peak times and at the weekend. If you have a bag on your back, take it off and put it between your legs as it may be taking up a person-worth of space.
- If you get a seat, be aware of who’s getting on the train – This is especially important if you’re in a priority seat. If you see someone get on who clearly needs a seat more than you, give it to them. In a normal seat, the people in Priority Seats should give up their seats first, but if they’re all taken, do the kind thing and offer it to someone who needs it more than you.
This article will be constantly updated with anything else and I am open to suggestions for anything else you may feel should be added. Have fun on the Tube!
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