How to save on transport in London
It is said that London transport is not only the most expensive, but also the most difficult. Borrowing in the subway maze or confusing in tariff zones, you can lose all day. But we still try to figure out how to properly use the capital buses, trams and subways.
Buses, trams and subway labyrinths
Urban public transport in London is well developed. There is only one problem: to figure it out for only the most meticulous Englishman, who has absorbed the ability to navigate in the oldest and largest metro in the world with Mother’s Milk. The scheme of the London Metro is extremely confused. 12 lines branched like a giant bush. Therefore, before sitting on the train, you need to look at its final destination. And try not to lose self-control when your line will go from a completely different branch. The main thing is to remember your ultimate and carefully read the information board.
In addition to "Subway", In London there is "Name" – 5 lines of urban trains. Another high-speed rail transportation – DLR train (Docklands Light Railway). Frames that run without a driver connect the area of the former city docks with the center and metro stations.
And, of course, the famous two-storey buses run throughout the city. However, this is not at all those old good "Rutmaster" No roof. They were replaced by modern closed buses, though painted in traditional red. Warned on peace of old-timers function only in the very center on a pair of historical routes. Red buses are competing green express.
Midth ends can take advantage of special buses running in the dark day (and some routes fully correspond to daytime). Unlike other cities in the world, the passage of this type of transport costs as much as.
Another full-fledged view of London transport steel river trams. Once the Thames was the main transport artery of the capital. Today, of course, she lost its role, but in the last decade city authorities are trying to develop a network of transportation on water.
To select the best route, you can use the scheduler on the official website of London city transport JourneyPlanner.TFL.GOV.uk.
Capital transport runs on 10 concentric zones. True, the whole city is a big London – placed in 6 zones. The most interesting for tourists and at the same time the most expensive 1st zone, which included the entire center of the English capital and the vast number of urban attractions. Buying a ticket, it is worth considering that the London Airport Heathrow, like the suburbs of Aksbridge, the April and Orpington is in zone 6.
Tickets
Payment of travel in London in the last couple of years has somewhat simplified and ceased to be a real intellectual game when it was necessary to calculate the cost depending on time and distance. Now the price is bound primarily with the number of intersected zones. At the beginning of this year, city transport prices once again rose, so if you have been in London earlier, look at the cost carefully. Perhaps this time you get more profitable to buy another pass?
The cost of a trip to the 1st zone, if you buy a one-time ticket – 4 pounds. In any other zone – 3 pounds. And tickets are automatically checked not only at the entrance, but also at the output. Improtematically high prices are set specifically: passengers want to teach "smart" Subscriptions.
Both for local residents and tourists very useful blue-blue Oyster Card (Pay As You Go). You only need to put a certain amount at the expense of this special plastic card (and then you can replenish the balance), and she will find everything herself. The advantage of this subscription is that he himself recognizes the lowest price on the route and will not allow the passenger to give more than he would pay for the day pass, that is, having completed about 3-4 trips and paying for them, the rest of the tourist will do free. Know that the minimum day threshold varies depending on whether you use transport at rush hour. On this map you can ride the subway, buses, trams, on all urban and suburban trains and river transport at the Thames. If you use this travel, a trip to the 1st zone will cost only 1.8 pounds (against 4 pounds of the usual one-time ticket).
Another travel TravelCard can be bought on day, week, month and year. And on 1 day – this is a paper ticket, and if you want to buy this ticket for a longer period, it will simply be brought to all the same Oyster Card. TravelCard allows you to travel in two or more tariff zones on the Metropolitan, the Landmark, Urban buses and trams, DLR trains. For one version of this pass – Peak Day TravelCard – you can ride all day to 4.30 next morning, whereas the type of day TravelCard per hour peak does not work and sold only with 9.30 in the morning. Meanwhile, the fare in London is constantly changing, sometimes a fixed TRAVELCARD tariff may be more profitable, so to understand which of the travels will come to you, compare tariffs for Oyster Card and TravelCard: the most relevant prices can be seen here.
The DLR uses their own one-time tickets, but there are also common travel. You can buy tickets in automata that is at metro stops and buses. Travels are purchased at stations, Travel Information Centres and Special Oyster Ticket Stops. Unfortunately, buy tickets via the Internet or agents, as residents of other countries can make, it is impossible in Russia.
Taxi
London taxi drivers, according to polls, are recognized as the most friendly and best known to the city, and the rides in their machines are the safest. The impression spoils only one thing – the fare. In elegant black machines, real professionals work. To get this position, they learn for several years. Therefore, their services are expensive: the landing is taken about 2 pounds, and then – a little less than a pound for each mileage kilometer. The base value is added surcharge for each additional passenger and if you decide to go at night, in Christmas or New Year. Thus, the fare from the city center to Heathrow can be 45-50 pounds. Parking of black cabins are everywhere, next to most popular tourist destinations. You can stop the car and just outside. If it is free, the yellow-orange scoreboard will burn on her roof.
If you want to save, do not communicate with expensive black "Cabami", with one of the business cards of the English capital. Better take "Minijab" – Cheap cars. But note that orders they take exclusively by phone. During a conversation with the operator, inquire about the price of the trip: these machines work without a counter. On the street on the street you can catch a private owner illegal. However, for how much and wherever he will take you, in this case, absolutely unpredictable.
