London buses
Oct 30th, 2002, 06:42 PM
#2
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Big Bus and another one (London Sightseeing?) has hop on/off busses; however, the run around $15/day so not very practical for just getting around. Great for overviews/siteseeing. You can buy tickets wherever they stop which is many areas. Check out their routes on the net. Of course, there are the regular busses which I only took once and it dropped me off a long way from where I wanted to be.
Oct 31st, 2002, 03:42 AM
#4
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On our first and only trip, we did not do the bus tour thing. At some points, it looked kind of nice...driver knowing where he was going, little commentary, other tourists with you. But overall, I'm thrilled we struck out on our own. Take the tube...lots. It is a great way to get around and a great experience as well. We also took buses, but it was more of a ride to relax than to get anywhere. We'd hop the bus, take it to the end of the line, hop the return and so on. It was a great way to sight see, and if we saw something we liked we'd hop off and then go see it. Doing it like this made us feel more like it was 'our trip' and not that we were on someone else's trip. But, if you are going to take one of the bus companies, the London Sightseeing one seemed to be getting a lot of praise here a year or so ago I believe.
Oct 31st, 2002, 05:27 AM
#5
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The commercial sightseeing buses are a good way to get a concentrated overview, but an expensive way to try to get about, even the hop-on/hop-ff services.<BR><BR>The London Transport site already mentioned allows you to print off bus maps, or you can get them free when you arrive. There are new leaflets every year from London Transport, it seems, but one I found this year that looks particularly helpful is called something like 'Experience London' and has a diagram map of the main bus routes through central London in relation to the main tourist attractions and shopping areas. (The normal maps can look incredibly detailed and complicated).
Oct 31st, 2002, 04:15 PM
#6
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What are you expecting to happen with the tube? It was working upto expectations a few days ago...<BR><BR>They had the big windstorms last Sunday (27th) and when I walked into the tube station, a plethora of signs and announcements indicated service was out for some stretches of various lines.<BR>Actually, mostly the suburbs. If the announcement says "service is out on the Victorialoo line from Chippinghart for bottomborough", that means nothing to me.<BR>The did stop service on half the new Jubilee line all wekend - locals suggested they were ironing out bugs on the computerized signals system. Very annoying to walk 200yds along a tube passageway, get to the platform, and have a guard shoo you away - "Sorry, no trains today". This was more reliable than the suburban commuter trains, though. <BR>The busses and tube are the same London Transport Authority (visit their museum at Covent Garden). An all-day Zone1&2 pass after 9:30AM is 4.10(Pounds), and a weekend one 6.10; good deal, don't forget you need the ticket to get OFF the tube too. <BR>I suspect the only thing that would stop the tube and the red busses is a strike. Those don't happen in Britain, do they?
