London navigation aids
 

I've seen numerous posts lately bemoaning the paucity of practical advice for getting from A to B in London. I hope the following helps:

<b>Finding the right bus stop</b> - there are &quot;Spider Maps&quot; in every bus shelter that show which bus goes to what destination and where to board it, and you can learn to use these maps on line. Go to <font color="blue">
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/borough.asp
</font>and click on the name of the stop where you want to begin or end your trip (or both) from the alphabetical list at the bottom of the page. When the map displays, note that there are lettered red discs on the street plan. Find the bus number you want, locate it in the &quot;Route Finder&quot; along the edge of the map, and you will see the letter corresponding to your stop. That letter will also be displayed prominently on the sign in the street.

<b>What Tube line goes where</b> - It has been frequently mentioned that the schematic maps of the Underground are often misleading because they bear no relation to geography. True. A much better representation can be found (oddly enough) on the <i>bus</i> map titled &quot;Central London&quot; that's available at every tube station. You can study it on line at<font color="blue">
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/pdfdocs/centlond.pdf
</font>Not only does it represent each bus line by numbers at every place it stops, but it also shows the Tube stops and lines in their actual locations.

<b>Neighborhood pathfinding</b> - Once you get off the bus or train, you will want to orient yourself in the neighborhood. This is where the <i>Interactive Map</i> comes in. Go to<font color="blue">
http://map.tfl.gov.uk/map.asp
</font>and you will find the classic schematic Tube map - but that's not what we're after. The neat feature of this map appears when you click on the name of a station. A menu will appear offering several pages of descriptive information, but by far the most useful one for visitors is &quot;Local Area Map.&quot; Clicking this item will download a detailed street plan of the area immediately around the station showing places to eat, sleep, and shop, ATMs, Bureaux de Change, public toilets, theaters - in short, just about everything you might need when you get off your wheels and onto your feet.

These maps are all presented in .pdf format, so you will need Acrobat Reader (free) from adobe.com to download them. I keep several dozen of them in my iPAQ so I can view them in any required scale wherever I go.

Update - the Interactive Map link has changed:

<font color="blue">http://www.journeyplanner.org/im/SI-T.html</font>

I'd just like to say that I've found the interactive maps very helpful, and printed out several - they make much more sense than the A-Z and are much more practical and easier to read.

Thanks Robespierre!

Thank you, Robespierre!
I'm hoping these maps and your helpful hints will help me to finally really figure out the London bus system.

Robespierre,

Which iPaq do you have - model? I have been looking at the 2700 or the 4350 with keyboard. Any recommendations?

I have an old 2215 that suits my purposes just fine. It has SDIO and CF slots that can be used simultaneously; I plug the GPS into the CF and 1gb SDRAM in the other. It's the only PDA I've owned that doesn't use batteries like Congress goes through taxes.

For the terminally adventurous, there is a downloadable Greater London Bus Map (covers Heathrow to Greenwich) at

<b>http://www.busmap.org</b>

A paper version is available for &pound;1.50 by mail or at various outlets in London.

ttt

There are also extremely detailed free maps of each section of London and its suburbs that are designed for cyclists. These are super-duper huge-scale maps you'd pay several quid for at shops - for an equivalent type map - these are free though not always easy to find. Look in racks at train stations and try the BTA office near Trafalgar Square and tourist offices like near St Paul's. I was in the Richmond tourist office and they had racks and racks of them. They are issued by the London council.