jeffholcomb

I have not been to London for a few years, but I will be there in two weeks. How safe do others feel in travelling by tube or bus? I am usually not nervous about such things, but in light of recent events, I am a little cautious. Can anyone tell me how they feel? Thanks.

kenderina

I'm going in two weeks too (a bit less, in fact) and I feel as sure as I could be anywhere else (which is not very much these days). I'm going to travel by buses because I feel the tube was not designed for me(disability reasons) and also will take taxis. If you go by tube..just mind the gap !!

VickiH

Hi,

I suppose it felt a bit strange in the few days straight afterwards, but I'm getting used to it again. Last weekend was odd - on Saturday night coming back home from central London the underground was very quiet, which is very unusual, and that made me feel uncomfortable. But I think most people are back using it again now. You sort of have to really if you're going to carry on your life as normal.

The only thing now is that you have a pretty much constant reminder of what happened (not that you need it!) because all the tube stations have service announcements telling you what stations / sections of line are still shut.

There are also many more security alerts than usual which can mean (in extreme cases) parts of certain lines being suspended, or more usually, just severe hold-ups. Worth remembering that the tube has always had security alerts (well, for as long as I can remember) and it's usually because someone has left their shopping on a platform. So please, please, PLEASE make sure you keep all your bags with you and don't leave them anywhere!! The tube drivers have been doing their best to keep people updated on what's going on if there IS a security alert, but often there's nothing to be done and you just have to sit it out, which I must admit isn't that pleasant in the temperatures we're having at the moment. I think the number of security alerts is starting to go down again though. As you might have noticed, my general feeling on the tube at the moment is frustration rather than fear!

In the last week or so I've heard a lot of people say "I don't feel safe on the tube, so I'm taking the bus"... which seems a little illogical to me, but I think partly it's the fear of being trapped underground, I suppose.

www.tfl.gov.uk has info on what services are still suspended. I'm not sure what stage they're at now, as my main routes weren't directly affected. I am sure, however, that the piccadilly line around Russell Square and King's Cross will not be open for a long time yet.

flanneruk

100% agree with Vicki. I'd add:

- Unless you were unfortunate enough to have actually been mixed up in the bombings, it's that nagging fear that's the problem. And that seems to get less the more you use the tube. It's the first post-bombing journey you take that gives you the butterflies.
- One thing we all agree on is that the tube is less than perfect. Signals break down, staff get sick, idiots jump in front of trains and all the rest of the stuff stops London from being dull just as often since the bombings as before. Virtually all the unexpected halts are down to the same old nonsense as they used to be. So if the train stops, you're right to guess your plans are about to be messed up: you're unlikely to be justified in thinking something horrible's happened. This still isn't Switzerland - but it also still isn't Israel.
- Right now, the biggest threat on the Tube is sheer discomfort: it really does seem to get hotter down there every summer. Make sure you've always got lots of water with you. Apart from the dehydration issue, you actually seem to stay calmer if you top yourself up every ten minutes.

Tallulah

Apart from the various line closures (including mine, which is rather frustrating), one of the (sadly unfortunate) bonuses is the fact that it is certainly quieter on the tube. Buses seem to be a lot fuller so I guess people are fearful. I suspect many of them are tourists (no disrespect but when you HAVE to get on with day to day life you just do, when it's not the 'norm' to use the tube etc you find it easier to adapt). Personally I haven't thought about it other than the morning after the bombs.

walkinaround

i have always preferred the bus. many tourists shy away from the bus system because it is more difficult to use if you don't know the city well. You may want to stick with the bus as you will probably be less nervous above ground...anyway, even without the bombings, the bus is a much more pleasant way to travel, IMO.

bob_brown

I was there right before the bombings and got around with both tube and bus. I learned that if I did not know, ask. Most Londoners or suburban Londoners who know the system well are usually quite helpful.

I have had many courteous, generous people help me find the right bus. Or course I had an idea, but sometimes the stop for the bus you need second or even third is a short distance away.

I always have my map with me, so after i look at the bus routes on the posts, I can usually figure out which one I need.

With a bus pass, the hop on hop off at tactic works well. See something interesting, get off at the next stop and have a look.

The only time I got a little confused was at night when I had a hard time reading street signs.

By riding the bus, I feel I get a better look at London. I even rode buses to Hampton Court. It was a fun ride and we got help from several people and we had several conversations going at once.

xyz123

I too enjoy the buses...and with a little bit of homework have been able to figure out how to get most anywhere in London using the buses.

As a matter of fact, several of the lines cover almost the same turf as the overpriced big bus tours (without the commentary of course).

I stay often in the Bayswater area and along Bayswater Rd. we have the 94, 148 and 390 buses. Queensway station is closed so after the theatre about a week ago, I was at Tottenham Court Rd station and while normally I would hop on the Central line train to Queensway, I took the 390 bus instead and you know something, got back in almost the same time as walking through the maze of corridors to get on the tube.

By day, because of traffic, sometimes the bus can be somewhat slower but the congestion charge has improved that a great deal as have the installation of very clear strip maps at almost all bus stops which show you how to get where you're going and which line to take.

As far as the tube, it is running the same way it was the day after the bombings. District line service is not available from High St. Kensington to Edgeware Rd. Met service is out and the Picadilly line is out east of Hyde Park Corner. I don't think the Picadilly line will be up for several months; I suspect the District line and Met can be put back into service in a couple of weeks once they move the bombed out trains out of the way.

But this caused me consternation when I left London last Sunday..how was I to get from Bayswater to Heathrow without it costing me an arm and half a leg?

I mean normally I would take the district or circle line from Bayswater to Earls Court or Glouester Rd. depending on which train came first and then switch to the Picadilly line. I had no way to get to Paddington (without a cab)to catch the Heathrow Express so I checked the good old bus map and discovered...

The #70 line stops right across from my hotel; I had never ridden it before and I took it to South Kensington station, about a 10 minute ride. A single decker bus with a luggage rack! And then half a block walk to South Kensington station and onto the Picadilly line coming from Hyde Park Corner. The train was empty and I made excellent time and was at Heathrow 50 minutes after I got on the bus!

So with a little bit of homework, you can do most anything with the buses.

VickiH

Actually the tube is running better than it was the day after the bombings. just checked on tfl, and this is the current situation:

Bakerloo, Central, East London, Jubilee, Northern, Victoria and Waterloo and City lines are running as normal.

Northern, Victoria and Metropolitan line trains are now stopping at King's Cross. (King's Cross station was shut completely the day after the bombings - the Northern line only started stopping there again this morning I think).

There is no Circle line service at all.

The Hammersmith and City line is only running between Hammersmith and Paddington.

There is no Metropolitan service between Moorgate and Aldgate (that's only a couple of stops - not a massive inconvenience)

The District line has no service between Edgware Rd and High St Kensington (again, not a massive distance)

The Piccadilly line is suspended (and will be for a while I would have thought) between Hyde Park Corner and Arnos Grove, and (for some reason) between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge - but I wouldn't worry about that part, you won't need to be going out that far! Tfl doesn't tell you this, but there are also problems between Acton Town and Rayners Lane (again, this won't affect you, but just for completeness!) - it's less frequent than it should be, especially at weekends.

It's not as much of a problem as it sounds, as there are usually ways to get round the suspended parts. The tricky bits are journeys like King's Cross to Paddington, or anything else that would usually involve going round the "top" part of the Circle line. And I imagine if you live at the NE end of the Piccadilly line it's a bit of a nightmare to get anywhere, but I think there are replacement bus services. And as people have said the buses are pretty good, but the traffic can be bad (especially down Oxford St at weekends)

GreenDragon

Does anyone have a clue as to when Circle line will be up and running again? We are staying near the High Street Kensington station in August (19th-29th), and that's served by, of course, the Circle and District lines... and most of the places I want to go to are via the Circle line (using www.tubeplanner.com). Since Tubeplanner doesn't allow you to exclude a station when choosing a route, we might have more adventures than we reckoned on!

flanneruk

Neither the police nor tfl are saying anything. Edgware Road is the major hub on the Circle/District Line system, and ir does seem that the damage there was quite widespread: there seem to have been serious casualties on at least one train that wasn't blown up, as the blast seems to have carried. It's very difficult to run any service at all on the Circle Line if Edgware Road station isn't working properly.

Your realistic alternatives are the millions of buses from Ken High St, or the pleasant walk (or bus) up to Notting Hill Gate tube. To be honest, I wouldn't be amazed if you needed to use these in four weeks' time. The bus is a lot easier to navigate than many people think.

WillTravel

GreenDragon, you can use the Journey Planner to plan routes excluding the tube from consideration.

xyz123

The district line is running into High Street Kensington so you can get down to Earls Court and most of the rest of the district line south, east and west. You can get to Victoria, Tower Hill from Earl's Court..

The #9 bus runs right to Picadilly Circus, Trafalger Square and the Strand. You can walk a block or two to Leicester Square and then another couple of blocks to Convent Garden. The #10 bus I believe goes up towards Marble Arch and then along Oxford Street to Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court. The #70 bus runs up to Notting Hill Gate.

If you check out the transport for london web site they have all the same schematic bus mapes that are found at the stops and you can easily see just how to get where with the buses. Trust me, it's very easy and a lot of fun to ride on the top deck of one of the buses...

xyz123

If you go to this link:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/...ton_highst.pdf

You will find the bus map of just what goes through High Street Kensington.