Public Transportation
Jan 22nd, 2016, 03:09 PM
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Public Transportation
First I must apologize for my ignorance, as I was raised and still reside in a town of about 700 residents, and the nearest underground station is 6 hours away from me in another state entirely, so public transportation really isn't my forte.
I can decipher tube lines and stations easy enough, what I'm worried about is if I should have to transfer between, say, national rail and underground, or DLR and underground.
Do they all share stations? How does this work?
This is important for me to understand, and I'm basing my hotel booking on convenience to public transportation.
THANKS IN ADVANCE! You're all very helpful.
I plan on getting an Oyster card.
I can decipher tube lines and stations easy enough, what I'm worried about is if I should have to transfer between, say, national rail and underground, or DLR and underground.
Do they all share stations? How does this work?
This is important for me to understand, and I'm basing my hotel booking on convenience to public transportation.
THANKS IN ADVANCE! You're all very helpful.
I plan on getting an Oyster card.
Jan 22nd, 2016, 03:20 PM
#2
Lots of information here: https://tfl.gov.uk
Jan 22nd, 2016, 03:30 PM
#4
Click on the link, then start with "Plan A Journey" (Upper left).
Put in a starting point and a destination.
You'll get various solutions.
On the solutions page, I like to click on "least walking" to get directions that require the fewest walks to get to the next transport link, but I don't always use it.
Play with it for a while, just use hypothetical places or addresses, your hotel, for instance and you'll start to get a sense of how the whole system works. And it's kind of fun to play with.
Put in a starting point and a destination.
You'll get various solutions.
On the solutions page, I like to click on "least walking" to get directions that require the fewest walks to get to the next transport link, but I don't always use it.
Play with it for a while, just use hypothetical places or addresses, your hotel, for instance and you'll start to get a sense of how the whole system works. And it's kind of fun to play with.
Jan 22nd, 2016, 03:33 PM
#5
By the way, remember our chat about transport maps? It helps to have maps for the various systems (tube, bus, etc.) in front of you as you play with the TFL site, to see how it's directing you. https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/
I'm a very visual person and I like to "see" where I'm going as I plan.
I'm a very visual person and I like to "see" where I'm going as I plan.
Jan 22nd, 2016, 03:44 PM
#6
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2016
Posts: 49
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
tFL tells me that i need to switch from national rail to the tube but it doesnt tell me HOW. I know it seems like an incredible dull question, but try from the perspective of a 21 year old American who has never utilized public transportation 
Are there different stations for rail and underground?
Are there different stations for rail and underground?
Jan 22nd, 2016, 03:49 PM
#7
There are so many variables, depending on starting and ending points and that's where signs and people in little booths come in. Even people walking down the street. The truth is you don't have to know in advance, it will all work out. 50 years ago I was a kid from California, had never ridden public transport, got a job in Paris, didn't speak French, went all over the city on the metro and always got where I was going. You will too! Relax!
Jan 22nd, 2016, 04:22 PM
#10
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 5,969
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You can look for some random youtube videos showing how the transfers look like.
This one shows a transfer from the ground level train station to a tube at Paddington: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDDI_Sm1hm4
This one shows a tube to tube transfer at Green Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axVHbjJyHgM
This one shows a transfer from the ground level train station to a tube at Paddington: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDDI_Sm1hm4
This one shows a tube to tube transfer at Green Park: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axVHbjJyHgM
Jan 22nd, 2016, 04:26 PM
#11
Join Date: Oct 2003
Posts: 57,890
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
There are about a gazillion tube stations and that's what you will be using every day to get around in the city. It's important that your hotel be near a tube station - preferable one with more than one line if possible.
There are several rail stations for getting outside of London but each one has trains to different places and you are going to use them only for day trips outside the city.
How they connect varies by station - but there will be signs in each train station showing you how to get to the connected tube stations. And you will have to go through a turnstile to enter any of the tube stations so there is no chance to get lost.
There are several rail stations for getting outside of London but each one has trains to different places and you are going to use them only for day trips outside the city.
How they connect varies by station - but there will be signs in each train station showing you how to get to the connected tube stations. And you will have to go through a turnstile to enter any of the tube stations so there is no chance to get lost.
Jan 22nd, 2016, 07:11 PM
#12
>>I've scoured the tFl website, but i still don't feel as if I understand how transition between different types of rail works.<<
It will be different at different stations and you are way waaaaaaaay over thinking things. But tube stations are almost always under ground and over ground trans are . . . at surface level. So at the locations that have both tube and train stations - you would exit which ever you are in and either go upstairs from the tube station to the train station . . . OR . . . go downstairs from the train station to the tube station. (they are different entities so you have to ext one to enter the other)
Plus if you are staying IN London the likelihood you will take an overground train are pretty slim. You will be taking the tube (or possibly buses) and walking everywhere. The exceptions are if you visit Hampton Court Palace and/or Windsor castle.
Get a paper fold up tube map and stick in your pocket - and pretty much forget about trains unless you are traveling out of town.
(And quit obsessing - you will drive yourself crazy)
It will be different at different stations and you are way waaaaaaaay over thinking things. But tube stations are almost always under ground and over ground trans are . . . at surface level. So at the locations that have both tube and train stations - you would exit which ever you are in and either go upstairs from the tube station to the train station . . . OR . . . go downstairs from the train station to the tube station. (they are different entities so you have to ext one to enter the other)
Plus if you are staying IN London the likelihood you will take an overground train are pretty slim. You will be taking the tube (or possibly buses) and walking everywhere. The exceptions are if you visit Hampton Court Palace and/or Windsor castle.
Get a paper fold up tube map and stick in your pocket - and pretty much forget about trains unless you are traveling out of town.
(And quit obsessing - you will drive yourself crazy)
Jan 22nd, 2016, 11:20 PM
#13
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 10,321
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
It is really simple. Just follow the signs that will point you in the right direction. These are on all tube platforms and throughout the stations from the moment you walk in and at every intersection in the station. You just find the line you want and follow the signs.
If you are connecting to the overground or national rail you will just follow the signs again usually just upstairs to street level.
In some rare cases (dlr tower gateway for example) the change may be a few blocks away outside the station. Follow the signs outside and just ask if you can't easily find it.
Hope this helps
If you are connecting to the overground or national rail you will just follow the signs again usually just upstairs to street level.
In some rare cases (dlr tower gateway for example) the change may be a few blocks away outside the station. Follow the signs outside and just ask if you can't easily find it.
Hope this helps
Jan 22nd, 2016, 11:27 PM
#14
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 20,924
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Assuming we are talking about London, the maps will show interchanges between different systems. If an interchange is shown, there is plenty of signage in each different station to show how to get to the other.
You'll pretty quickly recognise the standard symbols used to indicate the different services - as shown on page 5 in this:
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-interc...s-standard.pdf
You'll pretty quickly recognise the standard symbols used to indicate the different services - as shown on page 5 in this:
http://content.tfl.gov.uk/tfl-interc...s-standard.pdf
Jan 23rd, 2016, 05:22 AM
#17
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 34,863
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
You walk between them, they are right next to each other but have different entrances. You follow signs to get to the other one. So you get off the train, go off the quay to the general area of the station (everyone else will be doing this also) and follow signs to where the entrance to the tube station is that is also at that point. In every city I've been in that had a rail and underground system, it was the exact same way, the loner distance rail stations always have a subway/metro station at them, unless they are out in the burbs.
Jan 23rd, 2016, 09:09 AM
#20
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 17,268
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you need to understand how to switch from trains to tubes, you're almost certainly labouring under a severe misapprehension.
It's practically impossible to find a hotel in London more than 100 yards from a tube station. London's not some provincial village locked into the transport systems of the 1950s (like, for example, San Francisco): no-one would be so stupid as to invest tens of millions in a hotel no customer could get to. And even if an investor were so crassly out of touch with her guests as to delude herself they'd all get helicopters, who'd invest in a hotel staff couldn't get to?
But - with a couple of exceptions - it's almost impossible to think of reasons tourists need to know about train/tube transfers.
One reason might be getting in from airports. From Heathrow, practically no-one bothers with the (exceedingly expensive, empty and usually inconvenient) train: the real choice is a tube or a prebooked car. From Gatwick, the PAYG smart card most of us use for the tube ("Oyster") or a contactless bank card work on the trains into town: you simply swipe it again when you move between train and tube.
TfL payment systems don't work on trains between central London and Luton, Stansted or Southend airports (or on Eurostar into London): you buy a train ticket, then use your TfL-compatible card to get into the TfL system.
For switching between tube and DLR (which you have to do between central London and London City airport), you simply swipe in and out of the DLR system, though doing so rarely takes any credit off you. For transfers onto a bus or tram, you swipe again getting on and it's debited as a new journey.
As a general rule, the belief, often heard from people unused to London, that it would make sense to stay somewhere accessible only by aboveground train (Croydon, say, or Slough) doesn't stack up. The hassle of getting to and from, and the fact most people really want somewhere to go back to between a day sightseeing and a night clubbing or at the theatre, makes the option both costlier and more time-consuming than finding a hotel on the tube system.
But, within the TfL system (the lines and stations within the dotted line at https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track This now covers a wider area, and explains ineligible lines more clearly, than pre-December 2015 maps ) eligible cards work on all trains and tubes - and buses, trams and cable car. When you need to swipe twice, there'll be a sign reminding you.
It's practically impossible to find a hotel in London more than 100 yards from a tube station. London's not some provincial village locked into the transport systems of the 1950s (like, for example, San Francisco): no-one would be so stupid as to invest tens of millions in a hotel no customer could get to. And even if an investor were so crassly out of touch with her guests as to delude herself they'd all get helicopters, who'd invest in a hotel staff couldn't get to?
But - with a couple of exceptions - it's almost impossible to think of reasons tourists need to know about train/tube transfers.
One reason might be getting in from airports. From Heathrow, practically no-one bothers with the (exceedingly expensive, empty and usually inconvenient) train: the real choice is a tube or a prebooked car. From Gatwick, the PAYG smart card most of us use for the tube ("Oyster") or a contactless bank card work on the trains into town: you simply swipe it again when you move between train and tube.
TfL payment systems don't work on trains between central London and Luton, Stansted or Southend airports (or on Eurostar into London): you buy a train ticket, then use your TfL-compatible card to get into the TfL system.
For switching between tube and DLR (which you have to do between central London and London City airport), you simply swipe in and out of the DLR system, though doing so rarely takes any credit off you. For transfers onto a bus or tram, you swipe again getting on and it's debited as a new journey.
As a general rule, the belief, often heard from people unused to London, that it would make sense to stay somewhere accessible only by aboveground train (Croydon, say, or Slough) doesn't stack up. The hassle of getting to and from, and the fact most people really want somewhere to go back to between a day sightseeing and a night clubbing or at the theatre, makes the option both costlier and more time-consuming than finding a hotel on the tube system.
But, within the TfL system (the lines and stations within the dotted line at https://tfl.gov.uk/maps/track This now covers a wider area, and explains ineligible lines more clearly, than pre-December 2015 maps ) eligible cards work on all trains and tubes - and buses, trams and cable car. When you need to swipe twice, there'll be a sign reminding you.
