English Public Transport

One of my friends from London came up to Leicester earlier this week, and I joined her on the trip back to London to see another friend in Oxford a few days later, and then travel up to Leicester again - and I realised that I haven't written yet about the How To of English Public Transport (though I suppose it is generally applicable to Wales, Scotland and NI also). So here goes.

Trains

Like all public transport, the trains have been privatised, meaning that there are separate companies on different bits of the English rail network. Like, when I travel to London, I travel by East Midlands, while to Stansted (and from Oxford to Birmingham and Birmingham to Leicester) I travel by CrossCountry. This means that it could get confusing to look up train times beforehand.

Thankfully, there is the National Rail website, where you can easily just do an enquiry and from there also be redirected to the company websites to book tickets. Tickets can generally be sent to any UK address (for a fee, of course), though often there is also the option of collecting them from the ticket machines at the station, which work by sticking in the card you used to book your tickets with, then typing in the booking reference; the third option, which is not widely available (CrossCountry does it, East Midlands does not), is to book an e-ticket, which simply works by emailing you your ticket, which you then of course have to print and carry with you.

Mind, trains are relatively expensive, but they are comfortable, often having the option of buying 'light refreshments' (tea, coffee, crisps) and nice seats with decent tables. Also, they often go multiple times in an hour, at least to the places you'd actually want to visit.

If you plan to travel often, it may be worthwhile to buy a 16-25 Railcard. They currently cost £30, used to be £28. You can get one by taking a passport photograph, filling out the flyer (obtainable at any railway station) and taking your passport or driver's licence to the ticket desk at a station and requesting one. What they do is give you 1/3 off on any rail ticket, and they are valid for a year. However, there's also the option of getting one for 3 years (£70), for which you can apply until the last day before you turn 24, so it'll also be valid when you're actually 26. In my case, an Off-Peak Return ticket to London can cost £56, but now I pay about £35 - so it took me three trips to London to save more than I spent on the Railcard. However, if you live in London, of course, it's not of much use unless you intend to travel to the country a lot (or are planning a rail trip that on its own already costs over £90 - like when you suddenly decide to make the 8 or so hour journey up to Scotland).

Coaches

If you're willing to spend a little more time travelling in order to spend a little less money, you may instead opt to travel by coach - long-distance bus. There's a lot going from London Victoria. You can easily book tickets via National Express, although again, these can only be delivered to UK addresses. You can often also buy tickets from the driver or at a desk at the coach station. They're good value for money.

Buses

Local transport is always a bit of a matter of getting used to, because it's somehow always different everywhere even if it isn't.

A bus can be taken by simply stating your destination to the driver and handing him the appropriate amount of cash. They don't take cards and they're not happy with you if you hand them £20 if your fee is £2.40. As  there are buses where the next stop isn't announced (like, Dutch Connexxion buses go, "next stop: Renesse Transferium" - the buses I've been on in England so far don't do this), you will have to keep in mind where to stop, or miss your stop and have to walk back a bit.

But don't worry, there's a stop every few hundred metres and on a weekday, popular lines have a frequency of up to six times per hour, so if you miss your stop, you won't have to walk much further and if you miss your bus, you won't have to wait long.

Do keep in mind that the last bus usually goes around 11-ish in summer, earlier in winter.

Taxis

I love taxis, they make me feel so decadent even if they're perfectly normal at night when the buses no longer run. They'll charge night fees after midnight, but if you can share one your share won't be more than a few pounds. In any case, cheaper and better than in the Netherlands - if you catch a random taxi, do make sure it's a licensed one because they have to adhere to all sorts of standards. Black cab style taxis are usually good.

The Tube

The Tube of course is a phenomenon, and I'm far from being an expert on it as I don't live in London and my experiences on the Rotterdam subway are not comparable.

So if you intend to live in London, ask someone else about advice for the Tube.

If you intend to visit semi-regularly, you can follow my advice.

First the basics (though you should know this already anyway):
Mind the Gap.
Keep to the right on the escalators.
Use every bit of available space when it's crowded.
Don't talk to strangers.
Don't be loud.

Right, so that should make you not be too visitorly awkward. The good thing about the Tube it that every train on every line has an incredibly high frequency - however, tube trains don't run really late at night/really early in the morning, so don't miss the last tube.

You can buy tickets from the machines (just follow the instructions, they're relatively simple for us Internet-savvy people) or from the ticket desks. The machines also dispense Day Tickets, which are about £8 or so for Zones 1 and 2 (if you're visiting, you won't travel outside of these zones anyway as even Greenwich is still Zone 2) and which are valid for the entire day. If you're staying longer, it is wiser to get a multiple day Oyster card from the ticket desk - I think it's 7 days. That one works just like the ordinary OV Chipkaart, but it's, as implied, only valid for 7 days.

If you're staying even longer, contemplate getting a proper Oyster and sticking on some money, it might be cheaper. And also then, get advice from someone actually living in London.

If I think of other transport-related things, I'll modify this post. This will also be posted some time in the future on the Tips page.