You can buy a variety of different types of bus and coach tickets. These may include single journey tickets, one-day, weekly or monthly tickets as well as student or over-60 passes.
By booking in advance or travelling outside of peak hours you can get significant savings. Travelling at peak times will likely cost the most.
Taxis are licensed to be hired immediately – you can get one at a rank, hail one in the street, or by pre-booking.
The London Underground
When using the London Underground, you should keep the following in mind:
- Trains are often delayed.
- If you ’re on the Tube during peak hours, you ’ll be buried under the newspapers discarded by commuters. Do not feel shy about picking them up. Everyone does the same.
- London Tube trains are more crammed than their European counterparts. But it helps that the train drivers are somewhat entertaining with their announcements. “The aircon has broken down and I imagine it to be quite warm back in there. But hey, the weekend ’s here and I ’m looking forward to the barbecue this Sunday!” (Thanks to the driver who tried to lighten up passengers’ spirits during a hot summer day this year.)
- “Please, stand on the right”. Although UK drivers drive on the left side of the road, the ‘slow lane’ in the London Underground system is on the right side of the escalator.
