Until you hit Bank station, but otherwise kind of yeah I can agree with that. It's an archaelogical dig site for us engineers to find solutions plastered over solutions for almost 2 centuries on how to do and not do transport planning or pretty much anything we do in construction design.
@@travisr82 .... actually they've done a good job. It's the London mayor who alot of Londoners are not so happy about. His effectiveness is definitely questionable.
Thanks for the time you or one of your colleagues got me from the station of a closed line to a working line so I could catch my plane! In most other cities I would have been screwed but I didn’t have to wait long for a bus to take me exactly where I needed to go!
Interesting that buses account for more journeys than the tube. We could do with another 5,000 buses (electric of course!) to add frequency to routes that have fewer buses per hour. More buses at rush-hour (7am to 9am, and also 5pm to 7pm) on certain routes would be a great help too. I sometimes wait 20 minutes for a bus in east London. More buses might encourage people to switch from cars to public transport, which would reduce air pollution and congestion.
As a Londoner, we are lucky to have a very extensive tranport system, I've been to other major cities, and very few have transport systems like London does
I'm sorry, but the only good thing about London is the trains, and even they are unreliable. The trains have got so much worse since I used to live there. The buses are absolutely awful compared to other cities' bus services. The lines are NOT well-marked and there are no maps at bus stops. They are old, broken and greasy. I'm surprised about London given how much budget it has at its disposal. It eats up money and dominates the cultural landscape like a cancerous tumour, yet its transport is ok. It should be much better than that.
@@indigophanta8288 literally most cities in America have 0 transport you can’t even walk anywhere it’s just cars. But in London if you use google maps to get to ur destination it shows you which buses and trains you need, it’s really easy
the london underground is one of the few things that genuinely makes me feel a little patriotic, it's such a well designed and growing system that's still growing with things like hs2 and crossrail being added to it
@@animationreview5696 hs2 is being axed in a lot of places because the government isn't competent enough to actually contract it out to a decent company
Fascinating video. You caught my attention when you referred to how London grew. This is a big difference between how many of the old cities of Europe grew in comparison to the newer cities of North America. I live in Manchester. I live in a 'suburb' five miles from the city centre. But in fact where I live used to be a village and can be found on maps going back to the early 1700s. But as Manchester grew it became incorporated into the urban mass. However, it retains a 'centre' with its own identity. It has shops, schools, clinics, restaurants and many other facilities so everything is within walking distance. We have bus and tram links to the centre other parts of the city and other nearby towns. It seems well planned but in fact it kind of just grew by itself with the help of planning.
It's also worth mentioning that a big reason South London doesn't have the same tube coverage as north is because it used to have an extensive tram network. Those trams were replaced by buses in the latter part of the 20th century, some of which have the same numbers and routes as the old tram lines. Obviously this made the routes less efficient which is unfortunate, trams used to be associated with the working classes or ""undesirables"" which is part of the reason the network was scrapped, along with higher maintenance costs than buses. Imo we should bring back trams in south london
90% of the time London transport runs remarkably smoothly considering the density of the city. Journey's aren't always comfortable, but most are fairly effortless, especially with apps like citymapper now widely used. I just wish buses would show up at regular intervals, rather than three at once.
There's a reason this happens with busses. Better scheduling can help, but only so much. Basically, bus 1 sets off, picks up bunch of passengers, bus 2 sets off, picks up fewer passengers as the one before it picked up most already, bus 3 sets off. Rinse and repeat. They get closer together as the route progresses. They could counter this by offsetting the time table for each stop somewhat, but that isn't really practical either as you'll have them driving slower or faster at certain points which isn't really good for traffic flow, or the passengers already on them wanting to be somewhere. It also reduces the regularity at each stop. So, the only real solution is more busses on the same route, given you can't really control the other facts like number of passengers or amount of traffic at and around each stop. This is why metro, train and tram systems are far better at punctuality. They're on a segregated route, even when sharing the road in the case of trams given they get right of way. Plus tram vs car doesn't tend to end well for the car lol.
@@ingolfurarnar697 Citymapper is great, much better than Google maps for getting around and combining busses, tubes, walking etc to get the quickest route. It also shows where on the tube (front, back, middle carriages) is best to sit for the quickest exit a the station you are going to.
Thanks for the interesting video! I moved to London from Zimbabwe almost 9 years ago. For me, the top 3 most astounding and brilliant things about London/uk remain the same, even after all this time same. The NHS, Public transport system and the crazy abundance of history around and under every step you take. The beauty of a city that grew organically over 1000s of years leaving behind a visual map of its history in the buildings, streets, place names, functions and form. A public transport system so efficient and well connected that the majority of Londoners don't own cars- because you genuinely don't need them. A healthcare system, that even while over burdened and struggling atm, remains the true heart of the nation and an example of humanity at its best. I may pay taxes but I am not a British Citizen. Even so.... I am passionately patriotic about the NHS I respect and value it immensely- in fact I think everyone here does. There are many amazing and wonderful things about the UK and London. But these 3 are the ones that have continued to blow me away, every day, for the last 9 yrs.
It sounds like you're a very lucky person who hasn't had to use substantial British healthcare in the past few years. The NHS is indeed a sound way of providing healthcare to all, but it has been thoroughly mismanaged in the past decade. The good thing about London is decent that healthcare, and especially dental care, is only a Eurostar ride away in neighbouring EU countries.
NHS is shit, British transport is shit (trains are incredibly unreliable and nothing works), and people are eager to destroy our culture AND people. What the hell UK do you live in? Seriously. I want to live in the UK that you live in. Are you from a parallel universe??
The fact you can tap in with just a credit/debit card is so understated. It makes using the tube etc so much easier than other cities were you have to buy a special card or ticket or pay with cash.
Manchester Metrolink and buses you can just tap in with credit or debit cards plus we have a card you can top up to use on the system. Granted our system isn't as good as London's but then we only get pocket change worth spent on our infrastructure so all things considered not that bad, a little better than you might think.
Such negative comments. Everyone saying “what about..” followed either by a small town or somewhere whose transport system was heavily inspired by London’s. The absolute incandescent rage when anyone says something positive about the UK always takes me back a bit
Because London is a shithole that has long-standing issues with crime, both Blue Collar Crime with rampant gang activity (particularly Firearms and Knife/Large Blade crime) and White Collar Crime with rampant financial fraud and banks who are headquartered in the city such as HSBC who regularly deal with and directly fund Drug Cartels and corrupt nations such as Iran, despite international sanctions, aided and supported by the UK Parliament on all sides of the political spectrum. There is NOTHING positive about London, you are delusional if you think otherwise. I didn't need to mention the current costs to live there, and how they're rising so quickly, that it's now become unlivable for many residents as a consequence of London 2012 and the various wars and viral outbreaks over the past 20 years, the issues with housing exacerbated by the events, aftermath and fallout of the Grenfell Tower Fire in 2017, or the chronic security problems which led to 7/7 in 2005, the Riots in 2011 and the various rampages during the late-2010s, including a mass-stabbing incident and a car rampage in Westminster.
I've lived in many cities and I have to admit, London is by far one of the easiest to get around, you can travel from point A to point B in many different ways in a relatively short amount of time. The only caveat being that some areas are too overcrowded, specially during peak hour, and even having trains each minute isn't enough for the amount of people trying to get in and out of the city centre at the same time. They would need to extend the city centre or invest in developing a nearby city. That would also help to alleviate the renting crisis
Thats why the elizabeth line was built, everone realised that the tube was under huge pressures. All land around London is expensive, so another 'city' would also be expensive for renting. The only way, it to have subsidised renting, but only for people who have a real need-like nurses.
For sure London can be very busy but that is part of its character. You can't beat it for Cinema, Theatres and Restaurants. That said the price of housing is astronomical and well out of reach of many professionals. I guess you need to know your value if moving there and command a very high salary.
The idea of the "city centre" is kind of a moot point in London. People have to travel to or through the centre during rush hour due to its transport hubs but people work and go out for leisure all around the city. For people who move here and have not lived here before, it's better to describe it as a centre surrounded by a bunch of smaller town centres. You tend to stay in your bit of London and don't often go into the actual centre, given how much there is to do in any part of the city. I agree with developing other cities more to address the severe discrepancy in funding between London and other parts of the UK, but I don't think this will necessarily bring down rent very much, and I don't think it's realistic to have trains more often than once per minute due to logiatics
London public transport really is the best I have ever seen. I lived there for three months and never had the urge to take a cab or let alone drive. I only walked and took the public transport. Also, how ironic is it that a city that wasnt planned and grew organically is one of the best cities to get around in?
@@johnholmes2745 really? i was there for 2 weeks in march and TFL said that all of the lines were closed for the night. But yeah on the bright side there were 24 hour busses that were actually convenient.
@@EdricoftheWeald But at least yall have public transit. Where i live we have nothing. We just have 13 lane freeways and all the government does is rip up train tracks and use them for freeways. Also i was in London in March and it wasnt that bad.
We really do. London is not perfect but it is still the best city in the world. We have a terrorist as mayor, yet we go about our daily lives without much disruption.
Crossrail 2 is going to be a real game changer for South London. I also think TFL should buy Thameslink and turn it into Crossrail 3. Is a pretty great service, but because it's TNR, you have to mortgage your home for a ticket. Remind me again why Britain decided to privatize the railways? Anyways, Crossrail works pretty well as a regional connector, but it would probably end up as merely a cheaper, faster National Rail. This is not a bad thing, but there is little service to connect the suburbs to themselves. If Crossrail expansion was combined with an expanded tram network, some overground extensions, and maybe some BRT measures to improve travel speed and operational consistency on major bus lines, the south would have a very decent transit network.
The main reasons for privatization were to stop the nation rail unions bring the whole country to a stop for days on end (far worse than now) and to move the cost of all the required new rolling stock onto someone else's accounts (fudging the figures basically).
River buses (Uber Boats) are also an integrated part of London's transport system now. They're really fast and its a nice scenic journey getting from A to B on the water. Honorable mention to the cable cars running from Royal Victoria to North Greenwich. A little expensive but they also operate with the use of Oyster cards
I’m a Londoner and during lockdown I was able to walk to all the places I needed to go, including hospital appointment (I was under cancer monitoring care at the time). I didn’t use a bus, the Tube, or the overground for nearly 2 years. I’ve lived in North American cities I don’t think that would have been possible there.
All that tells us is that you didn't need to walk to many places. It would take you 17 days to walk across London, so you can stop acting like London is this tiny easily walkable city when it's absolutely not.
@@kayleighc1681 its more walkable than the american grid layout, i don't think the first commenter was saying she walked from edgeware to clapham, moreso that all of the necessary amenities are within a walkable distance.
The city is HUGE by dimensions but feels a lot smaller because of how easy it is to get around. I used to live there a long time ago but visit frequently and am always amazed and grateful for the transportation system. I feel it's an engineering miracle 👍
There's two main reasons for that - firstly, transport in all other cities was deliberately de-integrated back in the 1980s, because of a political obsession with competition and privatisation. Secondly, Other parts of the UK don't get nearly as much funding per head as London does, so they can't afford to build high quality transit.
I've been living in London for most of my life, and the city is designed so well that if I live in Zone 3, it'll take me only 1-2 hours of walking to get to Zone 1. The transportation system and the connectivity with national and international rail networks really makes this one of the most accessible and palatable systems to use. The fares and strikes could use some changing though.
Fare prices in London are cheap as chips compared to the rest of the UK. We want a TfL equivalent in every major urban area all over the country rather than the omnishambles we currently have in much of England. The devolved powers for places like Greater Manchester and Tyne and Wear are a good start but they're still far short of what TfL enjoys. We're also a long way from seeing any benefits of these new powers as they're only just starting to come in now. We really need huge investment in transport all over the UK, imagine how much robust and strong the economy would be if we had cheap, reliable and good public transport like London?
I've heard this from an American and Australian about how great the London transport is. I think I take it for granted as I've live here my whole life.
Looking over from New York, even though the Underground gets a lot of the attention, I think the regional rail services are the most underrated part of it all. The fare integration, operations, and coverage beat our commuter railroads. You can't get from one side of the NY metro area to another without changing and paying a completely different fare.
As a Londoner who has lived in Australia and New Zealand for a number of years, it really made me appreciate just how good we have it in London. Especially compared to NZ where public transport is virtually non-existent outside of the three main cities and even within those cities it's pretty poor
Try using it anywhere else n England, you'll see how special it is and why everyone outside of the M25 gets pissed when yet another massive infrastructure project is done there while we get nothing. As a country we're more than capable of affording and building such things everywhere in the UK, the powers that be just choose not to because reasons.
@@TalesOfWar yeah but. Manchester has that metrolink thing and bus service. Birmingham has its trams. Bristol has trains. Oxford has bussess. Newcastle has its pretty frequent metro. So i think its efficient.
@@uzin0s256 As someone who lives in Manchester. No, it isn't. It's pretty crap actually. The Metrolink is decent, but the busses are shockingly bad. That will hopefully change after September when they come back under puiblic control aagain but it won't change over night. London had everything brought under public ownership back in 1933, so they've had the best part of a century to integrate and build things out as an actual joined up network that complements itself. London also has the unique power within England to create its own capital to fund things. Nowhere else in England has this, the rest of us have to rely on the Treasury, and unless it's within the M25 or otherwise directly benefits London, they don't want to hear about it. The whole country needs a MASSIVE investment drive into public transport and other services, right now practically every penny is spent in London while the rest of us get the scraps. A few weeks ago the government claimed they gave us an investment of £72million to improve transport in the region in Manchester! What really happened is they cancelled plans to expand Piccadilly Station's platforms 15 and 16 and couldn't just take the money back. £72million is also a drop in the bucket for what we need. Crossrail/Elizabeth Line cost £20billion, and that's one line! We desperately need something like that up here linking west to east. What real impact they expect to have region wise with £72million I don't know. Maybe new platforms at Piccaddilly Station? Oh...
Lived in London for about 4 years and absolutely loved that I didn’t need to have a car. I have rarely used even Ubers in London, so fantastic to use the tube and bus. Loved the hopper fare too: used it extensively!
Crossrail (Elizabeth line) was the single biggest thing that glued it all together. That’s a fact. For example getting from any London airport to any other is a lot easier because of that.
Not sure it helps with Gatwick. I haven't tried, but it doesn't look like it to me. For me it would be the Jubilee Line, or maybe the DLR, or the Jubilee Line Extension. All things I saw new and were useful, and how did I ever get on without them. I'm sure it is and will be useful, I would be shocked if it wasn't. But the DLR has transformed the Isle of Dogs.
It's only good for people who have extra 2h of free time every day. For everyone else it's still better to take normal trains into major stations and then use the tube. Elizabeth line stops at way too many stations where only 1-3 people get on/off.
Just came back to the US after a few days in London. Traveling via the Underground was seamless. I never had to wait longer than 5 minutes for any train. And the way-finding signage is impeccable.
It's really miraculous considering the tunnels were first dug for horse and carriages. Then steam trains. We invented a lot,so our stuff is the original and prototype for improving by others
As a londoner i think its incredible how quickly you can travel from the outskirts of London out straight into the city especially with the eliz now running. We got transport pretty good here 😉
The funniest thing about the London Underground that tourists aren't aware of is that most of the stations around Zone 1 of the London Underground are walking distances from each other but unfortunately tourists who aren't aware are taking longer journeys that would instead take them 6/7 minutes i.e. Tottenham court road is a 6/7 minute walk from Covent Garden stations but if you were to take the tube, you would have to go to Holborn, switch trains and then take a train to covent garden which can take you 15/20 minutes in total when take everything into consideration i.e. peak time, train delays etc
I'd say Liverpool does, but it's unique in its own way too. First railways in the world, first deep-level underground station, first purpose-built rail tunnel under a river (Brunnel's was a pedestrian tunnel that was converted), first electrified underground system, etc. Newcastle was famed for its integrated bus and metro system in the 1970s, until it was destroyed by privatisation. London's transport is on its own level in my experience, but then it also gets a pretty hefty slice of the country's investment too, which doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of the country's population.
Glasgow was the 2nd city of the Empire and today has an excellent Transport system. In fact in someways I think we have out Engineered our English cousins. I've been evaluating the Glasgow system and I rate it pretty highly and we have a low emissions zone (LEZ) coming on stream soon. Electric buses, electric trains and electric bikes. All we need now are a troop of cyborgs!
@@stephenbaxter3369 Glasgow's main problem is its buses. And generally a lack of integration between transport modes. I agree it has a good rail network, which could do with some cheering up.
I live in London ever since i was born and its wonderful, its like it has every single piece that it needs, Transportation, Roads, Rail, Pathmeants they have everything and its really good
Same I really like it but I’ve mostly accepted that it’s unlikely I’ll be able to get on the property ladder here/will have to live to a suburban town for at least 6 years. Luckily the train links to central are good though.
Superb video and thanks for the amazing content. The Elizabeth line has completely changed the landscape of public transport not just in London but the whole of the UK. Now one in six journeys in the whole Kingdom is on The Elizabeth Line.
London is considered to being the best city in the world with it’s very own London Underground, DLR, Elizabeth Line, London Overground, National Rail, Trams, Buses and River services that serve Greater London. I have been to London so many times and I always have been a big fan of the Tube, trains and DLR.
This is interesting to me having lived in many parts of London and eventually coming to find that cycling was the most pleasant way to get around (for me anyway). The crowding, sounds, noises, while exciting, paled against the never-ending exploration that cycling brought.
Excellent video. Being British, I often wondered what the internal view would be. The channel is also fantastic. I found myself watching another 4 videos of yours after this one. Excellent content. Thank you.
Another great benefit by far of London Underground is just how safe it feels to travel in compared to several other subway systems I've been on. NY's subways for example are dirty, dark, under-maintained and just not pleasant to use at all.
@@SotiCotoI've been using the Tube all my life and can only think of seeing one scuffle. I'm sure they happen, but they're hardly a widespread major issue.
Dirty and Dark but it’s used as much as the Tube. The entire system is 24hrs there more kilometers of tracks. We have express trains skipping stops you don’t need and we have more train stations. We don’t have to worry about the entire system damn near being shut down because everyone is on strike.
London was the first non-North-American city I have ever been to, and the differences that I noticed between transport in London compared to that in North America were among the most astounding to me, and to this day those memories stick with me and change the way I see urban development. London has made me an advocate for better urban planning because of how beautiful and efficient I found it to be there.
I recently visited London for the first time and am from Mumbai, India. I was so surprised by how excellent the public transport of London is, it was so seamless, I just used Google Transit to tell me where to go and take what and I always reached on time even if I left late. Other cities should consult London and implement the same system. I mean i can only wish if Mumbai had such a seamless public transport, but I guess we are getting there!
One thing I hate about it though is you can’t get a train straight though (ie from Cambridge to Portsmouth) you have to get off the train, into the tube, change onto another line, get off the tube, go to station, get on train and then your back to going to your destination. Please tell me if there is in fact a train route that goes straight though London 🙂
My girlfriend lives in London for 3 years and I used to travel down from Glasgow to see her every 2/3 weeks, so have spent a lot of time their and I 100% think that it is the best city I have ever been too. It’s so easy to get around and the public transport it outstanding! I used to love going down and would even consider moving to live their if it weren’t so expensive, it’s a truly wonderful city!
@@uzin0s256 she was from Glasgow but moved down their to go to uni and studied for 3 years before returning home. I would love to go back their and live at some point tho even just for a couple of years.
Well done for mentioning walking. Living nearvtop of Shooters Hill, I can, and do, walk or do mix of jogging and walking to Westminster, The City, or a circuit of 25 miles on Green Chain Walk and Thames Path that takes 7 hours just walking or 4 hours with some jogging. Also easy to walk to Dartford
Amazing video that perfectly explains the TFL system so well! I wanna give some unwritten rules about London and the TLF system to help tourists out :) - When you are tapping in or out of the Tube, don't wait until you get to the scanner gate to get your ticket, card, or oyster out. During rushhour, (time when people are commuting to or leaving work) if you start fumbling for your card at the scanner gate, you are going to cause a massive pile up. To kinda save the embarrassment and potentially being shoved out of the way, take your card out as you're walking to the scanner gate! :) - When you are using the Underground and you are on an escalator to get down to the station, stay on the right side if you don't want to walk down or up the escalator and leave the left side open for people to walk down or up the escalator. - The Underground trains can either be very empty or packed! So for this, do not always expect to get a seat. - When you are using any kind of public transport, keep an eye out for priority seating! These seats are for the elderly, disabled, and pregnant people. If you are using the seat then kindly give it up to these people, I promise you it will make their day. :) - When walking in Central London, please be aware that everyone around you is speed walking so try not to walk slower than them. It can cause pile ups on the street or again, result in you being shoved out of the way if people are in a rush (they most likely are.) - If you are unsure about public transport in London then definitely stick to the Tube! The trainlines and stations are easier to understand and guess where you need to get off. Buses have many more stops and there are many more buses than trains. Bus numbers and destinations can be confusing, especially if you need to get off somewhere that is not the destination. - Be careful and do research about the areas of London you go into, some areas have higher stabbing rates than others. People are crazy enough to chase you with a weapon while shouting "why are you running?" - If a roadman comes up to you for some reason (they are confident enough to do it) just ignore them and walk away. They normally wear tracksuits, ski masks or neck warmers and those chest bag thingys. If there's more then reply to this comment with them! :))
Please remove your back pack from your back and place it on the train floor between your feet. This creates more space when the train is packed. Please walk on the left in stations, especially when going up and down stairs.
Even if you have your card out in the station, there are almost always opportunistic fucktards who will try to push in front of you. Same goes for getting on busses. I'm pretty sure it is foreign culture seeping into London over the years, as people used to respect queues here more. The public transport system was always a bit aggressive, but I swear it is getting even more hostile now.
Also, don’t call the Underground/Tube the subway when asking for directions, since subway has a different meaning than in America. Over here a subway is an underground tunnel for crossing the street, not the name of the system itself (although some subways are specifically built to get you to a tube station)
As a Londoner who grew up in Zone 6, I then lived in Zone 1 and 2 and now Zone 4 in my adult years. I can't emphasise enough how the transport system has been integral to my social life. I am 34 and have never needed to own a car. I cycle to work, but use the Overground, buses and tubes to visit friends who live on the other side of the city, within an hour. Of course, I will need a car when I start a family soon, but still it's amazing that my carbon footprint is substantially lower than most people my age from other major cities around the world, due to how integrated and extensive our transport network is.
As a person who lived in London pretty much all their life. Travel is so easy and quick a bus comes every 2-5 minutes a train arrives every 2 minutes its amazing
All these Video titles with the title "City X is well designed" dont make sense. London grew organically over 2000 years, it was mostly not "designed" at all. Some individual parts are well designed, like the Elizabeth line, but not the city as a whole.
@@PGATProductions Yes, at the end, he did say that. Now about 'Why', there was much made of how well it appears to work, but no indication of Why that might be.
This makes me very happy to watch, I've always considered London to be pretty well designed all things considered .. it's majorly walkable and buses are great to use for the most part, especially for older people in comparison to other major cities. Kudos London!
As a tube nerd, you may have gotten confused at 1:44 where the northern line is shown as a class 717 Great Northern train instead of a 1995 stock northern line train. Sorry I just had to make that note.
It'd be nice to see London make more use of the Thames dor public transport. There are a few river services run by TFL but the system should be expanded. The tram system should be restored to its former glory as well.
the most important parts that makes this all work is that it’s one system rather than loads of competing companies (see the rest of the UK if you want to know how private rail networks don’t function) and that’s it’s relatively cheap: the goal is not to make as much money as possible for a handful of people, it’s to move people around the city, so London itself prospers. and it works. i think these to reasons are why the New York system doesn’t have buses and doesn’t work as well
Really liked the video, was nice to see how it all works together. But I am slightly annoyed at the use of the Dollar when talking about London, would've made more sense to use Pounds
Just as an FYI when you say 'up north' we understand that to mean the North of England (as opposed to North London). Technically just being north of the river Thames doesn't mean you're a north Londoner (there are some parts north of the river which are more southerly than others which are south of the river if that makes sense, and that's before you even get into the East London/West London distinction). Very interesting vid by the way :)
'there are some parts north of the river which are more southerly than others which are south of the river if that makes sense' - very interesting, I did notice this on the map. I wonder if you know anything about how that pays into people's identities? Does anyone who's technically a south londoner identify as a central londoner or anything like that?
@@SB-lh5xb As a life long Londoner, I've never heard of a 'central londoner' even though we use the term central London. It's firmly East, West, North and South. With regards to identities it's something that's definitely fixed (eg if I moved to West London I'd still be an East ender) it used to be more strongly associated with football teams (eg supporting the team closest to where you grew up) although that doesn't seem to be a factor nowadays. The Cockney identity, also, has shifted somewhat over the years (the criteria is traditionally set on being born within the sound of the Bow (church) bells. A hundred years ago the sound travelled miles and miles. Now you might not be able to hear them half a dozen streets away depending on traffic etc. :)
The natives mostly take it for granted but watching this I realise that it is a great network. There are also the river buses that provide a useful and scenic service along the Thames through central London.
That overpriced, heavily-delayed mess, I left a train at Paddington earlier this week, and the information on the screens was already bugged, there were also problems with the lifts at Liverpool Street, problems that will never be fixed because TfL is a bunch of lazy cunts who can't fix a broken wooden table, much less a pair of lifts that lead to the Crossrail section of Liverpool Street.
About the buses, it is tricky to compare London and Paris the way you did, because if you look for numbers in Paris, looking at those frome the city of Paris is not the best since you seem to be talking metro areas. In this case the daily trips for the bus network is above 5 million in Paris. Which is almost what London do. I don't really know about the two other cities but I think that they would easily do a million trips combined. So your comparison either feels wrong or is just not fair
One thing - the Oyster card does work on the national rail but only in London's area and mainly just SWR. it just stops working once u leave London (if u were going from London Waterloo to Dorking for e.g. u would need to buy a ticket in the end). However the buses goes a bit past london (So you could go from London Waterloo to Kingston using the trains that go to Shepperton or Richmond via Wimbledon and from their take the 1 minute walk to Fairfeild bus stop and take the 465 to Dorking)
1:55 "even during peak periods it runs every 100 second" wording is wrong here, it's running every 100 seconds exactly because it is peak and demand is high
it's true that the frequency is to match demand, but it's also more of an achievement to run trains so frequently when there's so many passengers and potential delays. so the wording makes some sense to me.
Since you posted this video, the Elizabeth Line opened and one year on it has done record numbers - and much more than simply taking people off of other public transport routes; it has actually generated more customers overall. There is scope to extend the number of carriages and if the growth continues, they'll have to take up this option quicker than I bet anyone expected.
Trying to calculate simply the amount of times the city has had to be rebuilt (the great fire, the blitz, countless other incidents) is a mammoth task. Also it was kinda funny watching a really engrossing video about my own capital but the currency being used was USD lol
As a Malaysian, i feel the London's Tube is so smooth n efficient just like Singapore MRT...High frequencies...wider coverage ..less waiting time ...The best..
I've been to London, coming from a city of no public transport, it was overwhelming. Yes, cars are nice and are usually really efficient and somewhat mandatory, but I feel like cities in general and metropolitan ones in specific should adapt a more london approach to transport.
I like the look of the London Metro system. All those bright primary colors, it seems happy and friendly somehow. It must be so interesting to walk around, all that history. All those trees too!
The Piccadilly line has the most interesting station designs in my opinion. They were built during a time where most people couldn't read, so they had unique designs for each station so you could visually recognise your stop just from the colour scheme or tile arrangements.
@@TalesOfWar My nearest tube station is on the Piccadilly line. There’s a small tower with the Underground logo on the top. If that doesn’t tell you it’s a station, I don’t know what will.
The Elizabeth Line is the icing on the cake, as of now. Its no wonder, that recently they reported that the Heathrow Express was losing money to it lmao
the Elizabeth line running into Canary Wharf is an unmitigated disaster with common delays that are over 300% the length of the journey times. Oh and the interesting fact for the day the Jubilee line touches every other tube line in London, so if you want to get across London always start looking at the JL.
@@alexlyster3459 not really. Take today for example. This morning a 12 minute run between Stratford and Canary Wharf, the DLR would have taken 45 minutes, the JL would have taken 25 minutes and the EL 15 minutes. The return journey in the evening the DLR to 18 minutes, the JL 21 minutes and the EL 38 minutes. This is almost daily - in fact the DLR is the most reliable between these two points despite being the least invested in, and surprisingly it was run by a private company with TFL oversight and not TFL themselves. TFL are an unmitigated disaster who have consistently wasted money and failed to improve the service. The tube is one of the most expensive public transit systems per mile but also one of the least reliable - and it is all administered by TFL.
@@quicksesh It's already break even on cost, a year after opening. Also remember TfL essentially lost two years of budget for new things with Covid and the government reducing their budget some more because they "didn't meet targets". How they were to have met them is beyond me, but hey ho.
At 4:30 is the Oxford Street crossroads - for those unaware, search 'Oxford Circus umbrella' for a great piece of engineering back in the 60's when they were building the Victoria Line.
I've lived in south London all my life. The National Rail isn't a co-operative anything; it's a privatised rail system which is run by a patchwork of private operators, most of them foreign owned (some even by other countries' state transportation systems), which pay franchising costs which inflates prices. The suburban rail systems are gradually being brought into the TfL fold, though, but I don't know how long it will take as the suburban networks are owned by the same operator as the long-distance trains out of the same London terminal. In some places (like Croydon, where I grew up) you can get a fast train into London off the long-distance network, so there isn't a huge demand for a Tube connection. I used to hate going on the Tube as a child when my parents took me up to town. It was dark and noisy. Overland trains are much more pleasant to travel on.
Tbh as a Londoner all I can say is London is a bunch of accidents from different era’s that came together and fit somehow perfectly
Best comment on here imo! 👍 😄
Kind of describes us Brits nicely in general I reckon, lol
Until you hit Bank station, but otherwise kind of yeah I can agree with that. It's an archaelogical dig site for us engineers to find solutions plastered over solutions for almost 2 centuries on how to do and not do transport planning or pretty much anything we do in construction design.
Most Londoners would take issue with TFL’s effectiveness 😅
@@travisr82 .... actually they've done a good job. It's the London mayor who alot of Londoners are not so happy about. His effectiveness is definitely questionable.
As a London bus driver you made me feel proud of my job when everything goes wrong with all of the transport systems, the buses pick up all the slack
london buses are great. Those who take time to explore them will find out they are brilliant - and typically very nice patient and helpful drivers.
Thanks for the time you or one of your colleagues got me from the station of a closed line to a working line so I could catch my plane! In most other cities I would have been screwed but I didn’t have to wait long for a bus to take me exactly where I needed to go!
like the tube strikes...
Very true
Interesting that buses account for more journeys than the tube. We could do with another 5,000 buses (electric of course!) to add frequency to routes that have fewer buses per hour. More buses at rush-hour (7am to 9am, and also 5pm to 7pm) on certain routes would be a great help too. I sometimes wait 20 minutes for a bus in east London. More buses might encourage people to switch from cars to public transport, which would reduce air pollution and congestion.
As a Londoner, we are lucky to have a very extensive tranport system, I've been to other major cities, and very few have transport systems like London does
I'm sorry, but the only good thing about London is the trains, and even they are unreliable. The trains have got so much worse since I used to live there.
The buses are absolutely awful compared to other cities' bus services. The lines are NOT well-marked and there are no maps at bus stops. They are old, broken and greasy. I'm surprised about London given how much budget it has at its disposal. It eats up money and dominates the cultural landscape like a cancerous tumour, yet its transport is ok. It should be much better than that.
@@indigophanta8288 literally most cities in America have 0 transport you can’t even walk anywhere it’s just cars. But in London if you use google maps to get to ur destination it shows you which buses and trains you need, it’s really easy
Almost every western European city has better transport than London lol
Madrid is the best in Europe Imo
Moscow/st petersburg are much better and more reliable. Plus theyre fucking gorgeous
the london underground is one of the few things that genuinely makes me feel a little patriotic, it's such a well designed and growing system that's still growing with things like hs2 and crossrail being added to it
hs2 is not something to be proud about.
@@theonlyjoe_ is this from like, an environmental standpoint?
@@animationreview5696yep, usually high speed rail is a good thing but it's a lot more controversial in this case because of the motives behind it
@@user-lo3er3th8g What's the reason behind hs2?
@@animationreview5696 hs2 is being axed in a lot of places because the government isn't competent enough to actually contract it out to a decent company
Fascinating video. You caught my attention when you referred to how London grew. This is a big difference between how many of the old cities of Europe grew in comparison to the newer cities of North America. I live in Manchester. I live in a 'suburb' five miles from the city centre. But in fact where I live used to be a village and can be found on maps going back to the early 1700s. But as Manchester grew it became incorporated into the urban mass. However, it retains a 'centre' with its own identity. It has shops, schools, clinics, restaurants and many other facilities so everything is within walking distance. We have bus and tram links to the centre other parts of the city and other nearby towns. It seems well planned but in fact it kind of just grew by itself with the help of planning.
Same with Dun Laoghaire
And Kilgarvan 😂
Ummm Pretty much most suburb areas in the UK then lol.
Well described. I'm from Bolton which is basically what you're mentioning.
Same with Birmingham
It's also worth mentioning that a big reason South London doesn't have the same tube coverage as north is because it used to have an extensive tram network. Those trams were replaced by buses in the latter part of the 20th century, some of which have the same numbers and routes as the old tram lines. Obviously this made the routes less efficient which is unfortunate, trams used to be associated with the working classes or ""undesirables"" which is part of the reason the network was scrapped, along with higher maintenance costs than buses. Imo we should bring back trams in south london
there are trams in south london though
Great point and the same happened to Glasgow’s tram system.
@Earthcouldnotanswer kinda sad sutton link didn't go through though
I think tunneling though the clay of North London was easier and cheaper than South London rock etc .
@@Earthcouldnotanswer croydon isnt south london mate
90% of the time London transport runs remarkably smoothly considering the density of the city. Journey's aren't always comfortable, but most are fairly effortless, especially with apps like citymapper now widely used. I just wish buses would show up at regular intervals, rather than three at once.
There's a reason this happens with busses. Better scheduling can help, but only so much. Basically, bus 1 sets off, picks up bunch of passengers, bus 2 sets off, picks up fewer passengers as the one before it picked up most already, bus 3 sets off. Rinse and repeat. They get closer together as the route progresses. They could counter this by offsetting the time table for each stop somewhat, but that isn't really practical either as you'll have them driving slower or faster at certain points which isn't really good for traffic flow, or the passengers already on them wanting to be somewhere. It also reduces the regularity at each stop. So, the only real solution is more busses on the same route, given you can't really control the other facts like number of passengers or amount of traffic at and around each stop. This is why metro, train and tram systems are far better at punctuality. They're on a segregated route, even when sharing the road in the case of trams given they get right of way. Plus tram vs car doesn't tend to end well for the car lol.
It’s a leftist city. It’s always strikes.
I stopped using Citymapper 'cause I found Google maps were doing a better job.
Has Citymapper been improved?
@@ingolfurarnar697 Citymapper is great, much better than Google maps for getting around and combining busses, tubes, walking etc to get the quickest route. It also shows where on the tube (front, back, middle carriages) is best to sit for the quickest exit a the station you are going to.
@@ingolfurarnar697likewise. And its easier to use. I dont understand why citymapper is even used
Thanks for the interesting video!
I moved to London from Zimbabwe almost 9 years ago. For me, the top 3 most astounding and brilliant things about London/uk remain the same, even after all this time same.
The NHS, Public transport system and the crazy abundance of history around and under every step you take.
The beauty of a city that grew organically over 1000s of years leaving behind a visual map of its history in the buildings, streets, place names, functions and form.
A public transport system so efficient and well connected that the majority of Londoners don't own cars- because you genuinely don't need them.
A healthcare system, that even while over burdened and struggling atm, remains the true heart of the nation and an example of humanity at its best.
I may pay taxes but I am not a British Citizen. Even so.... I am passionately patriotic about the NHS I respect and value it immensely- in fact I think everyone here does.
There are many amazing and wonderful things about the UK and London. But these 3 are the ones that have continued to blow me away, every day, for the last 9 yrs.
5-10 years ago i would agree, but not these days
It sounds like you're a very lucky person who hasn't had to use substantial British healthcare in the past few years. The NHS is indeed a sound way of providing healthcare to all, but it has been thoroughly mismanaged in the past decade. The good thing about London is decent that healthcare, and especially dental care, is only a Eurostar ride away in neighbouring EU countries.
Why???
NHS is shit, British transport is shit (trains are incredibly unreliable and nothing works), and people are eager to destroy our culture AND people. What the hell UK do you live in? Seriously. I want to live in the UK that you live in.
Are you from a parallel universe??
my area the NHS has imported in nurses from Zimbabwe. No wonder your pro NHS lol
The fact you can tap in with just a credit/debit card is so understated. It makes using the tube etc so much easier than other cities were you have to buy a special card or ticket or pay with cash.
Even more convenient with an Apple watch or something, don't even need to fumble with pocket based shenanigans then!
@@TalesOfWar exactly
Manchester Metrolink and buses you can just tap in with credit or debit cards plus we have a card you can top up to use on the system. Granted our system isn't as good as London's but then we only get pocket change worth spent on our infrastructure so all things considered not that bad, a little better than you might think.
@@toddhunter3137Manchester contributes a pocket change worth of the UK's overall GDP compared to London.
@@user-bp1be1yg2h Because Manchester is a recipient of a pocket change worth of government investment compared to London.
Such negative comments. Everyone saying “what about..” followed either by a small town or somewhere whose transport system was heavily inspired by London’s. The absolute incandescent rage when anyone says something positive about the UK always takes me back a bit
idk man, it's part of what makes us Brits, people genuinely compete over each other on who's town is the worse shit hole so....
Burner us Irish do the same
@@oscarosullivan4513 There's a reason you do the same as the British.
Because London is a shithole that has long-standing issues with crime, both Blue Collar Crime with rampant gang activity (particularly Firearms and Knife/Large Blade crime) and White Collar Crime with rampant financial fraud and banks who are headquartered in the city such as HSBC who regularly deal with and directly fund Drug Cartels and corrupt nations such as Iran, despite international sanctions, aided and supported by the UK Parliament on all sides of the political spectrum.
There is NOTHING positive about London, you are delusional if you think otherwise.
I didn't need to mention the current costs to live there, and how they're rising so quickly, that it's now become unlivable for many residents as a consequence of London 2012 and the various wars and viral outbreaks over the past 20 years, the issues with housing exacerbated by the events, aftermath and fallout of the Grenfell Tower Fire in 2017, or the chronic security problems which led to 7/7 in 2005, the Riots in 2011 and the various rampages during the late-2010s, including a mass-stabbing incident and a car rampage in Westminster.
@@WilliamSmith-mx6ze Cultural pollution.
I've lived in many cities and I have to admit, London is by far one of the easiest to get around, you can travel from point A to point B in many different ways in a relatively short amount of time. The only caveat being that some areas are too overcrowded, specially during peak hour, and even having trains each minute isn't enough for the amount of people trying to get in and out of the city centre at the same time.
They would need to extend the city centre or invest in developing a nearby city. That would also help to alleviate the renting crisis
Thats why the elizabeth line was built, everone realised that the tube was under huge pressures. All land around London is expensive, so another 'city' would also be expensive for
renting. The only way, it to have subsidised renting, but only for people who have a real need-like nurses.
I agree. Other railways in west europe are not tourist friendly at all. Many do not have assistance thus a lot of scammers.
HS2 will have a positive impact on renting. Just like the Lizzie Line did
For sure London can be very busy but that is part of its character. You can't beat it for Cinema, Theatres and Restaurants. That said the price of housing is astronomical and well out of reach of many professionals. I guess you need to know your value if moving there and command a very high salary.
The idea of the "city centre" is kind of a moot point in London. People have to travel to or through the centre during rush hour due to its transport hubs but people work and go out for leisure all around the city. For people who move here and have not lived here before, it's better to describe it as a centre surrounded by a bunch of smaller town centres. You tend to stay in your bit of London and don't often go into the actual centre, given how much there is to do in any part of the city. I agree with developing other cities more to address the severe discrepancy in funding between London and other parts of the UK, but I don't think this will necessarily bring down rent very much, and I don't think it's realistic to have trains more often than once per minute due to logiatics
Surprisngly good video on a complex topic, keep it up man
London public transport really is the best I have ever seen. I lived there for three months and never had the urge to take a cab or let alone drive. I only walked and took the public transport.
Also, how ironic is it that a city that wasnt planned and grew organically is one of the best cities to get around in?
It's great if you are never out past midnight. If you are, it definitely ranks low among other major cities.
@@jonjino you obviously don’t live here. 5 tube lines run a 24 hour service on weekends, and we have extensive night bus routes everyday.
@@johnholmes2745 really? i was there for 2 weeks in march and TFL said that all of the lines were closed for the night. But yeah on the bright side there were 24 hour busses that were actually convenient.
@@uzin0s256 we had really bad rail strikes in March and April, some of the worst we've had in decades, it's not normally that bad
@@EdricoftheWeald But at least yall have public transit. Where i live we have nothing. We just have 13 lane freeways and all the government does is rip up train tracks and use them for freeways. Also i was in London in March and it wasnt that bad.
Being born and raised in London, we forget how lucky we are. Thanks for the video 👌
We really do. London is not perfect but it is still the best city in the world. We have a terrorist as mayor, yet we go about our daily lives without much disruption.
@@spectre8_fulcrum lol, nice
@@spectre8_fulcrum The Mayor made it the best city in the world as the white folk were mostly gang members in the city. He cleaned up the streets
@@spectre8_fulcrum how is Sadiq khan a terrorist..?
@@PIXELGamerzXvlogs how is he not?
The river bus services are another great and well used feature of London.
Crossrail 2 is going to be a real game changer for South London. I also think TFL should buy Thameslink and turn it into Crossrail 3. Is a pretty great service, but because it's TNR, you have to mortgage your home for a ticket. Remind me again why Britain decided to privatize the railways? Anyways, Crossrail works pretty well as a regional connector, but it would probably end up as merely a cheaper, faster National Rail. This is not a bad thing, but there is little service to connect the suburbs to themselves. If Crossrail expansion was combined with an expanded tram network, some overground extensions, and maybe some BRT measures to improve travel speed and operational consistency on major bus lines, the south would have a very decent transit network.
I am sure it will all come good in 3046! 😬
The main reasons for privatization were to stop the nation rail unions bring the whole country to a stop for days on end (far worse than now) and to move the cost of all the required new rolling stock onto someone else's accounts (fudging the figures basically).
Still nothing much in the South East of London.
This will continue to mean many journeys through the Blackwall Tunnel and Dartford Crossings.
@@stephenlee5929 I am in Woolwich at least we have a ferry that don't end you up in France! 😂😂😂
If you had used British Rail before it was privatised you wouldnt need to asak that question.
River buses (Uber Boats) are also an integrated part of London's transport system now. They're really fast and its a nice scenic journey getting from A to B on the water.
Honorable mention to the cable cars running from Royal Victoria to North Greenwich. A little expensive but they also operate with the use of Oyster cards
Can we appreciate how beautiful these buses look?
Really cool with the diagonal clear glass on the front.
Outstanding!
As a Londoner and a person who travels a lot, the transport system in London is incredible. Not an easy task, done easy.
I’m a Londoner and during lockdown I was able to walk to all the places I needed to go, including hospital appointment (I was under cancer monitoring care at the time). I didn’t use a bus, the Tube, or the overground for nearly 2 years. I’ve lived in North American cities I don’t think that would have been possible there.
All that tells us is that you didn't need to walk to many places. It would take you 17 days to walk across London, so you can stop acting like London is this tiny easily walkable city when it's absolutely not.
@@kayleighc1681 its more walkable than the american grid layout, i don't think the first commenter was saying she walked from edgeware to clapham, moreso that all of the necessary amenities are within a walkable distance.
@@kayleighc1681 what are you waffling about mate
@@kayleighc1681 it’s a lot more walker friendly than car prioritised American cities
@@kayleighc1681 Bruh no it wouldn't lmao
The city is HUGE by dimensions but feels a lot smaller because of how easy it is to get around.
I used to live there a long time ago but visit frequently and am always amazed and grateful for the transportation system. I feel it's an engineering miracle 👍
Watching this video makes it seem insane that other big city’s in the UK like Manchester don’t have this form of public transport integration.
Well, not an excuse but London started earlier with the London Passenger Transport Board.
Manchester is trying, the Bee Network is happening which is certainly a start.
There's two main reasons for that - firstly, transport in all other cities was deliberately de-integrated back in the 1980s, because of a political obsession with competition and privatisation. Secondly, Other parts of the UK don't get nearly as much funding per head as London does, so they can't afford to build high quality transit.
Idk Manchesters transportation is really good
@@SexyxSeds There's certainly some gaps, but considering the Metrolink has only been around for 30 years, it's pretty good.
You forgot the Thames Clipper River bus, loads of people commute via the river.
I've been living in London for most of my life, and the city is designed so well that if I live in Zone 3, it'll take me only 1-2 hours of walking to get to Zone 1. The transportation system and the connectivity with national and international rail networks really makes this one of the most accessible and palatable systems to use. The fares and strikes could use some changing though.
Fare prices in London are cheap as chips compared to the rest of the UK. We want a TfL equivalent in every major urban area all over the country rather than the omnishambles we currently have in much of England. The devolved powers for places like Greater Manchester and Tyne and Wear are a good start but they're still far short of what TfL enjoys. We're also a long way from seeing any benefits of these new powers as they're only just starting to come in now. We really need huge investment in transport all over the UK, imagine how much robust and strong the economy would be if we had cheap, reliable and good public transport like London?
I've heard this from an American and Australian about how great the London transport is. I think I take it for granted as I've live here my whole life.
Looking over from New York, even though the Underground gets a lot of the attention, I think the regional rail services are the most underrated part of it all. The fare integration, operations, and coverage beat our commuter railroads. You can't get from one side of the NY metro area to another without changing and paying a completely different fare.
As a Londoner who has lived in Australia and New Zealand for a number of years, it really made me appreciate just how good we have it in London.
Especially compared to NZ where public transport is virtually non-existent outside of the three main cities and even within those cities it's pretty poor
Try using it anywhere else n England, you'll see how special it is and why everyone outside of the M25 gets pissed when yet another massive infrastructure project is done there while we get nothing. As a country we're more than capable of affording and building such things everywhere in the UK, the powers that be just choose not to because reasons.
@@TalesOfWar yeah but. Manchester has that metrolink thing and bus service. Birmingham has its trams. Bristol has trains. Oxford has bussess. Newcastle has its pretty frequent metro. So i think its efficient.
@@uzin0s256 As someone who lives in Manchester. No, it isn't. It's pretty crap actually. The Metrolink is decent, but the busses are shockingly bad. That will hopefully change after September when they come back under puiblic control aagain but it won't change over night. London had everything brought under public ownership back in 1933, so they've had the best part of a century to integrate and build things out as an actual joined up network that complements itself.
London also has the unique power within England to create its own capital to fund things. Nowhere else in England has this, the rest of us have to rely on the Treasury, and unless it's within the M25 or otherwise directly benefits London, they don't want to hear about it.
The whole country needs a MASSIVE investment drive into public transport and other services, right now practically every penny is spent in London while the rest of us get the scraps. A few weeks ago the government claimed they gave us an investment of £72million to improve transport in the region in Manchester! What really happened is they cancelled plans to expand Piccadilly Station's platforms 15 and 16 and couldn't just take the money back. £72million is also a drop in the bucket for what we need. Crossrail/Elizabeth Line cost £20billion, and that's one line! We desperately need something like that up here linking west to east. What real impact they expect to have region wise with £72million I don't know. Maybe new platforms at Piccaddilly Station? Oh...
Lived in London for about 4 years and absolutely loved that I didn’t need to have a car. I have rarely used even Ubers in London, so fantastic to use the tube and bus. Loved the hopper fare too: used it extensively!
I mean to be fair, u dont really need a car in all the major world cities
@@KCKnowsBestthat's not true. Some cities are poorly designed to where you need a car so
Crossrail (Elizabeth line) was the single biggest thing that glued it all together. That’s a fact. For example getting from any London airport to any other is a lot easier because of that.
Not sure it helps with Gatwick. I haven't tried, but it doesn't look like it to me.
For me it would be the Jubilee Line, or maybe the DLR, or the Jubilee Line Extension.
All things I saw new and were useful, and how did I ever get on without them.
I'm sure it is and will be useful, I would be shocked if it wasn't.
But the DLR has transformed the Isle of Dogs.
@@stephenlee5929 You can change at Farringdon for Thameslink which connects both Luton and Gatwick.
It's only good for people who have extra 2h of free time every day. For everyone else it's still better to take normal trains into major stations and then use the tube. Elizabeth line stops at way too many stations where only 1-3 people get on/off.
Just came back to the US after a few days in London. Traveling via the Underground was seamless. I never had to wait longer than 5 minutes for any train. And the way-finding signage is impeccable.
Welcome anytime transatlantic brother
It's really miraculous considering the tunnels were first dug for horse and carriages. Then steam trains. We invented a lot,so our stuff is the original and prototype for improving by others
@@robertfarrow5853 your comment has got me looking up the history of the first underground tunnels in London. So interesting. Thanks!
As a londoner i think its incredible how quickly you can travel from the outskirts of London out straight into the city especially with the eliz now running. We got transport pretty good here 😉
Thats because instead of investing in other parts of the country our government just keeps throwing more and more money at London.
The funniest thing about the London Underground that tourists aren't aware of is that most of the stations around Zone 1 of the London Underground are walking distances from each other but unfortunately tourists who aren't aware are taking longer journeys that would instead take them 6/7 minutes i.e. Tottenham court road is a 6/7 minute walk from Covent Garden stations but if you were to take the tube, you would have to go to Holborn, switch trains and then take a train to covent garden which can take you 15/20 minutes in total when take everything into consideration i.e. peak time, train delays etc
I found that out the hard way lol😂
They probably do know today, google maps would tell them point A to point B might be 15 minutes changing lines vs 6 minutes walk
Yes this was 20 yrs ago😄
Love the way London has an integrated network. Even other cities in the UK don't have that.
I'd say Liverpool does, but it's unique in its own way too. First railways in the world, first deep-level underground station, first purpose-built rail tunnel under a river (Brunnel's was a pedestrian tunnel that was converted), first electrified underground system, etc. Newcastle was famed for its integrated bus and metro system in the 1970s, until it was destroyed by privatisation. London's transport is on its own level in my experience, but then it also gets a pretty hefty slice of the country's investment too, which doesn't go unnoticed by the rest of the country's population.
Glasgow was the 2nd city of the Empire and today has an excellent Transport system. In fact in someways I think we have out Engineered our English cousins. I've been evaluating the Glasgow system and I rate it pretty highly and we have a low emissions zone (LEZ) coming on stream soon. Electric buses, electric trains and electric bikes. All we need now are a troop of cyborgs!
@@stephenbaxter3369 Glasgow's main problem is its buses. And generally a lack of integration between transport modes. I agree it has a good rail network, which could do with some cheering up.
@@mcwulf25 Glasgow does not have problems only challenges that will be met in priority order.
@@stephenbaxter3369 You sound like a politician 🤣🤣😉
What an amazing piece of work you have done explaining London's equally incredible public transport system. This is a must-watch.
As a civil engineer in London, we couldn’t disagree more. Beneath the centre of london is a nightmare for us because there’s so many utilities
This video is so misinformed.
London has been around for so long there are just so many layers added on top of one another
Yes like Roman roads.
Yeah, it's almost 2000 years old now, so the history is miles deep
It's the outside Europe perspective, a lot of European capitals and even smaller cities have much better public transport than London.
I live in London ever since i was born and its wonderful, its like it has every single piece that it needs, Transportation, Roads, Rail, Pathmeants they have everything and its really good
Same I really like it but I’ve mostly accepted that it’s unlikely I’ll be able to get on the property ladder here/will have to live to a suburban town for at least 6 years. Luckily the train links to central are good though.
Pathmeants? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 what, are we in prison? 🤣🤦♂️
Wtf is a pathmeant?
and rampant knife crime too!
I meant pavements🤣😂, oooo wow 43 likes
One thing about “The Tube” is you never feel like your gunna get lost. They come every 2-3 minutes. Pretty Cool.
Superb video and thanks for the amazing content. The Elizabeth line has completely changed the landscape of public transport not just in London but the whole of the UK. Now one in six journeys in the whole Kingdom is on The Elizabeth Line.
1 in 6 national rail journeys, this excludes the many light rail and tram networks as well as the extensive underground network
Shame it breaks down every other day
How has the Elizabeth line changed public transport for the whole UK?
You know the UK is more than just London, right? How has the Elizabeth Line improved transport in Leeds or Belfast?
Makes u proud to be a Londoner. Its definitely a majestic city in so many ways.
London is considered to being the best city in the world with it’s very own London Underground, DLR, Elizabeth Line, London Overground, National Rail, Trams, Buses and River services that serve Greater London. I have been to London so many times and I always have been a big fan of the Tube, trains and DLR.
This is interesting to me having lived in many parts of London and eventually coming to find that cycling was the most pleasant way to get around (for me anyway). The crowding, sounds, noises, while exciting, paled against the never-ending exploration that cycling brought.
Great video, loved the simple and informative voice over, music was perfect
*wow that is fascinating. Over 150 years old, and still faster then modern tube/trains in some countries*
Excellent video. Being British, I often wondered what the internal view would be.
The channel is also fantastic. I found myself watching another 4 videos of yours after this one.
Excellent content. Thank you.
Same here👍
At 5:00 minutes you don't mention the Northern line which is actually the tube line that runs furthest south to Morden.
And also includes the Northern Line Extension.
I’m glad you spoke about the buses and national rail because I feel like everyone only talks about the tube
I think you may have accidentally put a great northern class 717 at 1:43 instead of a northern line '95 stock 😂😂 great video regardless!
yes lol
I had to do a double take 😂
Yes, he did.
Another great benefit by far of London Underground is just how safe it feels to travel in compared to several other subway systems I've been on. NY's subways for example are dirty, dark, under-maintained and just not pleasant to use at all.
Just casually ignore the fights that break out on the tube during rush-hour on a daily basis.
@@SotiCotoI've been using the Tube all my life and can only think of seeing one scuffle. I'm sure they happen, but they're hardly a widespread major issue.
Dirty and Dark but it’s used as much as the Tube. The entire system is 24hrs there more kilometers of tracks. We have express trains skipping stops you don’t need and we have more train stations. We don’t have to worry about the entire system damn near being shut down because everyone is on strike.
@@shalonsmith3653, does any of what you've said justify the NYC Subway being the rat-infested dingy infrastructure that it is?
London was the first non-North-American city I have ever been to, and the differences that I noticed between transport in London compared to that in North America were among the most astounding to me, and to this day those memories stick with me and change the way I see urban development. London has made me an advocate for better urban planning because of how beautiful and efficient I found it to be there.
super good video you deserve WAY more subscribers 👍👍👍👏👏
as a person who lives on the northern line, I'm insulted that he said it's a thameslink train
I recently visited London for the first time and am from Mumbai, India. I was so surprised by how excellent the public transport of London is, it was so seamless, I just used Google Transit to tell me where to go and take what and I always reached on time even if I left late. Other cities should consult London and implement the same system. I mean i can only wish if Mumbai had such a seamless public transport, but I guess we are getting there!
One thing I hate about it though is you can’t get a train straight though (ie from Cambridge to Portsmouth) you have to get off the train, into the tube, change onto another line, get off the tube, go to station, get on train and then your back to going to your destination. Please tell me if there is in fact a train route that goes straight though London 🙂
It's not designed, it spontaneously evolved over centuries
This video was extremely well made. You'll certainly grow quickly. The video is just so high quality
It's an absolute crime this guy has 17k subs with this quality of content
Amazing how this video has reached so many people though. 1300 comments. It obviously hit a nerve!
Fantastic video, so well researched.
London has developed and adapted to what was needed really well
London has more not only transportation but Transportation has a big big part taken place and i Love it
My girlfriend lives in London for 3 years and I used to travel down from Glasgow to see her every 2/3 weeks, so have spent a lot of time their and I 100% think that it is the best city I have ever been too. It’s so easy to get around and the public transport it outstanding! I used to love going down and would even consider moving to live their if it weren’t so expensive, it’s a truly wonderful city!
The Clockwork Orange doesn't really compare...
please explain how you have a girlfriend that lives hours away from you.
@@uzin0s256 she was from Glasgow but moved down their to go to uni and studied for 3 years before returning home. I would love to go back their and live at some point tho even just for a couple of years.
@@darrenaddyman1556 oh ok
Really cool. I live in Richmond surrey and this was fun to watch. And oyster cards are so underrated! ❤❤
Thank you for your hard work
Well done for mentioning walking. Living nearvtop of Shooters Hill, I can, and do, walk or do mix of jogging and walking to Westminster, The City, or a circuit of 25 miles on Green Chain Walk and Thames Path that takes 7 hours just walking or 4 hours with some jogging. Also easy to walk to Dartford
London is the best city in the world.
Also there’s student Oyster cards! I get like 20 or 30% off which I didn’t know existed when I first moved here but is really useful!
Bus travel is free and it's only 85p if you travel by train
That’s a very comprehensive but also very succinct video!
Very well explained!!
Great video!!
Amazing video that perfectly explains the TFL system so well! I wanna give some unwritten rules about London and the TLF system to help tourists out :)
- When you are tapping in or out of the Tube, don't wait until you get to the scanner gate to get your ticket, card, or oyster out. During rushhour, (time when people are commuting to or leaving work) if you start fumbling for your card at the scanner gate, you are going to cause a massive pile up. To kinda save the embarrassment and potentially being shoved out of the way, take your card out as you're walking to the scanner gate! :)
- When you are using the Underground and you are on an escalator to get down to the station, stay on the right side if you don't want to walk down or up the escalator and leave the left side open for people to walk down or up the escalator.
- The Underground trains can either be very empty or packed! So for this, do not always expect to get a seat.
- When you are using any kind of public transport, keep an eye out for priority seating! These seats are for the elderly, disabled, and pregnant people. If you are using the seat then kindly give it up to these people, I promise you it will make their day. :)
- When walking in Central London, please be aware that everyone around you is speed walking so try not to walk slower than them. It can cause pile ups on the street or again, result in you being shoved out of the way if people are in a rush (they most likely are.)
- If you are unsure about public transport in London then definitely stick to the Tube! The trainlines and stations are easier to understand and guess where you need to get off. Buses have many more stops and there are many more buses than trains. Bus numbers and destinations can be confusing, especially if you need to get off somewhere that is not the destination.
- Be careful and do research about the areas of London you go into, some areas have higher stabbing rates than others. People are crazy enough to chase you with a weapon while shouting "why are you running?"
- If a roadman comes up to you for some reason (they are confident enough to do it) just ignore them and walk away. They normally wear tracksuits, ski masks or neck warmers and those chest bag thingys.
If there's more then reply to this comment with them! :))
Please remove your back pack from your back and place it on the train floor between your feet. This creates more space when the train is packed.
Please walk on the left in stations, especially when going up and down stairs.
@@neilsharman4704 never knew that I did all this unconsciously lmao
-lived in London since I was born
Even if you have your card out in the station, there are almost always opportunistic fucktards who will try to push in front of you. Same goes for getting on busses. I'm pretty sure it is foreign culture seeping into London over the years, as people used to respect queues here more. The public transport system was always a bit aggressive, but I swear it is getting even more hostile now.
Also, don’t call the Underground/Tube the subway when asking for directions, since subway has a different meaning than in America. Over here a subway is an underground tunnel for crossing the street, not the name of the system itself (although some subways are specifically built to get you to a tube station)
Here's another one.
Don't talk to anybody on public transport. It's an unwritten (and unspoken) rule lol.
Great stuff. You didn't mention the fast boats on the Thames though…
As a Londoner who grew up in Zone 6, I then lived in Zone 1 and 2 and now Zone 4 in my adult years.
I can't emphasise enough how the transport system has been integral to my social life. I am 34 and have never needed to own a car. I cycle to work, but use the Overground, buses and tubes to visit friends who live on the other side of the city, within an hour.
Of course, I will need a car when I start a family soon, but still it's amazing that my carbon footprint is substantially lower than most people my age from other major cities around the world, due to how integrated and extensive our transport network is.
Him referring to central london as “up north” has me in stitches the whole video
As a person who lived in London pretty much all their life. Travel is so easy and quick a bus comes every 2-5 minutes a train arrives every 2 minutes its amazing
All these Video titles with the title "City X is well designed" dont make sense.
London grew organically over 2000 years, it was mostly not "designed" at all.
Some individual parts are well designed, like the Elizabeth line, but not the city as a whole.
he did acknowledge that at the end
@@PGATProductions Yes, at the end, he did say that.
Now about 'Why', there was much made of how well it appears to work, but no indication of Why that might be.
As a Mexican living in London, you have no idea how amazed, thankful and free I am due to the public transport!
This makes me very happy to watch, I've always considered London to be pretty well designed all things considered .. it's majorly walkable and buses are great to use for the most part, especially for older people in comparison to other major cities. Kudos London!
As a tube nerd, you may have gotten confused at 1:44 where the northern line is shown as a class 717 Great Northern train instead of a 1995 stock northern line train. Sorry I just had to make that note.
They might've gotten it confused with the Northern City Line
It'd be nice to see London make more use of the Thames dor public transport. There are a few river services run by TFL but the system should be expanded. The tram system should be restored to its former glory as well.
the most important parts that makes this all work is that it’s one system rather than loads of competing companies (see the rest of the UK if you want to know how private rail networks don’t function) and that’s it’s relatively cheap: the goal is not to make as much money as possible for a handful of people, it’s to move people around the city, so London itself prospers. and it works. i think these to reasons are why the New York system doesn’t have buses and doesn’t work as well
Really liked the video, was nice to see how it all works together. But I am slightly annoyed at the use of the Dollar when talking about London, would've made more sense to use Pounds
Just as an FYI when you say 'up north' we understand that to mean the North of England (as opposed to North London). Technically just being north of the river Thames doesn't mean you're a north Londoner (there are some parts north of the river which are more southerly than others which are south of the river if that makes sense, and that's before you even get into the East London/West London distinction). Very interesting vid by the way :)
'there are some parts north of the river which are more southerly than others which are south of the river if that makes sense' - very interesting, I did notice this on the map. I wonder if you know anything about how that pays into people's identities? Does anyone who's technically a south londoner identify as a central londoner or anything like that?
@@SB-lh5xb As a life long Londoner, I've never heard of a 'central londoner' even though we use the term central London. It's firmly East, West, North and South. With regards to identities it's something that's definitely fixed (eg if I moved to West London I'd still be an East ender) it used to be more strongly associated with football teams (eg supporting the team closest to where you grew up) although that doesn't seem to be a factor nowadays. The Cockney identity, also, has shifted somewhat over the years (the criteria is traditionally set on being born within the sound of the Bow (church) bells. A hundred years ago the sound travelled miles and miles. Now you might not be able to hear them half a dozen streets away depending on traffic etc. :)
Would love to see a similar video for Tokyo.
The natives mostly take it for granted but watching this I realise that it is a great network. There are also the river buses that provide a useful and scenic service along the Thames through central London.
Very good video!
Damn, he described The Lizzie Line as part of the London Underground. Only reason he gets a 9.9/10. A great video obviously
That overpriced, heavily-delayed mess, I left a train at Paddington earlier this week, and the information on the screens was already bugged, there were also problems with the lifts at Liverpool Street, problems that will never be fixed because TfL is a bunch of lazy cunts who can't fix a broken wooden table, much less a pair of lifts that lead to the Crossrail section of Liverpool Street.
About the buses, it is tricky to compare London and Paris the way you did, because if you look for numbers in Paris, looking at those frome the city of Paris is not the best since you seem to be talking metro areas. In this case the daily trips for the bus network is above 5 million in Paris. Which is almost what London do. I don't really know about the two other cities but I think that they would easily do a million trips combined. So your comparison either feels wrong or is just not fair
One thing - the Oyster card does work on the national rail but only in London's area and mainly just SWR. it just stops working once u leave London (if u were going from London Waterloo to Dorking for e.g. u would need to buy a ticket in the end). However the buses goes a bit past london (So you could go from London Waterloo to Kingston using the trains that go to Shepperton or Richmond via Wimbledon and from their take the 1 minute walk to Fairfeild bus stop and take the 465 to Dorking)
I just love how silent some lines are. You can even meditate while going home.
1:55 "even during peak periods it runs every 100 second"
wording is wrong here, it's running every 100 seconds exactly because it is peak and demand is high
Lot of such goof ups in the video. He isn't putting enough efforts
it's true that the frequency is to match demand, but it's also more of an achievement to run trains so frequently when there's so many passengers and potential delays. so the wording makes some sense to me.
There used to be even more railway lines but they were closed in the Beeching cuts.
Not many in greater London
@@iankp5901 actually a surprising amount were lost, but have since been reopened.
Since you posted this video, the Elizabeth Line opened and one year on it has done record numbers - and much more than simply taking people off of other public transport routes; it has actually generated more customers overall. There is scope to extend the number of carriages and if the growth continues, they'll have to take up this option quicker than I bet anyone expected.
Just came back from a trip to London and man public transport has been some of the easiest and most comfortable in London
Just a note, the Waterloo and City line is not part of the DLR
Trying to calculate simply the amount of times the city has had to be rebuilt (the great fire, the blitz, countless other incidents) is a mammoth task. Also it was kinda funny watching a really engrossing video about my own capital but the currency being used was USD lol
By a South African nogal (Afrikaans word!) When he said Mos-cow not Mosc-oh I knew he'd been Americanised lol. Still, great video👏
As a Malaysian, i feel the London's Tube is so smooth n efficient just like Singapore MRT...High frequencies...wider coverage ..less waiting time ...The best..
I've been to London, coming from a city of no public transport, it was overwhelming. Yes, cars are nice and are usually really efficient and somewhat mandatory, but I feel like cities in general and metropolitan ones in specific should adapt a more london approach to transport.
I like the look of the London Metro system. All those bright primary colors, it seems happy and friendly somehow. It must be so interesting to walk around, all that history. All those trees too!
It can vary from line to line, some are darker than others, or more monochrome and metal like the Jubileee line, but the variety is nice
The Piccadilly line has the most interesting station designs in my opinion. They were built during a time where most people couldn't read, so they had unique designs for each station so you could visually recognise your stop just from the colour scheme or tile arrangements.
@@TalesOfWar My nearest tube station is on the Piccadilly line. There’s a small tower with the Underground logo on the top. If that doesn’t tell you it’s a station, I don’t know what will.
I manage the trees for one of the London boroughs and I can confirm we have the best trees
Can you do a video about Athens Greece
good video brother
The Elizabeth Line is the icing on the cake, as of now. Its no wonder, that recently they reported that the Heathrow Express was losing money to it lmao
the Elizabeth line running into Canary Wharf is an unmitigated disaster with common delays that are over 300% the length of the journey times. Oh and the interesting fact for the day the Jubilee line touches every other tube line in London, so if you want to get across London always start looking at the JL.
Yeah, but they'll get those delays sorted out eventually, even if it's taking them an embarrassingly long time to do so.
@@alexlyster3459 yup, but eventually is not good enough when you look at the cost of the project .. it is TFL mismanagement all over again.
@@quicksesh Yeah, but "unmitigated disaster" is maybe going a bit far.
@@alexlyster3459 not really. Take today for example. This morning a 12 minute run between Stratford and Canary Wharf, the DLR would have taken 45 minutes, the JL would have taken 25 minutes and the EL 15 minutes. The return journey in the evening the DLR to 18 minutes, the JL 21 minutes and the EL 38 minutes.
This is almost daily - in fact the DLR is the most reliable between these two points despite being the least invested in, and surprisingly it was run by a private company with TFL oversight and not TFL themselves.
TFL are an unmitigated disaster who have consistently wasted money and failed to improve the service.
The tube is one of the most expensive public transit systems per mile but also one of the least reliable - and it is all administered by TFL.
@@quicksesh It's already break even on cost, a year after opening. Also remember TfL essentially lost two years of budget for new things with Covid and the government reducing their budget some more because they "didn't meet targets". How they were to have met them is beyond me, but hey ho.
At 4:30 is the Oxford Street crossroads - for those unaware, search 'Oxford Circus umbrella' for a great piece of engineering back in the 60's when they were building the Victoria Line.
I've lived in south London all my life. The National Rail isn't a co-operative anything; it's a privatised rail system which is run by a patchwork of private operators, most of them foreign owned (some even by other countries' state transportation systems), which pay franchising costs which inflates prices. The suburban rail systems are gradually being brought into the TfL fold, though, but I don't know how long it will take as the suburban networks are owned by the same operator as the long-distance trains out of the same London terminal. In some places (like Croydon, where I grew up) you can get a fast train into London off the long-distance network, so there isn't a huge demand for a Tube connection. I used to hate going on the Tube as a child when my parents took me up to town. It was dark and noisy. Overland trains are much more pleasant to travel on.
I FREAKING LOVE ❤️ PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION AND GOOD CITY DESIGN ❤️❤️