I am planning to bring my teenage son to London in late August-early September to tour 3 or 4 college/universities at which he is hoping to be considered for admission. We both have considerable experience with mass transit, buses, train, and underground as we have lived in or near Boston all of his life and utilize trains and light rail daily. All that having been said, I have cerebral palsy for which I use a crutch to assist me in my balance and walking, and would be most grateful for any information concerning transit lines that do not require specifically the use of escalators . Stairs are fine, elevators and ramps are also fine, of course. Forgive my long windedness, and thank you for any help you can offer.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
The official "Transport for London" website has lots of info on accessibility. Click here: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ and then select "Travel options & accessibility". This gets you to a journey planner, with many options including "I can use stairs but not escalators".
Escalators are fairly ubiquitious on the tube. The most common requirement is people who cannot handle stairs, and prefer escalators. You requirement is the opposite!
See the following 2 maps, which show which stations are step free: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/step-free-tube-guide-map.pdf
Avoiding staircases: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/avoiding-stairs-tube-guide.pdf
The answer may be buses, slower but you get to see more of London.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thanks for the info. Follow-up question: Based on your comments about the escalator situation on the underground, should I assume that when I am looking at the step free tube guide there may well still be an escalator that is not specifically mentioned in the station accessibility stats?
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5466 posts
Accessibility info in the journey planner is provided in many different combinations, eg totally step free required, stairs but no escalators, escalators but no stairs etc as Chris says.
The notes on individual stations in the maps can be hard to follow if you are not familiar with it and the flow you might be looking for, eg west bound district to southbound northern lines. Fortunately the planner knows the info.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
Not being able to use escalators means that it's pretty much impossible to use most of the deep-level underground network in central London. You will be able to use the Circle Line and the ones sharing tracks with it (District, Hammersmith & City, and Metropolitan), as the stations are only a short distance below ground level and use stairs. The only section which generally has elevators is the newest section of the Jubilee Line between Westminster and Stratford, and the elevators are not always working.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5466 posts
Oddly some of the really old smaller stations on tube railways, such as on the Central and Piccadilly are accessible by lift and stairs as they were built that way originally. They were never 'upgraded' to escalators because of insufficient space to put them in.
Posted by
US Pacific Northwest
10344 posts
Really great information and answers that Emma, Chris, Phillip and Marco have provided to the OP.
A big thank you to our European/UK contributors!
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you for all the great information.Knowing about which specific lines are are truly user friendly (eg. malfunctioning elevators etc.)
is particularly helpful. We will definitely get ourselves a couple oyster cards and study up on the buss routes as well. Thanks again.