London and Paris activities for Public Transit enthusiast

See the London Transport Museum

Take the tube to Greenwich. Take the Thames
Clipper back; https://www.thamesclippers.com/plan-your-journey/find-your-pier/greenwich-pier

https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/visiting-london/experience-london/bus-leisure-routes

We enjoyed a day trip to the railroad museum in York. Very easy trip by train from London. My husband volunteers at a railroad museum in.PA and he thought York museum was fantastic. Your son would get experience of underground, train and bus plus museum in one day!

There are also railway museums at Didcot (next to the station) and Swindon.

How about tea on a vintage double decker bus that takes you around London? https://b-bakery.com/
Both cities have Bustronome, which is a modern double decker bus that serves very nice food while driving around the city. I did this in Paris on Xmas Eve, and it was magical!

In both cities the opportunities are endless.

However, in Paris, what is exercising my transit mind at the moment is Orly Airport. Not the airport but Metro Line 14 and Tram T7.

I have seen a couple of videos this week- and the new Metro Line 14 has some stunning stations- stunning in terms of space, architecture and the use of public art. In some ways the Elizabeth Line of Paris.

And the tram T7 looks really interesting.

London, it's hard to know where to start.
For instance- if going to Hampton Court get off at Wimbledon and take the Tram to Croydon as an interesting diversion;
if going to Harry Potter at Watford Junction then rather than use the train take the Red London Bus from Edgware or Harrow (even though Watford is outside Greater London, or the bus from Heathrow);
if going to Greenwich take the London Overground to Barking Riverside (one of London's newest stations, and newest quarters) then the Uber Boat/Thames Clipper back to Greenwich;
If going to Windsor you can get as far as Slough on Red London Bus 81;
take the Superloop bus all or part of the way round from the north side of the Woolwich Free Ferry to the south side. Or, when arriving at Heathrow instead of just taking one of the rail routes in, take one of many routes in to Central London which involves the two superloop routes that serve Heathrow (he can research that) [oh and Superloop is even the cheapest way from Heathrow to Gatwick, and the longest);
use one of the 'ghost' rail routes that exist in London- routes which are not on any map-
eg- Rickmansworth to Watford (Met Line) via the north curve, or London Overground from Whitechapel to Battersea Park. He's 28- he can trace the details.
or the closest preserved railway to London-the Epping Ongar Railway (originally the far eastern end of the Central Line).
or within London Transport Zones- the Kew Waterworks Railway at 'Water and Steam'

Wow! Thanks for all these great ideas. Yes indeed he will research this too. I appreciate you all sharing what you know from your own experiences. Looks like there is so much to do. We are used to going from point A to point B. He wants to experience the magnificence of two great city’s via their public transport.
We have been to York with him and we all loved the railway museum : )

The Transport Museum in London offers some tours of disused Underground stations and the like. I think they're rather infrequent, and they're not cheap at 45 GBP, but your son might like to take a look: https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on

London Walks has a huge slate of walking tours. There may be one or two with a transit connection. Check your dates on the calendar here: https://www.walks.com/. I've taken a lot of London Walks tours, and they have all been excellent. The price is right at 20 GBP.

As a fellow public transport enthusiast, I can absolutely relate to this. In addition to the suggestions above, check out Hidden London, which does tours of disused stations: https://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/hidden-london

I've been on all of them and they are all extremely fun- the guides are wonderful and no matter how many you go on it's still exciting to get to go through doorways closed to the public while everyone else is just going about their day in the station.

I also recommend riding the DLR around the Docklands area, which can feel a bit futuristic and is quite a different experience to the tube. There is also the cable car- frankly it goes from an area you probably don't want to be to another area you probably don't want to be (North Greenwich to Royal Docks) but it is certainly novel for London, and easily reached on the Jubilee line to North Greenwich. If your son really wants a long ride into the countryside, you can take the Metropolitan line all the way out to Amersham.

I hope you all have a wonderful time and your son enjoys his time on the London Underground and Paris metro!

On the same subject of closed or hidden parts of tube stations your son could binge watch this London Transport Museum series of you tube videos- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKLSoLnrWgHx5kkCaH4iF8nin1s_8taNU

From the days of the epidemic until what seems to have been the last one at Christmas last year these were my guilty secret pleasure at 6pm most Saturday nights.

One of my favourite things to do in London is just hop on a normal service double decker bus and ride to the end of the line, then get some other form of transport back.

I have fond memories of picking up the 453 at the start of its route at Marylebone station. I had the front upstairs seat the whole way, “driving” the bus. The bus goes through central London through Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and past the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben/Elizabeth Tower.

It then crosses the river and goes through a large stretch of South London that is eye-opening in its difference. It ends in Deptford, where I hopped onto the DLR train to Canary Wharf, in the front seat (“driving” the train), then caught the Elizabeth Line back to central London.

This was only last year. I am a fully mature adult person who has lived in London and visits often, and honestly I absolutely love doing this. I have done it with a number of other bus routes in the past - the change from tourist London to bustling gritty London with all its ethnic diversity is so interesting.

It's possibly a bit far for a day trip from Paris (nearly 3 hours each way by train) but the French National Rail Museum is in Mulhouse.

it costs a bit more but old Routemaster buses run on a section of the number 15 bus route between Trafalgar Square and Tower of London via St Pauls Cathedral and is a genuine Routemaster with an open platform, although you can't use the open platform the way I did when a child. https://londonerbuses.co.uk/

In Paris there is a special aviation museum at Le Bourget airfield - flying old planes is transit right?
https://www.museeairespace.fr/en/

There is also the RAF museum just north of central London, and to really push the boat out there is Duxford near Cambridge, bith fabulous and really comprehensive.

Regarding Duxford, I still haven't made it up there but I am super keen to go as they have a pre-production Concorde, which may appeal to your son!

More info here: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/concorde-101-on-board-with-a-test-engineer

Mulhouse also has a good modern tram network.

If this journey is taking you anywhere near Basel (Switzerland)- also 3 hours from Paris- the Basel trams uniquely in the world allow you to travel between 3 countries on one tram network.

I suggest your son checks out this You Tube site:>https://www.youtube.com/@SuperalbsTravels

How about the first tunnel under the Thames? Later adopted for rail use and eventually the London Underground.

https://thebrunelmuseum.com/

Brunel Museum is good but very small and you don't actually get to go in the tunnel. However you can ride thru the tunnel yourself by just taking the Overground between Rotherhithe and Wapping. If you go to the museum, a very good pub nearby is the Mayflower- right on the river- and so named because the ship the pilgrims sailed on was docked there before leaving for the "new world."

Hi,

This may not be riding public transport but this quirky video about the world's first citybus route (in Paris) in the 1660's may interest your son- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsNEVRosKzM

Thank you very much Stuart! I will pass this on to our son and have a look myself. : )