London Tube Versus Bus In Summer

Thanks, all. Yes, we are accustomed to hot temperatures (it's 101 F today) but we are wilting violets who love our air conditioning. I appreciate your replies!

Oops - meant to say the BUS routes seem complicated. Sorry.

I think the tube is mainly unbearable for those of us who commute in that we are often travelling all the way to the end of the line in very crowded trains. If you are just travelling a few stops in the middle of the day I don't think it's that bad.

If it's unbearably hot above ground it will be unbearably hot on the tube. That seldom happens in England. You're more likely to be glad to get out of the rain. The tube is best for covering longer distances fast. The bus is better (obviously) for sightseeing. Sit up top where you can see the upper stories of the buildings. London Transport has done a good job of making buses easier to use, with maps and route information on the bus stops, and displays inside the buses showing the next stop. In addition, they have an excellent Central London bus map on the web - http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/central-london-bus-map.pdf

The PDF documents available for different neighborhoods in London make it easy to find the route to get where you want to go. I love riding the bus in London, and when we're at Trafalgar Square or some other central place, it's so easy to hop on a bus to go home rather than find the tube station and go way under ground. That being said, we are there in September, when it isn't so hot. If it were very hot I might want to take the tube. At least the ride is much shorter!

I'm not a big fan of the Tube (I don't like being underground) BUT- for speed you can't beat it. And if you don't use it in the rush hours, it should be OK. If you're not in a hurry, then the buses are, as already noted, a good way to see the city, especially upstairs.

Its always warmer in the deep underground than on the surface. This can sometimes be pleasant in cold weather but becomes rather oppressive on hot days in the summer. It is extremely rare for air temperature in London to rise above 30 C (86 F). Add 10 or 15 F degrees for the worst of the underground heat, ish. The heat comes from the electric motors on the trains and the lights, escalator motors and humans. Then again, if you are coming from Sugar Land, it may feel warm but nothing like summer in Houston. Unbearable? Nah - not for a Texan.

I am a long time fan abd user of the Tube, but use the bus when convenient or for a change. The worst I can remember was a short bus ride in Summer in London because the windows dont open much. I honsestly dont rmember the heat being a problem in the Tube, just this one bad time on a bus.

No A/C on the Underground, I'm afraid, although they have been trying to work out a system that would work for decades. More and more of the buses are new and have A/C but its not always operational. I remember the first time I saw Houston buses, about 1985 or so, and I noticed the absolutely huge A/C units on the roofs. If you stand by the open window at the end of the car in the Underground you can feel the flow of air. It won't be cool but it will be moving ... unless the train is stuck between stations....

We just got back a couple of days ago and for the most part the tube was ok. (The weather was not hot and it was a little rainy) But, there were a couple of times we hit the tube at rush hour and it was INSANE. 10 people deep on the platform trying to get on. We went up to the street and took the bus. Not crowded and it was at least moving. Not as fast as the tube, but in that case certainly more enjoyable. We had the day pass that gave us unlimited tube and bus, so it was not a big deal.

If you have a transit pass, then the buses seem less intimidating in that you can hop on what you think is the best option, and if you err, hop off and find another. At each stop is a line map, I found I could usually pick out a landmark and head that way. The only drawback to buses that I found was when traffic was bad (rush hour) the buses don't move, in one experience, Oxford Street was end to end buses, walking was way faster. All said though, I do encourage you to use the buses, great cheap sightseeing.

Agree with Laura - just avoid tube rush hour

We have been there in the summer, we have never ever found it unbearable. It rarely gets that hot in London to make it unbearable. Use the tube and enjoy your trip.

I've noticed that my British friend complains of it being unbearably hot when it's barely 80 - that's balmy to me.

I think you have to be flexible. Last evening my wife and I made the mistake of arriving at Euston Station at 4:30 in the afternoon for a short hop on the bus to Soho so that we could go to our favourite (very good - most excellent - very tasty and very authentic {who would have expected real Mexican to arrive in London?}) Mexican restaurant for an early dinner. What a disaster. Who knew that in addition to the rain, and the rush hour, there would be Lewis Hamilton doing a Formula 1 promotion near Tower Bridge and the entire world had congregated at Trafalgar Square and Leicester Square for the premier of the last Harry Potter film. After waiting for the bus we wanted for 40 minutes to see it completely disappear off the list of expected buses we finally jumped on a different one. And sat in traffic. For 90 minutes. And got 3 stops down the road. If it was a quarter of a mile that meant 1/4 in 1.5 hours = one sixth of a mile an hour. Could we have walked? Yup. I just thought it was a blip in rush hour traffic - we had no idea that he who must not be named had brought us to a halt. Usually I would have used a Boris' bike but my wife didn't want to. I could have used back roads and done the whole journey in15 to 20 minutes, and exercise to boot. Or, if we had known, we could have taken the Underground 2 stops to Oxford Circus and a 8 minute walk down Wardour Street. As it was, we got off the bus at that 3rd stop and hiked it through UCL and Bloomsbury, and north Soho for some distance and arrived at the restaurant nearly 2 hours later than planned. My example is true, but extreme. My point is the bus may be better or the Tube, in different circumstances. FWIW

@Nigel - care to share the name of the Mexican restaurant? And I agree, buses are great for sightseeing, but are not the fastest way to get around. It's usually Oxford Street that I find takes for ever.

Yes, Nigel. Some of us would appreciate some good Mexican food while in London! :-)

Yes I will. We travel down from the Midlands (accounts for the arrival at Euston) to Wahaca which is in the vanguard to bring excellent Mexican food to London. When we moved here there was absolutely nothing of that bent. In the years since there have been one or two green shoots but Wahaca is the first to really take off - and work. There have been one or two tries at mediocre B-B-Q, Chilis came and went, a couple of years ago burrito stands began to arrive - one outstanding example is The Mission in Oxford and Reading which make seriously excellent San Francisco style burritos complete with rice and wrapped in foil just like at El Faro in South City - boy are they good, but don't tell anyone, its hard enough to get in there now - but Wahaca is the only ones to really deliver whole menus. They have a new branch at the lower end of Wardour Street in Soho (our favourite because of great staff, good location (mostly), fun toilets and ambiance, and fewer crowds), the original near Covent Garden which we tried to get into one day when it was closed and have never gone back, one in Shepherds Bush at the Westfield Centre - very nice and our second favourite, and one in Canary Wharf which did not do much for us (foods the same, didn't like the ambiance). I have no personal affiliation with them, just know a good thing when I see it. Don't go expecting Tex-Mex or Calif. Mexican - this is genuine Mexican street food from Oahaca. See the play on words there? I don't drink so can't comment, but they do have many mescals and tequilas of all three ages...

@Nigel - thanks. I usually stay on Gower St so two of those would work for me.

Thanks, Nigel. Viva Mexico! (You know, people very rarely mention the toilets when reviewing a restaurant. ;-) )

I'll have to disagree with Kathy. Last year was the only time I ever had a problem with rain in London. On any given summer day, the odds are strong that it won't rain. Still, if you are unlucky, you can arrive at the start of a week's worth of drizzle. On the other hand, I think the Tube gets pretty uncomfortable in the summer, especially after a long day of hoofing it all over town. Reaction to temperature is subjective, though. Rush hour is easy to avoid with some easy work on your schedule. I usually eat.

"I'll have to disagree with Kathy. Last year was the only time I ever had a problem with rain in London" I grew up in England - lived there for 28 years - and it certainly rained in the summer then. Of course the climate has changed some, but to expect to make it through the summer with no rain is unrealistic. My sisters (who still live in England) complain about wet weather far more often than they do about drought or heat.

Kathy, I really wasn't try to diss you, but only to make the point that it rains almost everywhere. England, especially southern England, is not nearly as perpetually soggy as ill informed legend says it is. In the summer, people should pack a little travel umbrella and get on with it. Bobbi: I notice now that you say 'unbearable" Yes, it can he warm, but it is not unbearable. But, it can feel that way if you spend a long day on foot when it is in the 70's and then crawl into the Tube where it's twenty degrees warmer. Dress accordingly.