Every so often someone, here and elsewhere, floats the idea of renting a car to get around in London, an idea that is typically quickly assaulted.
The cost of parking said car in London, assuming you find a spot, isn't mentioned that much. But, consider this BBC report that the Westminster Council has raised the price of parking to 4.40 pounds per hour between 0830 and 1329.
Check the current exchange rate and do the math.
Renting a car to use in London would be absolutely ludicrous IMHO. Besides the high cost/availability of parking (very
low), the traffic can be absolutely horrendous. More than once I have been stuck in traffic in a taxi and have gotten out and walked the rest of the way.
In addition, London now has zones in which have a high fee if you drive in them (not quite as bad as Italy though!) The area that is covered by this
fee comprises just about all of central London. In addition, should you consider parking in a residential neighborhood, you will probably find that the parking is restricted to residents only.
London has a superb public transportation
system that is very easy to figure out.
Taxis are usually plentiful except when it rains or after the theatre!!! You can take a boat down the Thames to the Tower and Greenwich.
Forget any notions of driving in London.
If you want to see a funny bit on parking in London watch the Top Gear Season 11 Episode 5. The challenge was for Jeremy and James to park a Rolls Royce Corniche or Mecedes "Grosser." They failed having caused all sorts of traffic jams in their attempts and much hooting on the part of nearby construction workers. I find this show hysterical and oh so British. Pam
Culturally using a car in London is greeted with the same increduility by locals that an English person would get from Americans expecting to get around the US using local public transport.
ouch!! I have friends who live just outside London and refuse to come and get us when we visit. Instead they ask we take the tube to the non congested part and pick us up at the tube station.
The parking is terrible, and they also refuse to pay for the "Congestion" fees London slaps on during the week.
Well said, Bob!
Well, to be fair, some American metro areas that compare in size with London do have mass transport systems that are pretty good and pretty popular. Like New York, Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C. and San Francisco (although BART's coverage is limited). Even Atlanta and LA have something going.
Small and medium cities in the U.S. tend to have poorly funded and marginally useful bus systems, if they have anything at all. Coverage in similar cities in the UK can be thin, too.
A key difference is class-related: Many Americans see mass transit as poor people's transit and don't want to be seen using it. Traffic for people who commute from suburb to suburb is also not yet so awful that folks are willing to see taxes increased to fund an alternative.
I never use a car in London if I can help it. Going by public transport is generally more pleasant and a lot quicker. The only time I drive is if I am going to the National Theatre at the weekend. There is no congestion charge at the weekend and there is a special rate in the excellent car park for theatre goers. In this case it is actually quicker and cheaper to drive.
the costs in London for parking is high in some places and some places are cheap but it is not parking you have to look for it is conjunction charge because that can be very pricey but i would still go to London because it is a beautiful city and if i went again i would go on something called a "DUCK TOUR" it takes you around London in a old done up army truck and at the end it drives into the "THAMES RIVER"
When I lived for a few years in the UK during the 1990's (in Caversham, on the north side of the river across from Reading and about 40 miles west of London) I drove all over the place but only once into London, and that on a weekend.
I want to emphasize that, as ready as I am to discourage American tourists from driving in London, I'm even more ready to encourage them to drive the UK countryside. Get a GPS and some good maps, have a vague idea where you're going, get off the main "A" roads and the motorways, and have a good time.
