London tube vs taxi

I have only taken a taxi twice in my 5 trips to London, both out of desperation: a guided tour missed picking me up and I had to get to a meeting spot ASAP, and the other was on a Sunday when I had to be way across town for a tour pickup at 7 am and the tube lines I needed weren't running--hotel assured me a bus would be fine but I felt too anxious about just needing to get there. I'm glad you conquered the Underground--a super efficient and easy way to get all over London!

There can be walking involved with the tube, and sometimes, the Underground just does not get you from point A to B very efficiently, needing even multiple changes to get a relatively short distance.

That said, I probably have used taxis only a couple times in maybe 6 weeks total of time in London. However, if you find yourself a bit further out, in zone 3 and beyond, taxi can make more sense, or at least you look to use buses more.

Love the Underground.

I live in LA where autos are king, traffic is deplorable and public transport a joke.

Have been traveling to London for decades. Always use the Tube. Have ridden it at 6am and as late as 11pm. Learned it’s best to avoid commuter times and either the first or last car are the least crowded. Now with greying hair chuckle recalling when a young man stood up and offered his seat. I declined with a smile but remembered thinking…”Darn, its official I’m old!”

I ridden public transport in NYC, Boston and Chicago. NOTHING compares to the ease of The London Underground.

I love it too.
There’s nothing like that feeling of anticipation as you can hear your train fast approaching and it gets windy on the platform.

Claudia, I'm going to point out that the Tokyo subway is generally considered the best in the world, and my recent use of trams and subways in Vienna was first class as well.

This English fellow makes great YouTube videos about the London Underground if you want some history and humour too.
If the link doesn’t work, look up Jago Hazzard.

https://youtu.be/IknUP_lQvtk?feature=shared

Totally agree with Claudia. We just finished up 11 days in London and rode all over that huge, wonderful city on its excellent tube! Only used Uber twice.

For more depth into the history of the tube Series 8 of Hidden London Hangouts starts tonight (it is now 0016 Saturday UK time, so it is tonight)- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLKLSoLnrWgHx5kkCaH4iF8nin1s_8taNU

1800 every Saturday in season- they also do behind the scenes tours of certain stations.

I ridden public transport in NYC, Boston and Chicago. NOTHING compares to the ease of The London Underground.

I’ve ridden both the subway in NY and the Chicago L this year, and they are both easier than the London tube which likes to hide station entrances mid-block between storefronts and other camouflaged locations. All 3 systems have tap credit card payment with the same daily total monitoring— no tickets.

which stations did you have trouble finding?

A lot of stations were there long before the buildings around them were added to the streets.
Part of the charm of London!
I wouldn’t say it was a negative thing at all.

Part of the charm of London!

It certainly could be seen that way, not saying I even disagree. I'm only judging the opinion that it is an easier system to use. Most metro systems around the world place free-standing entries to their systems right at the curb so no hunting around required.

which stations did you have trouble finding?

It's kind of a theme for me over the years. I recall splitting the family up trying to find the Tottenham Court Road station, perhaps during Elizabeth Line construction, it's when the main entry was closed.

the one drawback to the Tube is the famous map that everyone admires and emulates, because it's not accurate at all. you can google up instances where stations are shown as being quite far apart and are actually next to each other, and vice versa. so trust but verify as they say. A Streetwise map is your friend, as it is everywhere.

As for stations being hidden, I just had that problem in Seattle. The map showed where the station was supposed to be and sometimes it was there, and sometimes hidden in the first floor or basement or a skyscraper, or sometimes the entrance was actually a block away. So it's not unique to Londinium.

As noted, Jago can be pretty entertaining and informative but sometimes he really gets into way too much detail about his given topic.

As noted, Jago can be pretty entertaining and informative but sometimes he really gets into way too much detail about his given topic.

To be fair though, Jago is a transport nerd. Jago's channel is not a made-for tourists only channel. :-)