The System of Transport in London. London’s public transport system is one of the busiest and largest in Europe

The System of Transport in London

London’s public transport system is one of the busiest and largest in Europe. Within London and its suburbs most public transport is organized by London Regional Transport: this consists of various types of buses, the Underground system and Network Southeast railway system.            

The major peculiarity of London's traffic is that it keeps to the left and not to the right as in most countries. Englishmen say: if you go left, you go right, and if you go right, you go wrong. That happened because of Napoleon. In the past most countries drove on the left, as it was easier to shake hands or raw a sword against an enemy when passing someone. England was the only place Napoleon didn't invade, everywhere else he forced people to drive on the right.

Perhaps the best way to get acquainted with the city where you first arrive in is to take a guided bus tour, London Transport runs regular sightseeing bus tours, conducts coach services to the most popular tourist attractions in and around London and issues excellent description guide books, leaflets and maps.                  

A wide choice of London’s red-double-decker buses, which have become a familiar sight and a part of the city’s folklore, is available throughout the city. You usually pay according to the distance you want to travel.

The London buses first came into the streets in 1829. At first they were horse-drawn buses. The double-deckers of today are speedy and comfortable but they seem to be very clumsy moving slowly through the endless line of taxis and cars of all sizes and models, still they manage to maneuver very well without running into one another.

A carious fact is that when London's famous red-buses were privatized in the early 1990s, the different bus companies wanted to paint their buses in their company colours.  The government ruled that all buses had to stay red because that is what the people of London wanted and that is what the government believed would help the tourist trade

Double-deckers have seats for 65 people. Only 5 people are allowed to stand when the seats are full. So the conductor may stop you getting on the bus if there are 5 passengers already standing. Besides, one of the worst mistakes made by foreigners is to get on a bus without waiting for their turn in the queue. The British are very sensitive to such behaviour and they may get really annoyed with queue-jumpers.

London's well known black cabs are almost as much of an institution as its red buses. They were introduced onto the streets of London in 1944, being an exact replica of London taxis of the 1930s (except, of course, that they had modern facilities). Today's cabs look old-fashioned and clumsy, but they are deliberately designed that way to appeal to tourists, who equate London with tradition.

Black-cab drivers have to pass a difficult test on their knowledge of London's streets and its quickest traffic routes, called “The Knowledge”, before they are awarded a licence. They are also among London’s safest drivers. You may call a taxi in the streets in London, but generally outside London taxis don't pick up passengers in the streets. So you have to go to the taxi rank or a taxi office to book them. Remember that drivers in London expect to be tipped for all journeys. The normal tip is about 10%.

London’s Underground (often called the tube, because it looks like a long, narrow and dimly lit tube) serves the whole metropolis and has the added attraction of being free from traffic jams. As there have been no trams in London since 1952, the Tube has become the main transport of the city if you want to reach the place of your destination quickly. In fact much of the Underground is above ground, though not overhead. The first underground railway system in the world was opened in London in 1863. Nowadays you'll see that it’s impossible to get lost in the city because there'll be an underground station close by. The only thing a traveler should do is just to look for the sign "a red circle crossed with a blue stripe^”. The essential difference of London's metro is that the fares are not fixed, but proportional to the distance traveled. There are no drivers on the trains. They are controlled by computer programmes. But every train has a train ‘captain’ on board in case there are any problems.

The railway system provides an alternative to road travel with fast and safe inner-city links for passengers and freight. It seems quite shocking to travelers from the CIS countries that