Portal:London transport

The London transport portal

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London transport

The London transport system is one of the oldest and largest public transport systems in the world. Many components of its transport system, such as the double-decker bus, the Hackney Carriage black taxi and the London Underground, are internationally recognised symbols of London.

Most transport services in London are controlled by Transport for London (TfL), an executive agency of the Greater London Authority. TfL-controlled services include the London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, the London Overground, Buses and Trams, most of which accept payment by the Oyster card. TfL also administers the congestion charge zone and the low emission zone.

London has a comprehensive rail network with several major railway stations linking to the rest of the country. International travel is possible from St Pancras International which connects to mainland Europe through the Eurostar service, or from one of six international airports, including Heathrow or Gatwick.

The M25 is an orbital motorway which enables vehicles to avoid travelling through central London and is one of the busiest motorways in Europe.

More about transport in London


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Selected article
Oxford Circus is a London Underground station serving Oxford Circus at the junction of Regent Street and Oxford Street, with entrances on all four corners of the intersection. The station is an interchange between the Central, Victoria and Bakerloo lines. The station was originally opened by the Central London Railway in 1900 and an interchange was provided with the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway when it opened in 1906. The original station buildings are each side of the junction of Oxford Street and Argyll Street. Access to the platforms was originally by separate sets of lifts, but the first sets of escalators were installed in 1914. More escalators were installed in 1923 and 1928, although the lifts continued to be used. The current arrangement of the station dates from the reconstruction in the 1960s for the Victoria line. A new ticket hall was excavated beneath under the road junction using a temporary bridge structure called the umbrella spanning the works to keep the junction open. New escalators were provided for the Victoria line which was constructed to have a cross platform interchange with the Bakerloo line. The station is third busiest on the London Underground network with almost 73 million passengers entering and exiting the station in 2008. (Full article...) All selected articles
Selected biography
Henry Charles Beck (4 June 1902 – 18 September 1974), known as Harry Beck, was an English technical draughtsman best known for creating the present London Underground Tube map in 1931. Beck drew up the diagram in his spare time while working as an engineering draftsman at the London Underground Signals Office. London Underground was initially sceptical of Beck's radical proposal, an uncommissioned spare-time project, but tentatively introduced it to the public in a small pamphlet in 1933. Beck's approach to the map was to remove all geographical content except the River Thames so that the focus could be on the arrangement of lines and stations and to enable the central area to be expanded map. Beck first submitted his idea to Frank Pick in 1931 but it was considered too radical because it didn't show relative distances between stations. After a successful trial of 500 copies in 1932, distributed via a select few stations, the map was given its first full publication in 1933 (700,000 copies). It was immediately popular, and the Underground has used topological maps to illustrate the network ever since. Beck's contribution to the visual style of London Underground is recognised with a plaque at what was his local Underground station, Finchley Central; with a blue plaque at his birth place in Leyton and the Beck Gallery at the London Transport Museum. (Full article...) All Selected biographies
Did you know...
...that Blackfriars Underground station (opened 1870) pre-dates the main line station by sixteen years? ...that the original carriages on the City and South London Railway were nicknamed "padded cells" due to their high backed cushioned seats and very small windows? ...that the shortest distance between two stations on the London Underground is 250 metres (0.16 miles), between Leicester Square and Covent Garden on the Piccadilly line? ...that their specially designed small turning circle enables London's black cabs to make 50 million U-turns per year? ...that only 45 per cent of the London Underground is actually underground? More Did you know...
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Selected pictures

Image 1Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
Image 2Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
Image 3Duck tour converted DUKW amphibious vehicle exiting the River Thames.
Image 4London Underground A60 Stock (left) and 1938 Stock (right) trains showing the difference in the sizes of the two types of rolling stock operated on the system. A60 stock trains operated on the surface and sub-surface sections of the Metropolitan line from 1961 to 2012 and 1938 Stock operated on various deep level tube lines from 1938 to 1988.
Image 5Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
Image 6Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
Image 7TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
Image 8The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
Image 9Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
Image 10An air raid shelter in a London Underground station during The Blitz.
Image 11The newly constructed junction of the Westway (A40) and the West Cross Route (A3220) at White City, circa 1970. Continuation of the West Cross Route northwards under the roundabout was cancelled leaving two short unused stubs for the slip roads that would have been provided for traffic joining or leaving the northern section.
Image 12Sailing ships at West India Docks on the Isle of Dogs in 1810. The docks opened in 1802 and closed in 1980 and have since been redeveloped as the Canary Wharf development.
Image 13London General Omnibus Company B-type bus B340 built in 1911 by AEC. One of a number of London buses purchased by the British military during World War I, this vehicle was operated on the Western Front.
Image 14Arguably the best-preserved disused station building in London, this is the former Alexandra Palace station on the GNR Highgate branch (closed in 1954). It is now in use as a community centre (CUFOS).
Image 15Camden Lock or Hampstead Road Lock in Camden Town, north London is the only twin lock on the Regents Canal.
Image 16Eurostar Class 373 trains at St Pancras station.
Image 17The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
Image 18The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
Image 19Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
Image 20View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
Image 21Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
Image 22Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
Image 23Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
Image 24Victoria line 2009 Stock train at Euston.
Image 25Thames Clippers service catamaran on the River Thames.
Image 26Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
Image 27Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus, in the West End of London, 1949.
Image 28Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
Image 29The multi-level junction between the M23 and M25 motorways near Merstham in Surrey. The M23 passes over the M25 with bridges carrying interchange slip roads for the two motorways in between.
Image 30"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
Image 31Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
Image 32A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
Image 3355 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
Image 34Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
Image 35The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
Image 36The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
Image 37London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
Image 38London Overground Class 378 train on the East London Line in Hoxton.
Image 39Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
Image 40Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
Image 41Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
Image 42Gondolas of the Emirates Air Line cable car cross the River Thames from Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Docks.
Image 43A Hansom cab at Somerset House.
Image 44Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
Image 45Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
Image 46Tower bridge; a bascule bridge across the River Thames.
Image 47Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
Image 48Stockwell bus garage, Stockwell, a Grade II* listed building.
Image 49Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.