Spending a few days in London updating my guidebook, it was fun to reconnect with one of the greatest cities on earth. The many massive new buildings seem to have been given permits on the condition that they’d provide public spaces, especially if they might obstruct views of historic buildings. For example, the big and glassy New Change Building (just east of St. Paul’s) has a little park high above street level reached by a sleek elevator that offers a free and amazing view of the cathedral and the skyline.
London’s Tube, as the Underground is called (saying “subway” means a pedestrian underpass to a Brit), feels more efficient than ever. The Oyster Card is the standard pass — you buy it for a refundable £5 and put as much money on it as you like. You swipe in and swipe out and ride anywhere in town for about half the normal fare. If you forget to swipe, you’ll be charged for the longest ride possible — but you can never pay in a day more than the cost of a one-day pass (about $15). A feature I like is that you can swipe it at a ticket machine (shown here) and it tells you everywhere you’ve gone by bus and Tube with a full accounting and the resulting balance.
As a rising tide of affluence sweeps through London, I see a lot of pubs becoming victims of progress — torn down for new construction. It got me thinking that there are more pubs in poorer towns and neighborhoods than in wealthier ones for a reason. The venerable English pub filled (and still fills) a big need for the working class. For workers — historically with humble domestic quarters and no money for vacation — a beer on the corner was the closest they’d get to a comfortable living room, a place to entertain, and a vacation. As people get wealthier, the importance of the corner pub diminishes.
I love London, although I have yet to go there! Rick, you have the best advice ever. The Oyster card always has baffled me. But now it is much clearer. The title of this post should be…”Revisiting THE Greatest City on Earth”! lol
Any chance I’ll catch sight of you during my UK trip Aug 1-Aug 16?
Heading to London and Scotland in August, using your guide as we did for our amazing trip to Paris.also own your complete video library (thanks PBS). Thank you for this update. We are renting apartments in both cities as hotels are astronomical. Thank you for you excellent advice.
You can get a 1 day Travel Card for central London for 12 pounds, 7 days for 32 pounds. All times, unlimited rides.
My last trip to London was 11 days in 2011 and everything had changed because of the London congestion charge and a few tweaks such as making Oxford street closed to private vehicles. On my prior five trips to London I’d Tube everywhere because the streets were so hopelessly blocked Mon-Sat (if anyone I knew was planning to take a bus tour of London, I’d tell them to be sure to do it on a Sunday or plan on half the day for a single loop). But with the streets so much better, I think I took fewer than five Tube trips and bussed everywhere – more scenic, less walking (underground Tube connections can take ages, spanning several staircases) and less expensive – got quite a refund on my Oyster card when I traded it back at Heathrow before departure. Learn the bus system, folks! Just as fast as the Tube now, even faster during rush hours.
We are in London now and are leaving tomorrow. Sorry we didn’t catch up with you. Love London, but did see a lot of building renovation. Sort of sad to see the “English Charm” being replaced in some areas by more modern era. I agree as far as the Oyster Card. We purchased them and could get just about anywhere in London we wanted to go. If you just use the bus line, the maximum fare is 4.4 pounds a day. We put 15 pounds on it and got around for three days. Love London and hope to return again some day. We purchased your book and it helped us plan our trip. We also recommend the “London Pass” which saved us money and we saw all the larger attractions. Great buy.