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


Buses	Taxis	Underground	Overground	DLR	Tramlink	National Rail	River Services	Heathrow Airport

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Selected article
Green Park is a London Underground station on the north side of Green Park, with entrances on both sides of Piccadilly. It is in fare zone 1 and is a busy interchange between the Jubilee, Piccadilly and Victoria lines, used by over 39 million passengers in 2017. The station was opened on 15 December 1906 by the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway and was originally named Dover Street. It was modernised in the 1930s when escalators replaced lifts and new entrances were provided on Piccadilly. The Victoria line platforms opened on 7 March 1969 and the Jubilee line platforms opened on 1 May 1979 with the official opening journeys by The Queen and Prince Charles starting from this station. Improvements in the 2000s made the station wheelchair accessible throughout. The original station building designed by Leslie Green has been demolished. Decorative elements around the station include tiling schemes by Hans Unger and June Fraser and stonework by John Maine. Read more... All selected articles
Selected biography
Charles Tyson Yerkes (25 June 1837 – 29 December 1905) was an American financier. He played a major part in developing mass-transit systems in Chicago and London. Yerkes was born in the Northern Liberties, a district of Philadelphia, the son of a banker. At 17 he became a clerk in a grain brokerage and at 22 set up his own firm and joined the Philadelphia stock exchange. By 1865 he had moved into banking and specialized in selling municipal, state, and government bonds. A large speculative trade with Philadelphia public money ended disastrously, and he was left insolvent and narrowly avoided being jailed. Having moved to Chicago in 1881, Yerkes became involved in public transportation when his consortium began taking over street railway companies. His aim was to achieve a monopoly of public transport in the city and he used bribery and blackmail in order to further his ambition. Following an unsuccessful attempt to bribe the city council and state legislature into granting him a 100-year franchise for the tramway system, Yerkes sold his transport stocks in 1899 and moved to New York. In September 1900, he became involved in underground railways in London, buying the unbuilt Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway. In 1902, he established the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) which bought a number tube railway companies which had not been able to find finance. Money was quickly raised using complex financial instruments and the UERL built and opened four tube lines by 1907. Yerkes died in December 1905 shortly before the first of these, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway, opened in March 1906. Through subsequent acquisition and expansion, the UERL became the core of the London Underground and London's main bus operator. In addition to his railway's in London and Chicago, Yerkes is remembered through the Yerkes Observatory in Wisconsin and the Yerkes crater on the Moon. (Full article...) All Selected biographies
Did you know...
...that the ticket hall at Bank station is partly built in the crypt of Nicholas Hawksmoor's church, St Mary Woolnoth? ...that the cause of the Moorgate tube crash in February 1975 was never satisfactorily determined? ...that the controversial demolition of the original Euston station and the destruction of the iconic Euston Arch in the early 1960s was opposed by many including John Betjeman and Nikolaus Pevsner and led to the formation of the modern conservation movement in the Britain? ...that John Pierpont Morgan planned an underground railway network in London to rival that of the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL), but his plan was sabotaged when UERL financier Edgar Speyer bought the London United Tramways, Morgan's partner in the plan? ...that the longest continuous tunnel on the London Underground is 27.8 km (17.25 miles) long, between Morden and East Finchley stations? More Did you know...
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Selected pictures

Image 1London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
Image 2Camden Lock or Hampstead Road Lock in Camden Town, north London is the only twin lock on the Regents Canal.
Image 3View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
Image 4Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
Image 5Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
Image 6Thames Clippers service catamaran on the River Thames.
Image 7Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
Image 8The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
Image 9The 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 10London Overground Class 378 train on the East London Line in Hoxton.
Image 11Gondolas of the Emirates Air Line cable car cross the River Thames from Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Docks.
Image 12Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
Image 13Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
Image 14The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
Image 15"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
Image 16London 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 17TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
Image 18Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
Image 19Victoria line 2009 Stock train at Euston.
Image 20Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
Image 21Arguably 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 22Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
Image 23The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
Image 24Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
Image 25An air raid shelter in a London Underground station during The Blitz.
Image 26Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.
Image 27Tower bridge; a bascule bridge across the River Thames.
Image 28Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus, in the West End of London, 1949.
Image 29A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
Image 30The 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 31Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
Image 32London 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 3355 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
Image 34Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
Image 35Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
Image 36A Hansom cab at Somerset House.
Image 37Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
Image 38Duck tour converted DUKW amphibious vehicle exiting the River Thames.
Image 39Stockwell bus garage, Stockwell, a Grade II* listed building.
Image 40The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
Image 41Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
Image 42Sailing 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 43Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
Image 44Eurostar Class 373 trains at St Pancras station.
Image 45Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
Image 46Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
Image 47The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
Image 48Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
Image 49Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.