Miscellaneous London Travel Help

[jonf]

Your'e so right, I remember using London cab over 20 years ago from one hotel to another a journey of less than 10 mins and got charged £18, extortionate amount of money at the time.

Taxis are reasonably economic only if you fill them - they can be cheaper than tube with four passengers. For one they're very expensive.

 

[Vlad]

Wrong direction.... and the solstitial reverse loop is in operation....

And you're in Nidd

 

[iantaylor2uk]

Your'e so right, I remember using London cab over 20 years ago from one hotel to another a journey of less than 10 mins and got charged £18, extortionate amount of money at the time.

The cab is OK if there are four of you. From Euston to Westminster/Trafalgar Square area (outside of the rush hour) is usually only £20 or so, which is more expensive than the tube, but much easier if you have luggage.

 

[Targa]

If you are rich enough to take a cab I'm surprised that your driver didn't just bring the Roller. Skip the cab take the tube, faster and much, much cheaper unless you want the real London experience, particularly in that part of town, of sitting in a cab, going nowhere and watching the meter tick up another £3, then another and you've traveled 200 metres. A cab would probably cost around £20 depending on the time of day.

You might find this helpful: Keeping London moving (you might not). You can use a payment card to get through the barriers. If you get stuck just ask somebody Londoners aren't as scary as they look, especially the ones in LT uniforms. I'd find it more puzzling to go to Cheshire and take public transport.

I have a very strong aversion to crowds and noise.
The cab was £20, (price of of a simple lunch for two in an ordinary cafe), which considering the cost of the rest of the journey was worth it to me. Then as a baby boomer generation pensioner I am obviously rich.
The thing about London Transport which is really annoying is that it everybody in the country subsidises it through their council tax, which of course means less money for the transport in their own areas.

 

[jonf]

I have a very strong aversion to crowds and noise.
The cab was £20, (price of of a simple lunch for two in an ordinary cafe), which considering the cost of the rest of the journey was worth it to me. Then as a baby boomer generation pensioner I am obviously rich.
The thing about London Transport which is really annoying is that it everybody in the country subsidises it through their council tax, which of course means less money for the transport in their own areas.

On the first bit, I agree with you. I take taxis in London where the alternative might not be pleasant, and, where there are three or four of you, it's often scarcely more than the cost of the tube. A trip to a hotel from the theatre one evening actually cost us less by cab than going by tube would have.

The second bit isn't quite right - local Council Tax from other parts of the country doesn't subsidise Transport for London. Most TFL funding comes from fares, some from other London based surces of revenue. TFL has applied for and received some DfT capital works grants, which come from central taxation, not (local) Council Tax. Other parts of the country are able to apply for similar funding - Manchester's tram network recently got five times what TFL received, and East Birmingham, the North East, West Yorks and East Mids all recently got about £2bn each, about four times what TFL got.

I don't know how public transport on Tabby's Star is funded.......

 

[mizmar]

Most TFL funding comes from fares, some from other London based surces of revenue.

Congestion Charging, no?

 

[Targa]

On the first bit, I agree with you. I take taxis in London where the alternative might not be pleasant, and, where there are three or four of you, it's often scarcely more than the cost of the tube. A trip to a hotel from the theatre one evening actually cost us less by cab than going by tube would have.

The second bit isn't quite right - local Council Tax from other parts of the country doesn't subsidise Transport for London. Most TFL funding comes from fares, some from other London based surces of revenue. TFL has applied for and received some DfT capital works grants, which come from central taxation, not (local) Council Tax. Other parts of the country are able to apply for similar funding - Manchester's tram network recently got five times what TFL received, and East Birmingham, the North East, West Yorks and East Mids all recently got about £2bn each, about four times what TFL got.

I don't know how public transport on Tabby's Star is funded.......

I must have picked that up from somewhere, was it maybe some time ago?
Either that or was 'Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells'.
On Tabby's star travel is done by teleportation.

 

[jonf]

I must have picked that up from somewhere, was it maybe some time ago?
Either that or was 'Disgusted, Tunbridge Wells'.
On Tabby's star travel is done by teleportation.

Years ago TFL and its predecessors did get a fair sized dollop of cash from the Department of Transport for running costs, but not for a good while.

 

[jonf]

Congestion Charging, no?

Yup, and ULEZ charges, as well as fees from things like fees for filming, sponsorship of Santander Cycles (eBikes) and so on.

Although I live 35 miles/50km from central London, and have many times traveled into London by road, I have never once has to pay either ULEZ or Congestion Charge. Even my 21 year old car and 23 year old motorbike are exempt the former, and it's very rarely necessary to take the car into the Congestion Charge Zone. The motorbike is exempt the congestion charge, as bikes don't cause congestion, they help to cure it.

 

[Targa]

Yup, and ULEZ charges, as well as fees from things like fees for filming, sponsorship of Santander Cycles (eBikes) and so on.

Although I live 35 miles/50km from central London, and have many times traveled into London by road, I have never once has to pay either ULEZ or Congestion Charge. Even my 21 year old car and 23 year old motorbike are exempt the former, and it's very rarely necessary to take the car into the Congestion Charge Zone. The motorbike is exempt the congestion charge, as bikes don't cause congestion, they help to cure it.

I know motorbikes don't pay some toll fees because not having a front number plate they can't identify them.
They did cause congestion at the Mersey tunnels which have coin operated barriers.
They would very slowly with great difficulty remove their gloves, unzip various outer layers to dig down for some coins, refasten everything, replace gloves.
Not deliberately holding all the other traffic up of course, so it was decided it would be better to let them travel free.

 

[jonf]

I know motorbikes don't pay some toll fees because not having a front number plate they can't identify them.
They did cause congestion at the Mersey tunnels which have coin operated barriers.
They would very slowly with great difficulty remove their gloves, unzip various outer layers to dig down for some coins, refasten everything, replace gloves.
Not deliberately holding all the other traffic up of course, so it was decided it would be better to let them travel free.

At risk of getting moved to a new 'off topic' post.....

It's nuts these days to have any sort of toll which is payable in cash. I think for the Mersey Tunnels you can pre-pay and have your number plate read by an ANPR machine, but there is still the option to pay cash. This is crazy - at Dartford, the traffic flow improved massively when they did away with cash. ANPR cameras generally read the rear number plate, so cover motorbikes. This is how bus lane enforcement, for example, works. Motorbikes are prohibited from 92% of bus lanes in Greater London.

The point about congestion is bikes take up less space on the road, and far less to park - you can get 8 bikes in a single small car parking space. If an access charge is to be regarded as a congestion charge rather than a local tax (as argued by the US Embassy for their staff who refused to pay it in London) then it would be hypocritical to levy the charge on vehicles which reduce congestion.

 

[mizmar]

The point about congestion is bikes take up less

Well, some places have looked at congestion charging with RF tags for PTW vehicles...

Massively off topic. Should be moved to a motorbike forum

 

[Colin the Bear]

To beat the conjestion charge, I converted my vehicle to run on olbas oil. Someone said that's menthol.

I'll get me coat.

 

[Jeanette]

I registered our 3 vehicles with tfl for congestion and ulez which means if we go in the areas we area automatically billed. We don't drive in the area often but I think easy to get caught out where we travel in that area so safest option.

I'm sure we slightly went into one area recently but no bill so far!!

Jx

 

[Vlad]

Well your Euston to Taplow looks a very straight forward journey on the "rattler" with only minimal changes, it's certainly the way I'd go.
If you get one of those various 'travel sax' type things with headphones you can noodle away on the trip to pass the time constructively, of course if you unplug the 'phones you might pick up a few quid from your fellow passengers, kind of Guerrilla Busking 🙂