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
The Oyster card is a contactless smartcard, with a claimed proximity range of about 10 cm. The scheme is operated by TranSys, and is based on Philips' MIFARE Standard 1k chips, provided by Giesecke & Devrient and SchlumbergerSema. The Oyster card may have been inspired by Hong Kong's transport system, which uses the similar Octopus card. As with the Octopus card and other pay-as-you-go smartcards, also notably in Japan, there is the potential for future expansion of the Oyster card to act as an e-money payment system. Travellers touch the card to a distinctive yellow circular reader (a Cubic Tri-Reader) positioned on automated barriers at London Underground stations to 'touch in' and 'touch out' at the start and end of a journey (contact is not necessary, but the range of the reader is only a centimetre or so). Tram stops and buses also have readers, on the driver's ticket machine or, in the case of articulated buses, near the other entrance doors as well. Oyster cards can be used to store both period travelcards and bus passes (of one week or more), and a pay-as-you-go balance. The system is asynchronous with the most up-to-date balance and ticket data held electronically on the card rather than in the central database. The main database is updated periodically with information received from the card by barriers and validators. Tickets purchased online or over the telephone are "loaded" at a preselected barrier or validator. Read more... All selected articles
Selected biography
William Henry Barlow FRS FRSE FICE MIMechE (10 May 1812 – 12 November 1902) was an English civil engineer of the 19th century, particularly associated with railway engineering projects. Barlow was born in Woolwich, the son of mathematician and physist Professor Peter Barlow, who taught at the Royal Military Academy. From the mid 1840s until 1857, Barlow was chief engineer for the Midland Railway, after which he set up his on consultancy in London. Between 1862 and 1869 he was the consultant engineer on the Midland Railway's extension from Bedford to London, designing St Pancras station and the 240-foot (73 m) wide cast iron and glass train shed roof over the platforms, the widest unsupported arch in the world at the time. Barlow was also engineer on the completion of Brunel's Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol and sat on the committee which investigated the causes of the Tay Bridge disaster in 1879. He designed the replacement Tay Bridge completed in 1887. In 1880, he was President of the Institution of Civil Engineers. (Full article...) All Selected biographies
Did you know...
...that the Underground's architect Charles Holden and LPTB Managing Director Frank Pick were both sons of drapers? ...that 900 London buses were commandeered for use as troop transports on the Western Front during World War I? ...that the horse-drawn freight only Surrey Iron Railway between Wandsworth and Croydon was the first railway in London when it opened in 1803? ...that a stuffed puffer fish, a samurai sword, human skulls, breast implants and a lawnmower are amongst items handed into TfL's lost property office during its 75-year existence? ...that only 45 per cent of the London Underground is actually underground? More Did you know...
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Selected pictures

Image 1Tower bridge; a bascule bridge across the River Thames.
Image 2Central London Railway poster, published in 1905.
Image 3Archer statue by Eric Aumonier at East Finchley Underground station.
Image 4Preserved AEC Routemaster coaches in London Transport Green Line livery.
Image 5View of Old London Bridge, circa 1632 by Claude de Jongh.
Image 6London 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 7Southern approach to the Rotherhithe Tunnel that runs under the River Thames in east London between Rotherhithe and Limehouse.
Image 8Planes waiting at Heathrow Airport's Terminal 4.
Image 9An air raid shelter in a London Underground station during The Blitz.
Image 10Victoria line 2009 Stock train at Euston.
Image 11The south façade of King's Cross railway station London terminus of the East Coast Main Line.
Image 12London Underground Battery-electric locomotive L16 designed to operate over tracks where the traction current is turned off for maintenance work.
Image 13Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus, in the West End of London, 1949.
Image 14London Overground Class 378 train on the East London Line in Hoxton.
Image 15The 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 16Tram 2548 calls at Arena tram stop. This is one of the trams on the Tramlink network centred on Croydon in south London.
Image 17Eurostar Class 373 trains at St Pancras station.
Image 18Day (left) and Night (right) sculptures by Sir Jacob Epstein on the London Underground's headquarters at 55 Broadway.
Image 19The Circle routes of Victorian London, comprising the Inner Circle, Middle Circle, Outer Circle and Super Outer Circle.
Image 20Hornsey Lane Bridge, Archway, more commonly known as "Suicide Bridge".
Image 21Early style tube roundel in mosaic at Maida Vale Underground station.
Image 22Gondolas of the Emirates Air Line cable car cross the River Thames from Greenwich Peninsula to Royal Docks.
Image 23Albert Bridge, opened in 1873, crosses the River Thames between Chelsea and Battersea.
Image 24The New Routemaster built by Wrightbus has three entrances, two staircases and is designed to be reminiscent of the Routemaster.
Image 25Stockwell bus garage, Stockwell, a Grade II* listed building.
Image 26A Hansom cab at Somerset House.
Image 27Clapham Common Underground station north and south-bound platforms on the Northern line.
Image 28Rail, road and river traffic, seen from the London Eye.
Image 29Duck tour converted DUKW amphibious vehicle exiting the River Thames.
Image 30Camden Lock or Hampstead Road Lock in Camden Town, north London is the only twin lock on the Regents Canal.
Image 31Helicopter landing at London Heliport, a jetty constructed in the River Thames in Battersea.
Image 32Sailing 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 33"Boris Bikes" from the Santander Cycles hire scheme waiting for use at a docking station in Victoria.
Image 34Arguably 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 35Woolwich Ferry boats "John Burns" and "James Newman" on the River Thames, 2012.
Image 36The western departures concourse of King's Cross railway station.
Image 37A tram of the London United Tramways at Boston Road, Hanwell, circa 1910.
Image 38The 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 39Original stations on the Metropolitan Railway from The Illustrated London News, 27 December 1862.
Image 40London 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 41Qantas Boeing 747-400 about to land at Heathrow Airport, seen beyond the roofs of Myrtle Avenue, Hounslow.
Image 42The original Hampton Court Bridge in 1753, the first of four on the site.
Image 43TX4 London Taxi at Heathrow Airport.
Image 4455 Broadway, headquarters of the UERL and its successors, is a Grade I listed building in Westminster designed by Charles Holden.
Image 45Thames Clippers service catamaran on the River Thames.
Image 46Escalators at Westminster Underground station descend between beams and columns of the station box to reach the deep-level Jubilee line platforms.
Image 47Hammersmith Bridge, opened in 1887, crosses the River Thames in west London.
Image 48Ruislip Lido Railway's 12-inch (300 mm) gauge locomotive "Mad Bess" hauling a passenger train.
Image 49Vauxhall Bridge across the River Thames opened in 1906 and features sculptures by F. W. Pomeroy.