the underground may seem a little bit
scary if you've never used it before but
promise it's not here's what you should
know before your first ride by the way
if you click the little subscribe button
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London videos first off it's called the
tube or the underground it's not the
subway and it's not the Metro so try to
call it the right name if you can there
are three ways that you can pay to get
on the Underground one is with an oyster
card whether that's a regular one or a
visitor one one is with a paper travel
card and one is with a contact lless
debit or credit card I know visitors to
London usually get confused as to which
one they should be using so I'll leave a
link down the description that explains
each of your options and helps you
figure out which one's best for you the
cost of a ride on the Underground
depends on how many zones you travel
through and what time of the day it is
so one ride or what they call a journey
can vary in price the more zones that
you go through the more that the ride's
going to cost you Zone one is in the
center of the city and is where you'll
find most of the tourist destinations
and then each zone is just a big circle
around each other so they're kind of
like a bullseye I wouldn't worry too
much about this because most people come
to visit London will stay within Zone
one and two but if you decide to venture
farther outside of the city center it's
going to cost you more also you should
note that if you're going to take the
tube to Heathrow Airport that that is
all the way in zone six so that ride is
going to cost you a lot more than the
shorter ones that you did when you're in
the center of London also your ride's
going to cost you more if it's during
peak times and peak time is just typical
Rush Hour Time Monday through Friday
when you're ready to ride the
underground you need to do what's called
tapping in and tapping out so that the
system knows how much they need to
charge you for your journey when you go
to a station you'll need to tap your
card onto the yellow reader if you look
around you'll see everybody else doing
the same or if you have a paper travel
card you just put it into the little
slot under the yellow reader you also
need to tap out when you leave the
station the important thing to remember
is that even if the barriers are open
make sure you tap in and you tap out
otherwise you could be charged a lot
more than you're supposed to the
underground map isn't drawn to scale so
don't use it as an indication of how
long it's going to take you to get
somewhere if you really need to know how
long it'll take use my favorite app
called City mapper that'll give you a
times of how long your journey will be
if you get lost or you're not sure where
you're going find somebody from the tfl
and ask them for help in most of the
major stations you'll be able to find
somebody that's willing to help you and
they're super knowledgeable even if you
can't find a staff member usually if you
ask somebody who doesn't look like
they're in a rush they'll help you if
they can make sure when you're going up
and down the escalator is that you stand
on the right so if you don't want to be
walking down the escalator you must
stand on the right side of it that way
everybody who does want to walk down can
go right past you if you don't do that
you're going to get a lot of passive
aggressive energy channeled towards you
so make sure you stand on the right only
buy an oyster card from designated
sellers sometimes there are bad guys who
are trying to sell old tickets or bad
oyster cards to unsuspecting tourist so
only buy them from designated sellers
some of the major stations will have
boots where you can go up to a person
and buy one or there's a lot of shops
and convenience stores around the city
where you'll be able to find them as
well or if you want you can order a
visitor Oyster card before you even get
here and be sent to your house so you
have it right away you're going to have
to queue up during rush hour to get on a
train if you can avoid using the
underground during rush hour 100% do it
it is absolutely crazy if you absolutely
have to use the underground just expect
a lot of delays you'll probably have to
wait in line even to get through the
barriers and then probably to get on a
train and then you'll squish like a
sardine once you do actually get on it
so give yourself tons of extra time
there's no air conditioning in most
underground carriages so make sure you
plan for that it gets really warm down
there even when it's the winter so take
an extra bottle of water with you or
dress so that you can take layers off
easily pay attention to the direction of
the train you want to take as well as
the branch that you want to be on it's
pretty obvious that you're going to need
to know which direction the train that
you're going to take is going in some
signs will say Northbound southbound
eastbound or westbound but really you'll
want to know what the name of the last
stop is on the train that you want to
get so example you can say I'm taking
the Victoria line towards Brixton also
some of the lines have multiple branches
off of them so you want to make sure
that you get on the train that's going
towards the right branch that your stop
is on otherwise you could end up in a
completely different part of London this
s all sounds a little bit complicated
but if you look at the map you'll
understand what I'm saying just look for
the station that you're trying to go to
and make sure that you go on the line
and the branch that will get you there
and again if if you need some help just
ask somebody in the station pay
attention if you're sat in a priority
seat londoners are really good at giving
up the priority seats that are
designated for people who are disabled
or pregnant or elderly so if you're sat
in one of those seats make sure you take
note of it and if somebody gets on
that's going to need it get up as soon
as you can if you want some more of my
London tips check out my London tips
playlist I have a lot of other videos
that will be really helpful for your
trip so click the link that's popping up
in the corner over here if you have any
other questions about how to use the
underground when you come to London just
leave them down in the comments and I'll
help you out as best as I can otherwise
I'll see you guys in the next video