- For any visitor coming to London, this is an all you need to know guide to the London
Underground.
- Otherwise known as the Tube.
♪ I belong I belong to you ♪ ♪
I belong I belong to you ♪ ♪ You do just what you want ♪ ♪ Let's go ♪ ♪ You're
the one I trust ♪
- Okay, the most important thing you need on the London Underground Tube is an Oyster
Card. Now these are smart cards that are pay as you go, and they allow you to travel all
across the Tube network. Also, you can get on buses, the DLR, and the Overground. All
you need is a five pound deposit and you can get it from news agents and from stations.
To enter the Tube network, you need to touch in, and to leave, you need to touch out. But
on buses, you just need to touch in. Otherwise, they'll charge you twice. Now, I said that
they are pay as you go. That means that you need to add money to your Oyster card. A phrase
we use is to top up. To top up, this is to add money to your Oyster card, and we do this
at the ticket machines at every station. Now, it is important to get an Oyster card because
it makes traveling much cheaper. For example, if you are going from Oxford Circus to King's
Cross, with an Oyster card, it's two pounds 40, but with a paper ticket, it's four pounds
90, so it's a no-brainer, you gotta get yourself an Oyster card. An alternative to an Oyster
card is a contactless card. That's your bank card, okay, your Visa or MasterCard. Now,
it has to have the contactless symbol on it, and you can use that interchangeably instead
of an Oyster card, and it costs the same amount. Now, for those of you coming from abroad,
you might need to check that you're not gonna get charged fees by your bank. The price of
your fare will depend on what time you travel. We have peak and off peak. Peak is more expensive
than off peak. Now, peak is from Monday to Friday, 6:30 in the morning 'til 9:30 in the
morning and 4 in the afternoon 'til 7 in the evening. Now right now it is peak time, also
known as rush hour. You can see thousands of commuters going from work to home or home
to work. ♪ I belong I belong to you ♪ ♪ I belong I belong to you ♪ ♪ You do just
what you want ♪ So the Tube was opened in 1863 and at the time, it was the world's first
underground railway system. The first line was the Metropolitan line which went from
Paddington to here in Farringdon. There are now 11 lines, they're all color coded. So,
you got the Circle line, which is yellow. You've got the Victoria line, which is light
blue. You've got the Northern line, which is black. Et cetera, et cetera. And there
are also 270 stations, but the interesting thing about the London Underground is even
though it's called the Underground, most of it is actually above ground.
- We Londoners call the London Underground the Tube, but if you're more posh, if you
speak with a more posh accent, you might call it the Tube. Another really interesting thing
about the pronunciation of Tube lines and Tube places is the word Ham. Ham, in old English,
means village. Now if the word Ham is separate, or if it begins a word like Hammersmith or
West Ham, you pronounce it like Ham. West Ham, East Ham, Hammersmith. But if Ham is
part of the end of the place, you pronounce it like um, schwa-m, like Chesham, Amersham,
Tottingham, Clapham, Balham and so on. ♪ You do just what you want ♪ ♪ Let's go ♪ ♪ You're
the one I trust ♪
- Fact number one, the Tube was opened in 1863, which is the same year that Abraham
Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation to abolish slavery. Fact number two, American
TV show host Jerry Springer was born on the London Underground. During the London Blitz,
his family sheltered on Highgate Station and he was born on the platform. Fact number three,
Angel Tube station has the longest escalator on the Tube network and the second longest
in the United Kingdom. It spans 200 feet, and there is an amazing YouTube video of a
man skiing down it, so go check it out. Okay, fact number four, the iconic Tube map was
designed by Harry Beck in 1933, and its genius is its simplicity. He was an engineer and
draftsman and he used circuit boards. And he used his knowledge of circuit boards to
create the design. There's no emphasis on geography. It's all about its simplicity and
its color, amazing. Fact number five, there are over half a million miles on the London
Underground network. Over half a million. Who has to count that? It blows my mind. ♪ You
do just what you want ♪ ♪ Let's go ♪ ♪ You're the one I trust ♪ All right, we're diving
back down onto the Tube now. Now, Aly, there is a lot of etiquette involved in traveling
on the Underground. What are the kind of things that people should be aware of?
- Everything, just be self aware. Just be aware of your space and aware of other people's
space. That's my biggest annoyance.
- Yes. Can I just say that I'm breaking one of the etiquette right now.
- You're very close.
- One of the rules. Because I am standing on the left-hand side of an escalator.
- That's very true.
- When one should be on the right.
- Like if someone wants to come down, they can't because you're in the way.
- Because I'm in the way, right?
- Boo.
- So, I should be on the right-hand side, and we use the left-hand side to walk up or
down.
- Yes.
- Okay, what else should people be aware of when they're on the Tube?
- You know what annoys me is when people go to the gate, you're trying to go through the
gate, and they stop in front of you because their ticket is still in their pocket. So
they're like, oh, whoops, have to get my ticket out. And it's another five seconds. No, it
needs to be a steady flow. Steady flow people.
- Yeah, you need to prepare. Before you get to the ticket machine, just have your ticket
ready or your Oyster cards or your contactless card. Have that ready. What annoys me is when
you're trying to get onto the Tube, and you see that there's loads of space in the middle,
but everyone is crammed together, like, by the doors. And it's like, just move down,
just be a little bit more aware. Please just move down inside the carriage so that we can
all get on. That's my little bugbear.
- Totally, totally, but you know what we haven't said?
- Tell me.
- Which applies to every city, if there's someone pregnant next to you, give your seat
to them. Or if they're elderly, or if they can't really stand up easily.
- Yes, yes, the big thing, the thing that kills me is that you look at the carriage
and the people sitting down, and most people are on their phones in this day and age, right?
And so they're on their phones, they're not looking up and so they're not aware. It's
not that they're bad people. It's just that they're not aware of who's around them, right?
So, yeah, I make it a point of, if I'm sitting down, I look up. Every time we stop at a station,
I look up to see who's come on. Do any of those people need a seat?
- Totally.
- Okay, one other thing that really bugs me is when especially at busy times people who
have rucksacks or backpacks on. And they don't take them off, so they're taking up extra
space, right?
- Yeah, totally.
- So you know that there's so much more space. If you just take that rucksack off, put it
by your feet, there's more space.
- And also, if someone's standing behind you and you're moving around, you might hit them
in the face with your rucksack.
- Yeah, it's possible.
- It's really annoying.
- Okay, but should we get to the most annoying?
- Number one?
- Number one, what is it?
- Dude, this happened to me today. Today, when you are coming off the Tube, you need
to exit quickly, right? And so if someone's outside the door waiting to, like, push on.
- It doesn't make any sense.
- No.
- Like, it's much better for everyone if they allow you to come off the train so that there's
more space on the Tube, the carriage, so they can get on.
- Totally.
- Right, it's better for everybody.
- It's much better.
- So much better.
- Yeah. So, if you're waiting to get on the Tube, just wait. Wait until everyone comes
off the Tube, then go on. No, this guy, so I came off the Tube just, literally, just
now, and there was this guy in the middle of the doors waiting to come on. I tried to
go out and he walked right into me. I'm like, dude, wait for people to get off before you
get on.
- Did you literally say...
- I said right in his face, I was so annoyed, and he was just like . Awkward, good, good,
I'm glad he felt awkward.
- Yeah. So when you come to London, you now know, right?
- Yeah.
- These are the five things, guys. Just please...
- That was like six or seven.
- Okay, those are the six things. There's a lot more actually, in fairness, but those
are the most important ones.
- Everything annoys Londoners.
- Thank you so much for watching, guys. I hope you enjoyed that video.
- And don't miss our next video about everything you'll need to be a pro tourist in London.
- It's here.
- Or is it here?
- It's there.
- I can never remember.
- It's there.
- It's one of these sides.