The history of transport in London

As you may know London has a diversity of transport methods, some more sophisticated than the others. Even if for tourists the most popular London transport method are the red buses, another preferred way of travel for the occupants in the English capital is the tube or, the subway, that carries more than 3 million passengers every day. Transport in London divides into 8 large categories, as follows:

1. Heavy rail (commuter rail, intercity rail, airport services, international services)
2. Metro and light rail (docklands light railway, London underground, trams, ultra)
3. Buses
4. Roads (major routes, congestion charge, distributor and minor routes)
5. Transfers
6. Airports
7. Water transport (canals, cargo, river Thames)
8. Cycling

The London underground

I`ll start today’s story with the oldest metro system in the world – London Underground

as I have always been passionate of its history. The operations for constructing the 11 lines begun approximately 150 years ago, on 10 January 1863 and now serve to connect Central London to the suburbs.

Many of the stations that where initially built aren’t used anymore, being relocated to other points. Some of them are almost 100 years old. People that pass by when using London Underground as a transfer method refer to them as ghost stations. One of them is the British Museum station, between Tottenham Court Road and Holborn on the Central Line.

Many problems appeared during the construction of the Met as in order to be built many streets had to be dug up and the road surfaces replaced. Even facing all sorts of problems, the Metropolitan was a definite success as today’s statistics show.

London red buses

When asking tourists about how to get transfer in London probably most of them will answer you: the London buses. Their popularity among foreigners is amazing being mostly known for their pronounced red color and double decker.

The bus network in London is a very large one, being considered by far the largest in Europe and one of the most extensive in the world. With a number of approximately 6800 services every day the infamous London buses transfer a number of 6 million people daily, to almost any place in London. Among the routes there are some of the buses which will transfer you even to the major airports in London like Heathrow, Stansted, Luton, Gatwick or London City Airport.

Bus transfer begun in London in 1933. At the same time it became the primary way of transfer in the English capital, as the red buses occupied a large area transporting its passengers to almost any point inside the capital. In the beginning most of the transfer from different locations was done by trolleys and trams. The trams ended their activity quite fast as they were withdrawn in 1952.

During the years the London Public Transport was controlled by more than one authority which led into a change of routes, frequencies, type of vehicles used or fares. At the moment the service is managed by TfL.

At the moment the prices for a single journey with the London buses is cheap but you have the disadvantage that it will take you a lot of time to get there. For example, a transfer from WC1 to Heathrow, Stansted, Luton, Gatwick or London City Airport will only cost you 2,20 GBP, in case you find a direct bus going to that location.

Heavy rail

Another very often used transport method in London are trains. London is the central point of the English network of railways and offers its clients a variety of intercity, airport, international and commuter services.

It is believed that the train was the invention that changed London more than any other and it was one of the most important features for its development. The first line was opened in 1836 between Deptford and Bermondsey. It extended in the month of December of the same year, to the south end of London Bridge. In 1840 trains were already moving to Greenwich which was the longest viaduct, having a size of 4 miles.

The railway network witnessed a fantastic expansion in 1840 when the Parliament granted permission for the construction of 19 railways in London, which one passing through or ending in Westminster. In order to make space for the lines more than 3000 people had to be evicted from their houses, because many were supposed to be demolished. Most of the lines were finished in 1846. Only the Waterloo station reached completion two years later, in 1848. The expansion of the railway stopped until 1860 when Queen Victoria station was opened, which connected London to Dover and Brighton.

Most of the lines you can see today are built during Queen Victoria’s reign.

Today no one can challenge the importance of the railway network in London as it greatly serves the citizens, millions moving by train every day. The need for trains grew even more since transfer to some major airports in London has been added on the list, making it easier to get to Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted. Transfer to this three airports in London is made by dedicated train services but also through common commuter services.

A transfer from Paddington to Heathrow using the Heathrow express may cost you 28 GBP, while an anytime single transfer with the Gatwick Express First Class reaches to the fare of 27.50 GBP. If you want transport to Stansted on the First Class you can pick a ride with the Stansted Express which will ease you of 32 GBP.

Roads

The first important roads in London were built by the Roman Empire, some of them lasting even for more than one thousand years. History tells us that the first important Roman road built was 6,018 km long and bared the name of Via Appia. Being constructed early, in 312 b.C. you can imagine what an accomplishment this must have been at that time.

London was also lucky to be on the construction plans of the Romans as the Empire built three roads here: London-Silchester-Exeter, London-Lincoln-York and London-Verulamium-Wroxeter/Chester.

But the Romans left in the 5^th century and, having no one to take care of them, they started to deteriorate. When Middle Ages came a new system was implemented. It was a total failure. The system supposed that the people who lived near the roads would maintain them, both paid and unpaid. Even if it didn’t work very well, it lasted until 1835 when the authorities decided that the system was failing. This made place for Turnpike trusts, a great new method of getting roads built and taking care of. The system was simple as they would maintain the roads paying for the reparation by collecting money from the people that lived on them. But even the Turnpike era failed to provide a network of roads so road so they fell under the administration of the district councils in the end of the 19^th century.

The main development of the road network took form in 1936 when the Government voted the first Trunk Roads Act.

Transfer Services

London Black Cabs

If you don’t like moving by bus, train or subway you will always have the option of choosing a black cab or a mini-cab company to transfer you from a place to another. Even more iconic than the red buses, Black Cabs are the only transfer service having drivers which spend 3 years to know the city inside out.

You may not believe but the first Black Cab was a hackney coach in 1625. The business spread and by the end of the year the number of hackney coaches increased to 20. 11 years later the first transfer rank appeared and established the fares for different parts of London.

In the same year Charles I decided that 50 hackney carriages should be available for hire in London and that the number should not be exceeded. Cab driving became a profession only after the Civil War when the Fellowship of Master Hackney Carriages was set up through Act of Parliament by Oliver Cromwell. Charles II replaced the act in 1662 with a new one which limited the number of hackney coaches to 400 and forced them to be licensed. The limit was later increased to 600 in 1688. As the population in London grew, there was a bigger need for transfer so 6 years later the limit was increased again, this time to 700. The number of the Black Transfer’s in London continued raising reaching to a number of 800 in the year of 1711. Later on 200 more licenses were added. Limits were totally dropped in 1833 so transport by Black Cabs in London was done freely from that point on.

The Black Cabs licensed transfer trade is the most ancient public system in the world.

Mini-cab companies

Even iconic as they are and even if England cares about tradition, Black Cabs aren’t the only transfer service that London has to offer you. In fact, in the need for a cheaper service, most people tend to leave aside the pleasure of taking a journey in London from within a Black Cab and choose a cheaper option for a transfer in London: the mini-cabs companies.

At the moment there are more than 200 mini-cab companies operating in London, the main activity being private hire, shuttle, bus transfers from Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Luton or London City Airport to any location in the capital. People usually take this option because a transport from all major London airports to any location in the capital is most likely two cost two or three times cheaper than normal cabs. Normally it is the best way of transport you can choose in England in you need to get somewhere fast and haven’t got too much money to spare.

So, if you arrive in London and need transfer from one of the major airports: Stansted, Luton, Gatwick, Heathrow or City Airport, 247 Airport Transfer suggests you to choose this way of travel.

Water transport

Water transport in London is mostly done on the River Thames, which, before cars or other transfer methods were invented was London’s primary transfer artery. Even if the request for water transport dropped once other faster ways appeared, in the last few years water transport in London witnessed some type of revival, after private companies started investing huge amounts of money but also after the creation of London River Services.

Except River Thames, water transfer in London can be done through canals that link the river to the entire network. But today they are mostly used for carrying cargo and very rarely used to transport people in London.

Cycle Transfer

Even if cycling is not the fastest way to get across London, 2% of the population still choose this as their preferred method of travelling. The percentage is a small one if we compare it to the one of Copenhagen or Amsterdam but, it has recorded a great increase in comparison to the year of 1999. There are an estimated of 1 million cycle owners in England and it is believed that each day, about 480,000 transfers are made in London each day through this method.

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