I will always be the first to admit it: I am terrible at public transportation. I grew up in a small city that had almost no public transportation, and what was available only covered small areas of town. My experience with public transit was virtually non-existent until a trip to Boston in 2013 where I completely missed the fact that “The T” was another name for “Subway”.
So when traveling to new cities, I’m always hesitant to try public transit due to my lack of experience and, for some reason, whenever I need to figure it out I happen to always be alone. London was no exception.
My company was running an NFL Abroad trip in London, so we had a single hotel room for all the staff to share. I really didn’t NEED to be on the trip and just tagged along because it was a good opportunity to get to go to a new place. When we arrived at the hotel, it was clear that it was not going to be large enough for all four of us. Since I was the odd man out and the only one who didn’t really need to be there, I needed to find alternative accommodations.
I quickly found a very inexpensive hostel nearby and booked it. This now left me with the issue of getting to and from the hotel each day. I could pay for a cab or an Uber, but that can be very expensive and is often very slow, especially during peak hours, which was when I would be starting out each day.
As some of you may know, London’s public transportation is some of the best in the world. A combination of double-decker buses, standard buses, subways, overhead railways, boats, and trains allow you to get within a couple blocks walk of nearly anywhere in the massive city.. This massive, state-of-the-art, award-winning system used by hundreds of thousands of people every day was INTIMIDATING! And now, I needed to do it every morning, by myself, during rush hour.
Here are all the ways I fucked it up, and you can learn from them!
I planned on traveling across the Thames on the first day via commuter boat. There were several stops along the river, and my hostel was near one, and the hotel was near another. It wasn’t the cheapest or most efficient route, but one of my bucket list items is to be on a boat on all the major world rivers, so this checked that box.
I looked up the schedule the night before, arrived early at the station, and attempted to find a way to pay. Somehow, I completely missed the obvious kiosk at the entrance to the dock and spent the next 25 minutes trying to download the app that would allow me to buy my passage across, missing the boat I originally wanted to take. For some reason, my American cellphone would not get a good enough signal from the towers to download the app. Eventually, I gave up and decided to take another mode of transportation. On the way off the dock, I saw the stupid kiosk.
Moral: Look thoroughly and read carefully! There are often way more instructions and signage than we usually pay attention to.
2. Trusting the timetable
While I was attempting to download the app, I watched all the boats come and go. They seemed to come and go exactly on time. I watched about five boats arrive at the exact minute they were supposed to and depart just 60 – 90 seconds later. Every single one was on time.
So, at 9:12, when a boat going in the correct direction arrived at the time it was listed to arrive, I assumed it was the correct boat. None of the boats were labeled with their routes, so I had no way of knowing it was the wrong boat, but sure enough, it was the wrong boat, and as it sped past the dock where I needed to get off, I went back to the time table to try to figure out what boat I was on. As it turns out, I was on a boat that was running 3 minutes behind, and the boat I needed had been just behind this one.
Moral: Just ask. The gentleman who took my ticket could have told me it was the wrong boat, just like any bus driver, train operator, etc.
3. Misunderstanding train maps
London’s subway system, called “The Underground” or “The Tube,” has an incredible set of maps, which are considered some of the best-designed maps ever made and are a modern marvel of graphic design. I actually learned about them in school while getting my graphic design degree. I really shouldn’t have misunderstood them, but I was in a hurry, and I didn’t pay enough attention to the layout.
I got myself on the correct train but in the wrong direction. I do have a decent sense of direction, so I figured out pretty quickly that I was going the wrong way and got off at the first available stop. Once there, I took a minute to read the map thoroughly to make sure I understood what it was telling me. I got back on the train in the correct direction and never had the same issue again.
Moral: Take your time. You’ll save time in the long run if you take the necessary time to understand the maps, timetables, and other public transportation information.
4. Closed bus stops
To be fair, this wasn’t really my fault. I had a route back to the hostel planned out using Google Maps (an excellent tool, by the way!), and I went to the correct place, but due to construction, that bus stop was closed. Google was no help since it thought the stop was open and couldn’t understand the need to re-route me, so I just started walking in the direction the bus would have traveled until I got to an open stop. It turns out it was only about .4 miles, and it was no big deal at all.
Moral: Be flexible. Hiccups are going to happen. Just roll with it! If you aren’t sure what to do, you can always ask for help or come up with a new transportation option like Uber or a taxi.
At this point, I’d kind of gotten the hang of it. I continued using public transportation for the remainder of my trip, and it was hugely entertaining. Its complex system of vehicles made for an interesting commute no matter where I was going, and as I got better at it, it became a fun challenge to see if I could figure out how to get somewhere and execute without any mistakes. By the end of it, my confidence had quadrupled. London may be one of the best public transportation systems in the world, but it’s also one of the most complex. Feeling comfortable with it made me feel like I could take on public transit in any city–hopefully with fewer mistakes. Although, I’ve had the advantage of using public transportation in cities where I spoke the local language. I imagine the next challenge in public transportation will have more to do with a language barrier. Hopefully, Google will have solved that problem before I come to it!
