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@@KamaalJones That is such a GREAT remark I need to explain it for Americans. We don't use 'the downtown' as a noun. We call it the 'the town centre' or 'the city centre'. However, if we are actually going there we often say we are 'going down town'. Two words. Clear? Good.
@@jamesmacdonald1116when you visit other countries are you fluent in their languages? Or do you expect tourists that visit here to hold that standard. Because it is only really tourists that don’t follow these rules
Top Tip: Take the No11 bus from Liverpool St station to Sloane Square and you'll pass a lot of the sights. With an Oyster travel card you can just hop on and off without paying for a tour bus
As someone who has lived in London for the past 18 years, the most annoying part on the underground is not people standing on the right side of the escalator but rather people not moving out of the way at the bottom and the top of the escalator.I understand you're new to the area, I know you don't know where you're going, but move aside and then look it up! Only the wealthy can afford to live in central, most of us spend 1+ hours to get to and from work every day, and we count every minute, you being in our way really sparks up our passive aggressiveness !
Thank you for sharing! I'm going on a trip, too! By the way I found it possible to use code on trainpal to get a discount on the purchase of tickets, which saved my budget lol! 🎉
Why is it "keep right" in England but "keep left" in Australia. I mean you guys colonised us and have us drive in the left like you guys. How'd you end up with keeping right?
the escalator you can take will always be on the left, the right hand escalator(s) will be going the other way. Overtaking is just on the left and the reason is probably arbitrary.
@@wessexdruid7598 don't you have the faster line on the right? If you want to pass another vehicle, do you do that on the line to the right or left of it?
Sta.nding on the right on London Underground escalators. Is not an unwritten rule. It is written into the Bylaws. Section 9 (1) States. No person shall use any escalator. Except by standing or walking on it in the direction intended for travel. Persons shall keep to the right of escalators when not walking. 9 (6) states A person who attempts to breach any of the Bylaws 9 (1) to 9 (5). Shall be liable to the same penalties under the Bylaws as if he had breached the Bylaw.
This is an old one but tourists (especially American tourists) need reminding often. We know we have some difficult to pronounce names here so if you get stuck on how to say something just ask someone. Most people won’t mind. So if you want to go to Leicester Square as someone first how it’s pronounced. By the way you say it as “LESTER Square” please don’t ever say the dreadful “LIE-SESS-TER” you will just be met with lots of eye rolls and tutting.
I went on the subway once in NY, then thought I’d rather save money and walk. Lost a load of weight and got to places eventually. So it’s all good. Plus London street signs are easier to read (in my opinion) there is just one name of a street rather then 42nd and Main or whatever. That was much harder to grasp. Plus on the underground there are occasional maps in the wall, with “you are here”. So it’s easier to get around.
We used to play tricks with family and friends who visited, Go into town, say I have a few things to do, here is your tube map, I will meet you here and point at a station. off the would go, and 30 minutes later I would meet them as they exited the station 100 yards down the road from where I left them. (Favourite was Waterloo to Southwark its 1 stop on the Jubilee line, or you walk along the platform at Waterloo East and down the steps )
Sometimes it's also quicker to walk than to get the tube, especially during rush hour when you might even have to queue for the train. And I don't just mean stuff like the Leicester Square to Covent Garden thing, but also journeys like London Bridge to Liverpool Street. You have to get down to the platform, wait for a train, maybe walk through long corridors when changing, get back up again once you arrive. You can walk quite a bit in this time.
As someone who lived in London for 40 years, and worked in central London for 15 years. My top tip is Walk, forget the Tube or Bus, Many of the big sites are minutes apart. Also (and this is a tip for the locals as well) LOOK UP! above the modern glass frontages in shopping areas are fantastic old buildings, statues, and Bridges between the buildings that many miss. Another little tip is When in Knights Bridge, take a break from the main road with the shops and take a wander around the roads off the main streets. The hustle and bustle disappears and you will find yourself in quiet streets with birds signing.
No one ever mentions Fitzrovia either - its a nonentity of a place - you would refer to it as just north of soho, west of Bloomsbury or East of Marylebone.
Never climb the stairs at Covent Garden. Just take the fucking lift. You'll regret it otherwise. It's like 191 steps and the first 'rest' spot is at like 128, at that point you might as well finish it. If you want the exercise that badly, walk from Leicester square.
In my experience, we'll apply these rules to every escalator we come across. If it works, it works. Although tbf, I wouldn't begrudge someone not doing it outside of a train station.
The reason we don't say downtown London is because it has multiple centres. It would make sense in pretty much any other British city in context. In London we'd say "in town" or "in central" generally for talking about the Soho and surrounding areas.
My mother would take us to London during the School Holidays. We would go to the museums in South Kensington and would often walk back to King's Cross which was about 3 miles.
Even as a lifelong local I've always found standing on the right on escalators insane when in every other mode of transport or moving in general, you keep left and allow people to pass on the right.
The best part of the video is u mentioning it is better to walk rather than taking a public transport. I have walked miles and miles in the city of London. Thx for sharing 👏
That’s just it, common sense is the things that go without being said _because_ it’s part of your everyday life. But cultures differ, and because of that so does common sense. Most USAers don’t live in a megacity with comprehensive public transport, so Tube etiquette would be entirely new to them. I can tell you from my upbringing in small-town Oklahoma that if you _walked_ on an escalator that was already moving, and especially go around other people to do so, you’d be the weirdo. They’d look at you funny like, “Where do you have to be that’s so important?”
@@Magic_beans_ Iam from a half milion city in Europe that has no metro, its still an unspoken rule to stand on the right on escalators and let space for people that are in hurry on the left.
@@MrMajsterixx I live elsewhere in the UK with no metro, and people stand on whichever side they want because people in a shopping centre or department store usually aren't in a hurry
Probably because "downtown" is very American. No one else says that. Most cities in the rest of the world tend to have specific names for the central parts of the cities. For example where I am from....Cape Town....it is called the city bowl. The term "downtown" also often makes eff all sense as the central area is not "down" from anything. It may be in a Northern, Western, or Eastern direction. So the term "downtown" just sounds nonsensical.
*All major cities in the world (except some where the rule is reversed) in smaller cities where there aren't mass transport systems with escalators, people stand where they want, at least where I live
And who are you to sell London guide what do you know as an american…why is it everytime american go to anitger country always make money of something too opportunistic
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People screamed to get out of the escalator when I first visited London. Now, where I live, in my own country, I always ask that people get out of the left side of escalators too…. Nice manners and patience over for me
Please, please, please, don't just walk out into cycle lanes and certainly don't just stand in the middle of them. Treat them like any other roads. In London there is a lot of traffic on the cycle lanes and it saves anyone getting angry at you or worse yet an accident of some kind.
Excellent advice. I would also add, don't stand around In front on the ticket exit/entrance gate on and off the tube. It will irritate a lot of people. Get your ticket or phone out ready to beep through and then walk out of the way
If youre outside the centre, we call the centre "the city" (the city of london is an offical area)= not to be confused with the financial district, also called the city .... Ok, i can see how this might not be helpful
@@AIJimmybad I'm from South west London, 'the west end' is an old east Londoner way to say "going up town" or "going up the city" and I would personally only ever call the theatre district 'the west end' - you are right to say not all people use the same terms as I can guarantee some of us in Wandsworth still call the centre 'the city'. But it's all just silly londonisims
@@GJH-i7b true true, town and city would be the only acceptable ones for me! Into town would probably be my favourite but because I didn't live near the high street 'going into town' could also just mean going to the nearest town centre (Clapham, Wandsworth, Wimbledon for us)
When we first moved to London in 1992 (from Australia) we spent so much time underground, my mum would write and ask what London was like and I couldn't tell her! I'd hardly seen any of it - I was constantly on and off tubes!
If you don't have to get anywhere quickly and the weather is nice definitely walk as much as possible. The tube is handy but generally awful. The bus can be nice but it's very slow. If you're fit and active then walk. You'll see much more of London. If it's raining then totally get public transport. Also don't worry too much if you upset someone on the escalator. People need to chill out a little bit. If they're late for work then they should have left earlier lol x.
Yeaa so I was there last week and I wanted to go to this place, It said 20 minutes with public transport, I said hmm let me check walking, walking was 19 minutes. I said f that let me walk. Especially since it was peak hour
There's a research that shows standing on both sides increases escalator's throughput capacity. I don't quite get how it works but it works. At any given time an escalator with two rows of standing people has more people on it than an escalator that has people walk. I.e. the density is higher with both sides full. This is critical for peak hours. When passenger flow is low, it doesn't seem to make any difference.
True its quicker for everyone if the escalator has two lines of standing people. Trouble is people don’t care about everyone and they want to move faster as an individual. After the experiment they asked people what they preferred and most said to keep walking on the left
@davidm4614 , one may (may!) rush when there are not many people, when the escalator works well below its carrying capacity. In rush hours people should be discouraged from trying to overspeed others cuz it can create issues, especially on an escalator. One trips and falls and the domino effect can do the rest. In rush hours the stand-on-both-sides rule caters to the needs of most people, one person's rush mustn't be respected, as it were, when estimating any metrics you can come up with. The same works on highways: "playing checkers" (this is what we call switching from lane to lane in a hurry) is bad for the traffic flow in general and creates waves of congestion. Rushing is only allowed for special services: fire brigades, balances, police. As for the Moscow metro, trains arrive insanely frequently, like every minute or two (and I used to take it for granted). There's no need to rush. If you rush thru a crowd, you risk tripping and falling. If you keep a train's door open to catch this train or let someone hurrying in, this disrupts the train traffic. Their schedule is already very dense and your rush or encouraging other people's rush can cause a wave of train delays. This is a very solid reason not to rush in Moscow metro. One person must not disrupt the system. In my first months in Moscow I sometimes behaved like an idiot thinking I was smarter breaking the rules. I was full. I found out very soon that my haste isn't even good for myself.
@@Vonononie the walk on the left system is better. I don't care if it makes it slower for the people who choose to stand because if they were in a hurry they would walk.
1. Know which stations are lift only (hint: Covent Garden), at peak it'll take a long time to get platform/street -side. 2. Avoid changing at Green Park if you can 3. There are shortcuts at Kings Cross. 4. The cable car isnt worth it
As a Londoner, if you don’t follow then the rules on the tube (stand on right of escalator, wait for people to get off the train before getting on, don’t stand in the way at bottom of escalators or gates) then we will hate you. It’s totally personal.
Very good!! We used to say ‘we’re going up west, or going to the West End as kids. I think they still use that expression. The West End of London is where some of the best shops are. Have a look at Bond Street too for some special place, and you can’t miss Covent Garden. London is such a great place!!!
Unless it is pissing down with rain - i never need the tube. I can easily walk from kings cross and be over the thames in half an hour. Easy to walk around and you see far more of the city that way. I work there and commute in from Cambridge and i can leave home and be at work in just over 1 hour including walking to the office.
I don’t understand why people come to London for a holiday, it’s crowded, smelly, dirty, wet and an overpriced tourist trap. Go somewhere nice with a beach and pleasant weather where you can relax and enjoy yourself.
@@loveandlondon Na I don’t hate your videos, just as a 37 year old cockney that has lived in central London my entire life I don’t get why it’s a holiday destination lol.
@@azoo6269 it is counterintuitive when we drive on the left in this country, and usually in busy stairs and corridors, if they suggest to keep to one side, that's the left
@@AIJimmybad no apparently it's the right hand side on the escalator in London and I noticed this on the tube. In Australia we stand on the left, so people can pass quickly on the right
@@loveandlondondon't lie to the man. It's a tunnel system we use to avoid having to talk to tourists on our way to work. The whole "underground train system" thing is just a hoax. In reality, londoners use the tube. It's a high-powered capsule pipeline for people.
@@TH3YGXNE no I’m not actually but there is 4 people with luggage why would they want to squeeze into an Uber car Get in iconic London black taxi with a driver that knows where he’s going and has completed the knowledge of London that would me my advice
