An experiment of going all-in bus and tram in London
London’s transportation cost is usually high, and the single fare usually doesn’t cover all modes. Bus/tram has its own fare system separated from Overground/Underground/DLR and train but is the cheapest.
As a person who live in zone 4, I challenged myself to go all-in bus and tram. How was the experience and can I live without railway (aka Underground, Overground and National Rail) in London? I will discuss it in terms of fare, challenges and benefits.
Fares
As it’s always not possible to have a direct bus to every part of the city, a hopper fare is a fare for a single trip which consists of many rides within an hour of tapping on your card when getting on buses.
When the traffic is heavy, you will need to pay another £1.75, but thanks to daily cap system, your spending won’t be exceeding £5.25. While it’s difficult to cost down every trip to £1.75, daily cap will make you less worry about the total fare.
There is also weekly cap of £24.7 counting from Monday to Sunday, which is cheaper than 5 daily caps (£5.25*5 = £26.25). Cap means you don’t have to decide to pay for daily or weekly passes before.
There are also monthly and yearly passes but you will need to buy beforehand. For me it will be difficult to go all-in bus and tram only.
Compared to Overground/Underground (£3.40) and train (£4.00), bus and tram (£1.75) is much cheaper and there is no peak-hour fare. Economically less stressed.
Challenges (and how to cope with)
Before talking about the benefits, I would like to share some challenges I have been facing when taking buses.
Long travel time
The first, and the most obvious one, is the much longer journey time, especially compared to rail. Say from my home in zone 4 to zone 1 in Central London, especially when there are express trains only one stop to the city centre, the journey can be as short as 40 minutes including walking whereas bus can take around 1 hour and 40 minutes. Not to mention bus is less reliable in busy hours when there are congestions and road works on the way which can contribute to longer time.
Final destination can change suddenly
The most challenging, also the most uncertain one. Sometimes, the drivers don’t even explain. Wait for the next bus of the same route? It can happen again shortly.
There are many ways to reach a destination, so the easiest way is to search if there are any alternatives on the transport apps.
The good news is that if you have more similar situations making you frustrated, you will have more opportunities to understand the city and the landscape, so that you will figure out any alternative plans quicker and quicker even without apps if the same things happen. You are becoming stronger: robust, anti-fragile.
Bus trip under high temperatures can be very painful.
Almost all buses don’t have air conditioning except 358 and some electric buses. “Boris Buses” (New Routemaster) are usually cooler than other buses but may be still hot above 30 degrees. Usually there is a cooling system (like fans) but not all drivers turn it on. As there are not many windows which can be open, bus inside is usually hotter than outside. (But somehow better than some Tubes like Victoria and Central lines)
Sitting downstairs may help a bit because the heat is usually absorbed from the rooftop from the sunlight.
If you find the bus very hot, you may get off and change a bus, and even alternative routes as they may have other models which result in cooler interior.
Pros
That said, there are some benefits when opting for cheaper, affordable transportation.
As the fare system shares with tram in south London, the combination of bus and tram will end up single fare from £1.75 to £5.25 in a single day. One-third of trams have air conditioning.
There is no peak fares too.
Bus and tram allows more flexibility compared to rail, as you can change routes in the last minute as you like. Most of the time I will follow the suggestions from transport apps, but I can change my mind for better routes if I notice something.
Sometimes, I make one more stop on the way so that I can enjoy my coffee or explore one more place in the city.
Many passengers have their books onboard, and I can spend some time on drafting blog articles, or think of how my CV can be rephrased during the journey. Thanks to iPhone!
With lower daily and weekly caps than rails, I can have unlimited rides to different places to enjoy exploring the city, and even outside London worry free. I also recommend tourists just hopping on off the bus and tram when they visit London. It’s still worth when you limit yourself to zone 1 only.
I passed last week already, and am going to pass this week too. I even went to zone 1 from zone 5.
