Transport for London
The Tube, buses, trains and fares. Line closures, price rises, how payment works and what to do when a train stops.
Articles on this topic: 52
What it costs to run a car in England: the year worked out from official rates
Tax of £200, an MOT capped at £54.85, insurance averaging £566 and about £1,203 of fuel at the average 6,200 miles. That is roughly £2,024 a year — and 38% of it is tax.
Electric cars: is it true there is no tax and free parking?
Electric cars do pay vehicle tax: £10 in year one, then £200 like everyone else, plus £440 a year for five years above a £50,000 list price. The full Congestion Charge exemption has gone, and there is no national free parking.
Free wifi on London transport: where it works and how to connect
Wifi is free at every Tube station, at 81 Overground stations and across central Elizabeth line stations. It connects by itself — and stops in tunnels, where only patchy mobile coverage works.
Zip Oyster photocard: free and discounted travel for children in London
The 5-10 and 11-15 Zip cards, the £10 and £15 fees and the expiry dates — how to set up children's travel in London.
How to get an Oyster card refund 2026: balance and deposit
A balance up to £10 is refunded at a machine, more via your online account. The £5 deposit applies only to cards from before February 2020.
London Hopper fare 2026: bus changes on a single payment
For £1.75, make as many bus and tram changes as you like within an hour. We explain the Hopper rules for 2026.
Travelcard or fare cap in London 2026: which is better value
The weekly cap matches the Travelcard price, but the details decide which to choose. We compare prices and terms.
Peak and off-peak fares in London 2026: when travel is cheaper
Peak fares run on weekdays 06:30–09:30 and 16:00–19:00 — travel is cheaper at other times. Here are the hours and prices.
London transport fare caps 2026: how the daily and weekly cap work
Contactless and Oyster stop charging you once you hit a daily or weekly limit — here are the 2026 figures and the rules.
Free travel for children in London: who rides for free
Children in London travel free — the youngest always, school-age children on buses, and on the Tube with an adult. Who gets free travel, when you need a Zip Oyster card and what it costs.
60+ Oyster: free travel in London from age 60, until you get a Freedom Pass
London residents aged 60 and over can get a 60+ Oyster photocard and travel free on most of the capital's transport — even before the Freedom Pass is issued at 66.
Clean Air Zones in England: where you pay to drive and how to check your car
Several English cities run Clean Air Zones: older, more polluting vehicles pay to drive in, newer ones do not. Here is where they are, who is affected and how to check your number plate online.
Freedom Pass for Londoners aged 66+: free travel and how to apply
The Older Person's Freedom Pass gives London residents aged 66 and over free travel on most of the capital's transport, plus free local buses across England. Here are the rules and how to apply.
Free and discounted travel in the UK: how to get around for less
There is no free taxi for everyone in Britain. But there are legal ways to travel for free or claim travel costs back — from ambulances and NHS transport to free buses and a door-to-door service.
London bus fares rise on 1 November: £1.85 instead of £1.75
From 1 November a single bus or tram journey costs £1.85 and the daily cap is £5.55. What you will actually pay, how the one hour of free changes works, and why five ordinary bus routes replace a £32 sightseeing tour.
Bus lane penalty: how to challenge a PCN and pay nothing
A camera-issued PCN for a bus lane, a banned turn or a yellow box junction can be challenged for free. The deadlines, where representations go, which tribunal hears London and non-London cases, and which arguments work.
Oxford Street: why it is being pedestrianised and what comes next
A pedestrian Oxford Street is part of the Mayor of London's bigger plan. We explain why, which section is closing, who is behind it and what the space will become.
Commuting vs renting closer: what's really cheaper
It feels like commuting from the suburbs costs as much as renting closer. The figures (TfL and ONS) say otherwise: commuting is cheaper on money; moving closer saves time, not money.
Which travel pass to buy for commuting into the City
For a daily commute into the City the right pass saves hundreds a year. We compare contactless, monthly and annual Travelcards for Zones 1–6 and say which to choose.
Oxford Street closes to traffic
The central section of London's main shopping street is now closed around the clock to cars, buses, taxis and cycles. Here are the zone boundaries, new bus arrangements and delivery hours for businesses.
Elizabeth line: severe delays to Reading, only minor delays to Heathrow after Langley bridge strike
At 09:20 TfL rewrote the disruption: severe delays now run only between Reading and Hayes & Harlington, while the stretch into Paddington and the Heathrow terminals has minor delays. The cause is now given as an earlier bridge strike at Langley. The window runs to 01:29.
Private parking: £100 cap frozen, 10 minutes to leave and £20 for a mistyped plate
The Private Parking Code of Practice is before Parliament: five minutes to decide, ten to leave, charges cancelled when the machine is broken, and a £20 ceiling for a mistyped registration.
Poems on the Underground at 40: the autumn set and Saturday's concert
Poems on the Underground began in January 1986 as a scheme by three friends; its posters now reach three million travellers a day. The autumn set went up on 19 October, and the fortieth anniversary evening is at the Purcell Room on 24 October, tickets from £17.
London penalty fares: £100, £50 and three appeals
A Penalty Fare in London is £100, halved to £50 if paid within 21 days. The appeal runs in three stages with deadlines of 21, 14 and 14 days. Miss the new window after a rejection and the discount is gone.
ULEZ and the Congestion Charge: £12.50, £18 a day and £180 for forgetting
The Congestion Charge is £18 a day in 2026, or £21 if you pay late. ULEZ is £12.50, around the clock, across every London borough. Forget to pay and it is £180, with only 14 days to halve it.
London New Year's Eve fireworks: tickets from 23 October, £35 for Londoners
Sales open at midday on 23 October 2026, through Ticketmaster only. Category A is £55, or £35 for Londoners; Category B is £40 and £20. No refunds, and you cannot move between areas.
London souvenirs: why the red bus magnet costs more, and what you can get free
Embroidery at UNIQLO from £10, a Routemaster magnet £4.50, a roundel magnet sheet £12. The gap is explained by Transport for London's licensing. Plus two free things, one of which ends on 31 October.
Bailiffs at the door: what they cannot do and cannot take
Bailiffs must usually give 14 days' notice, you usually do not have to open the door, they cannot force entry or call between 9pm and 6am, and work tools worth under £1,350 are protected.
Where to find a free toilet in London: Tube, stations and official maps
TfL operates toilets at around 150 transport locations, and every TfL-operated toilet is free. But some facilities are behind ticket gates, while third-party operators may charge. Here are the official maps, central locations, opening hours and RADAR-access rules.
What to do in London on Sunday 11 October: a free full-day route
A ready-made plan for tomorrow: a free service at St Paul's, East End Sunday markets, Frieze's special gallery day, Evensong and an organ recital. Entry to every main stop is £0; travel, food and purchases are extra.
Cost-of-living help in London: emergency payments, free home upgrades and discounts
City Hall has updated its central guide to help with living costs. Here is where to request an emergency payment, how eligible households can receive home improvements worth up to £30,000, and where to find social tariffs, emergency food and travel discounts.
Free NFL giveaways at Trafalgar Square today: what you can get and how to enter
NFL Experience is open today, 10 October, from noon to 7pm. There is no admission charge, but visitors must register in the NFL OnePass app and show a QR code. Free Topps packs, snacks, coaching and photo opportunities are advertised.
Blue Badge parking permit: who qualifies, what it costs and where you can park
A Blue Badge lets you park on double yellow lines for up to three hours and park free at meters. In England it costs up to £10, councils usually take up to 12 weeks to decide, and lending the badge to someone else can mean a £1,000 fine.
London on 10 and 11 October: free gardens, closing fairs and a half marathon
The Hampton Court gardens open without a ticket on both days, two large fairs close on Sunday, the Premier League returns after the international break, and the centre shuts on Sunday for the Royal Parks half marathon. The weather is dry and sunny, around 16 °C. Everything checked against venue websites.
Piccadilly line part closed to Cockfosters as Elizabeth line recovers
By 10:15 the Piccadilly line had become the worst line on the network: no service between Arnos Grove and Cockfosters after a signal failure, with severe delays elsewhere. Tickets are accepted on buses, Great Northern, the Elizabeth line, SWR and the Overground. The Elizabeth line has largely recovered.
Elizabeth line shut to Heathrow, severe delays on Victoria
Overnight engineering work finished late: the Elizabeth line is not running between Paddington and the Heathrow terminals or out to Reading, with tickets accepted on the Underground. The Victoria line has severe delays from cancelled trains, with tickets accepted on buses and four rail operators. Croydon trams are in the last day of their closure.
Jubilee line part suspended to Stanmore after fire alert
Updated at 08:30: there is no Jubilee line service between Wembley Park and Stanmore while TfL responds to a fire alert at Stanmore, and Underground tickets are being accepted on London Buses. The District line, by contrast, is back to normal. The Windrush line shuts after 23:15 tonight.
Windrush line delays and Croydon tram closures: London tube today, 5 October
A nearly clean morning: the whole network is in Good Service except the Windrush line, where overnight engineering work finished late and left minor delays. Croydon's tram closures are in their fourth day. The bigger catch is tonight — after 23:15 there is no Windrush service between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction, and no replacement buses at all.
Getting home after midnight in London: what runs at night and what it costs
The Night Tube runs only on Friday and Saturday nights, and not along the whole line — only specific sections. On every other night it is the bus: N-prefixed and 24-hour routes cover the city roughly from 23:00 to 06:00, seven nights a week. Here is which lines run, where they end at night, what a journey with changes costs, and what changes on 1 November.
London Tube closures this weekend, 3–4 October: Victoria shuts on Saturday evening, Jubilee closed to Canary Wharf both days
The Victoria — Brixton section is closed from 7.30pm on Saturday until 10am on Sunday — exactly over the evening and the morning. The Jubilee does not run between Green Park and Canary Wharf on either day, the DLR loses Shadwell — Tower Gateway on Sunday, and Acton Main Line on the Elizabeth line is shut overnight. Line by line, with times and alternatives.
Cheap train tickets in Britain: a third off fares, and the money back when the train is late
A Railcard costs £35 a year and pays for itself in two or three journeys: it takes a third off most fares, and linked to an Oyster card it cuts off-peak London travel by 33%. Here are all nine railcards with prices, the £12 minimum fare rule before 10am, split ticketing (it is legal), Advance tickets, and Delay Repay — compensation from 15 minutes late, claimable within 28 days.
Victoria line severe delays, Circle running again: London Underground today, 2 October
Updated at 08:20. The morning has flipped: the Circle line, suspended by a points failure at Gloucester Road, is running again, while the Victoria has gone into severe delays after a track fault at Brixton. Buses and six rail operators are accepting Victoria tickets. District severe delays now only Barking to Upminster. What to take instead, and what tonight looks like.
London Tube and TfL closures in October 2026: the Piccadilly line stops entirely at Halloween, and no Tube to Heathrow on 17–18 October
TfL has published its planned closures calendar. The headline: the Piccadilly line does not run at all on 31 October and 1 November, and on 17–18 October the Hammersmith to Heathrow and Uxbridge section is shut — so there is no Tube to the airport twice this month. South London trams stop for nearly a fortnight, the Northern line skips Burnt Oak for two weeks, and this coming weekend the Jubilee is closed between Green Park and Canary Wharf. Here is the whole month, weekend by weekend.
From the airport into the city: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton — train, tube or bus, what it costs and where to buy tickets
Part two of our guide to Britain's airports. The golden rule of London transfers: the express is fast and expensive, the ordinary train or tube is two to three times cheaper, and the bus is cheapest of all but hostage to traffic. The Heathrow Express costs £26 while the Tube from the same station charges an ordinary fare; the Stansted Express starts at £9.90 booked ahead; the Luton DART is £4.90 for a 4-minute ride. All four big airports plus London City: what to take by day, what at night, where to buy tickets — and why your bank card already is one.
Lost property and seized goods in the UK: where finds are stored, where unclaimed items go, and whether they really sell for pennies
A legend every immigrant has heard: somewhere there is a warehouse where forgotten suitcases and seized goods sell for pennies. We checked the primary sources — it is half true. Transport finds are kept for three months (TfL at Baker Street; Heathrow charges £5 to £25 to return an item), and unclaimed property genuinely is sold afterwards, but at official auctions open to anyone. 'Customs confiscate' offered on social media is always a scam. The whole chain: timescales, addresses, prices and the reseller's taxes.
Where to live cheaply in London: boroughs with rents from £1,500 — 2.4 times below Kensington — and what you trade for the price
Average London rent has passed £2,300, and Kensington sits at £3,690. Yet the map has boroughs where the average let is £1,500-1,700 and a house costs £376,000 against London's £550,000 — ONS figures from summer 2026. An honest guide to the affordable belt: what life there really costs, whether the shops are truly 'half price', and what exactly you pay with — time, the view from the window, and more.
'Russian taxi' in London cheaper than Uber: the saving is real — but only if the dispatcher holds a TfL licence
Russian-language chats are full of 'dispatch services': call, give your flight number — and a Russian-speaking driver meets you at the airport for less than Uber. You genuinely can save this way, with one caveat the size of the law: in London, any minicab is legal only when pre-booked through a TfL-licensed operator. A car without such a booking is, in TfL's own words, 'uninsured, unsafe and illegal'. Here is how to check any dispatcher in a minute, and what a legal ride from Heathrow costs.
Bus fares in England fall to a £2 cap from 1 January 2027 — and how to check your route
The Department for Transport reported on 25 September that children made 14.5 million free bus journeys in August. The same release confirmed what matters next: from 1 January 2027 a single bus ticket in England outside London will cost no more than £2, down from today's £3. Here is what applies now, what you have to apply for, and who travels free all year.
Parking fines in the UK: how to appeal a PCN for free — and why a private ticket is not a fine
A council penalty charge notice in London costs £160 or £110, halved if you pay within 14 days; outside London the cap is £70. A private company's notice is not a fine at all but a contract invoice: capped at £100, with up to £70 added for debt recovery. Both can be challenged free of charge, but the deadlines are strict: 14 days to the council, 28 days for formal representations, 28 days to the tribunal.
London on Sunday 13 September: what is free and what you pay for
Open doors across the city, a free wellness festival at Wembley, Korean barbecue in the Olympic Park, classic boats by Tower Bridge and the Hampton Court gardens. Here is what cost money that day and what did not.
Car owners in Britain: tax, charging zones, parking, buying, scrapping and the truth about “free” cars
How much road tax costs and why electric cars now pay too, ULEZ and the Congestion Charge, where to park without a fine, how to buy and sell safely, how to scrap and get paid, and why “free abandoned cars” is a myth. With the real cheap options.
Transport in Britain: how to pay less, concessions and what to do when it breaks down
Contactless and caps instead of tickets, the bus Hopper, off-peak, a Railcard for a third off, free travel for residents and what to do during strikes. With links to TfL and National Rail.