Driving into London can take longer and expensive as you
have to tackle your way through the traffic jam, pay the Congestion charge and
pay a fortune for parking. If your going into Central London for the purpose of
attending appointments, Job interview, tourism…etc
The fuel would cost you between £5.00 or £15.00 (Source Google
Maps) to drive inside the M25 motorway and into Central London, depending
where you travel from.
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Low Emissions Zone sign
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Depending on the Emission on your vehicle, you have to pay
the Low
Emission Zone to avoid the fine (up to £500), cars are usually exempt from
the Low Emission Zone.
Congestion Charge sign
Plus you have to pay the Congestion
Charge which is £10 (soon to be £11.50) in order to drive inside the
Central London area.
Red Route sign
Also you have to move on because of the double red lines called
the Red Route in
which your not allowed to stop or park which gives you a fine over £130
(usually depends on situation.) Then you have to pay for the parking in which is
between £24.00 for 4 hours parking at Q-Park by Westminster or £58.00 for 24 hours at Arlington Street
operated by Britannia Parking. Parkopedia have more
information about parking and pricing for Central London. Parking on the street
tends to be expensive like £1.00 for 15 minutes where you got to pay and
display.
The
parking fine is usually around £80 or £150 depending on what area you park on
the street.
The total
cost would be between the barrier of £50 or £100 to drive into Central London
and park there. It’s considerable higher depending how far your travelling
from.
London Underground Station Entrance
But the
cheapest option is to commute to London by parking in a Zone 6 station which
can cost at around £5 or £7 at a Tube Station.
Plus £5 deposit for an Oyster
card, depending on the time you travel, it you need to put £20 for the On
Peak price cap of £15.80 (before 9.30am) or £10.00 for a price cap of £8.50
(after 9.31am) to enable you to travel into Central London by Tube or Rail from
zone 6 to zone 1. Also you can get around Central London by bus which is
inclusive from your Oyster card price cap.
If you
don’t want to use an Oyster Card and you prefer to use the Paper Travelcard, it
would cost you £17.00 for an Peak Travelcard (before 9:30am) and £8.90 for an
off peak Travelcard (after 9:30) but when you use it in buses you need to show
it to the driver or the conductor.
Please note not all Tube Stations or London Transport ticket agents is
issuing paper Travelcards so you have to use an Oyster card, the paper
Travelcard is still sold at any National Rail stations. More information on
Oyster price caps and Travelcard prices is on this link.
So you be
spending around £30 depending on the times you travel into Central London by
train or London Underground.
Comparing
by travelling by car or Train into Central London.
Travelling by car into Central London
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Commuting by train to Central London
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Traffic jams in the busy street.
|
Overcrowding when using the train or
Underground system.
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It would be expensive to drive into Central
London and park there because of Fuel, Low Emission Zone (depends on vehicle)
|
It would be cheaper to commute by Train or
Underground to Central London
|
Risk of vehicle being vandalised if you park
on the street. But less chance from parking in a car park in Central London
because of security.
|
Minimal chance of your vehicle being
vandalised if you park it in a train station where the security watch the
cars.
|
You would end up lost in the suburbs of
London if you don’t have a satellite navigator.
|
The train will take you straight into London
and there are signage helps you navigate where you need to go.
|
It takes longer to get to Central London
because of Traffic jams and junctions you have to encounter.
|
It is quicker by train because it stops at
station which takes a boarding time of average at around 30 seconds.
|
Roads can end up being closed which cause you
to divert to other roads.
|
Tube or Rail system can be disrupted by the
strike or engineering works.
|
Conclusion
I think
you be better off travelling by Train to get to Central London, if you live in
a Zone 6 area it still more cheaper that way because you spend under £10 for an
off peak Travelcard to travel to Central London. But another negative problem
is the Tube Strikes which require you to take replacement buses, I be better
off waiting for a few days till the strike ends.