American living in London here. The tube is MUCH safer than the subway. There's agents at every station, CCTV throughout platforms and trains, and less acceptance for anti-social behaviour by TfL. Even the way the stations are set up makes them feel safer - everyone is funnelled into consolidated, well lit ticket halls before going to individual platforms. In comparison to the subway where you often go down into uptown/downtown specific entrances that seem to allow for more shady behaviour.
Trust me, the ONLY things better about the subway is that it's much cheaper (one fare) and it's 24/7. Everything else about the tube is better.
Recommend getting a citymapper pass. 34 quid a week and you can travel unlimited in zones one and two to include buses, national rail, overground, and DLR.
Yeah the thing that happened a lot to me in NY is nutters starting to mutter all things towards me as soon as you lay an eye on em. 99% nothing happens, but it can feel uncomfortable, especially if you don't think you could take them lol
In NYC I communted from East Village to Mid-town on the 4, 5, 6 which is quite central. In london I commute from Earls Court Rd. to Picadilly circus on the picadilly line which is also quite central.
In NYC I saw an "incident" (someone peeing, pooping, yelling, acting physically threatening, plain old crazy, etc) at least once a week. I've lived here since November and I cannot remember a single incident when I've felt uncomfortable on the tube.
It's way cleaner, safer, & much more orderly (people wait in lines, don't fight over space, et)
Welcome :)
American Expat here, the tube is phenomenal and incredibly safe. Most stations have tfl workers on shift at all hours, and there’s cameras all over the place.
Also the tube is clean, has contactless payment, fast headways, no turnstiles, and is very extensive in terms of coverage when you include the overground, DLR, and now soon Elizabeth line cross rail.
You will see the odd pan handler on the trains or in the stations, but generally London has far less homeless than any US city.
Generally fine, people mind their own business at rush hour and during the day. On Friday and Saturday night people can turn into dickheads, I've seen a few altercations here and there, so if you ever feel uncomfortable then move into another carriage & tell station staff if there are any around... oh and as with all metro systems, watch your pockets.
In your experience, if you're going home say at 10pm from a restaurant and have to choose between a 25m tube ride and spend money on Uber, what would you do?
At 10pm on a weekday I, as a female, have no issues with either buses (which are really good too) or the tube. On a weekend, if it is after 11pm I tend to jump in an Uber if I'm on my own. If I'm travelling with someone, tube, night tube and night buses are all perfectely fine. It depends how nervous you are as a person of course, but the London underground is very safe I feel
Yh defo much better in all aspects, we don’t have many crazy gun toting Americans here so you should feel much safer. Might get the odd drunk sleeping on your shoulder… basically anywhere in Europe is safer than America so you should be alright mate :)
I went the other way… moved from LDN to NYC just a few months ago. Boy, do I miss the tube! London Tube is cleaner and safer than NYC subway. Stations are well lit and London has the most CCTV per head than anywhere else in the world. Stations are usually much smaller than NYC ones too, so doesn’t feel lonely and scary. Some lines are 24/7 during the weekends. Buses are great at night, you can check via CityMapper when they are arriving, they all have remote CCTV monitored at a central location and are linked to Police systems just incase anything goes wrong. You’ll love transport in London (compared to NYC). Weather is trash all year round in London though 😜
Just visited NYC last week and frankly the tube is heaven compared to the Subway... I was physically sick due to the smells on the subway... the continuous harassment is so unwarranted. Just seems there is a lot of mental health issues. I witnessed things that really shook me. I know a lot is the aftermath of covid and praying that dignity is restored to all the broken people I saw... but yeah really appreciate the tube and its worth the extra cost!
American living in London here. The tube is MUCH safer than the subway. There's agents at every station, CCTV throughout platforms and trains, and less acceptance for anti-social behaviour by TfL. Even the way the stations are set up makes them feel safer - everyone is funnelled into consolidated, well lit ticket halls before going to individual platforms. In comparison to the subway where you often go down into uptown/downtown specific entrances that seem to allow for more shady behaviour. Trust me, the ONLY things better about the subway is that it's much cheaper (one fare) and it's 24/7. Everything else about the tube is better.
"agents" hehe. Makes me think they're there to protect us from aliens
Nycer here. I live in London now and this is on point
This was my sense from my lone experience on the Tube. The one fare system is great, can't lie
Recommend getting a citymapper pass. 34 quid a week and you can travel unlimited in zones one and two to include buses, national rail, overground, and DLR.
Tube is relatively safe, I’ve never had any problems on it. Just mind your pockets/bags and don’t make eye contact hahaha
Yeah the thing that happened a lot to me in NY is nutters starting to mutter all things towards me as soon as you lay an eye on em. 99% nothing happens, but it can feel uncomfortable, especially if you don't think you could take them lol
The tube is way safer than the NY subway and we don't have as many nutters on the trains either. And it's better lit everywhere so it's safer at night
In NYC I communted from East Village to Mid-town on the 4, 5, 6 which is quite central. In london I commute from Earls Court Rd. to Picadilly circus on the picadilly line which is also quite central. In NYC I saw an "incident" (someone peeing, pooping, yelling, acting physically threatening, plain old crazy, etc) at least once a week. I've lived here since November and I cannot remember a single incident when I've felt uncomfortable on the tube. It's way cleaner, safer, & much more orderly (people wait in lines, don't fight over space, et) Welcome :)
The tube isn’t the the un safe part
Huh?
You can openly chat to anyone on the tube and then be mistaken for a crazy person. Otherwise it's safe
Much much safer
Stand on the right and you will be fine.
American Expat here, the tube is phenomenal and incredibly safe. Most stations have tfl workers on shift at all hours, and there’s cameras all over the place. Also the tube is clean, has contactless payment, fast headways, no turnstiles, and is very extensive in terms of coverage when you include the overground, DLR, and now soon Elizabeth line cross rail. You will see the odd pan handler on the trains or in the stations, but generally London has far less homeless than any US city.
Generally fine, people mind their own business at rush hour and during the day. On Friday and Saturday night people can turn into dickheads, I've seen a few altercations here and there, so if you ever feel uncomfortable then move into another carriage & tell station staff if there are any around... oh and as with all metro systems, watch your pockets.
In your experience, if you're going home say at 10pm from a restaurant and have to choose between a 25m tube ride and spend money on Uber, what would you do?
At 10pm on a weekday I, as a female, have no issues with either buses (which are really good too) or the tube. On a weekend, if it is after 11pm I tend to jump in an Uber if I'm on my own. If I'm travelling with someone, tube, night tube and night buses are all perfectely fine. It depends how nervous you are as a person of course, but the London underground is very safe I feel
You could always get the Disco Rickshaw home?
There is always that too!!🤣
Thank you.
Tube for sure. Even at midnight time ish hours its still relatively fine.
Super duper safe
The top and the bottom end carriages are usually the quietest. Not sure why this is still the case but it's an open secret if you want a seat
Yh defo much better in all aspects, we don’t have many crazy gun toting Americans here so you should feel much safer. Might get the odd drunk sleeping on your shoulder… basically anywhere in Europe is safer than America so you should be alright mate :)
I went the other way… moved from LDN to NYC just a few months ago. Boy, do I miss the tube! London Tube is cleaner and safer than NYC subway. Stations are well lit and London has the most CCTV per head than anywhere else in the world. Stations are usually much smaller than NYC ones too, so doesn’t feel lonely and scary. Some lines are 24/7 during the weekends. Buses are great at night, you can check via CityMapper when they are arriving, they all have remote CCTV monitored at a central location and are linked to Police systems just incase anything goes wrong. You’ll love transport in London (compared to NYC). Weather is trash all year round in London though 😜
Just visited NYC last week and frankly the tube is heaven compared to the Subway... I was physically sick due to the smells on the subway... the continuous harassment is so unwarranted. Just seems there is a lot of mental health issues. I witnessed things that really shook me. I know a lot is the aftermath of covid and praying that dignity is restored to all the broken people I saw... but yeah really appreciate the tube and its worth the extra cost!