London Transport
London Transport includes the Underground (Tube), buses, the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), licensed taxis and minicabs, river transport and tram routes in South London. An increasing number of train services - called the London Overground - are now also part of the London Transport network, so tickets are also valid on some routes. (Not all, so please double-check before travelling - don't get caught out!)

Undoubtedly the first port of call for any research about London Transport is the Transport for London website, which has tonnes of useful information about timetables, fares, maps, travel conditions and so on. You can also buy some tickets online - even from abroad! Once of the website's most useful features is its Journey Planner, an invaluable tool for finding the best route to your destination. It's especially useful for planning bus journeys, as it will tell you the name of the stop to get off - so simply listen out for it when you're on the bus and you won't have that old problem of missing your stop by miles!

Get a Oyster card!
If you plan on doing a considerable amount of travelling by public transport in London, the best advice is to get Oyster card, the electronic travelcard. Not only are Oyster cards a very easy touch-in, touch-out service, but they also offer a significant discount to ordinary tickets - a one-way journey in Zone 1 costs £1.80 on an Oyster card, but a whopping £4 with a normal ticket!

You can purchase weekly or monthly (or even annual) cards; for most of you, however, we would recommend the pay-as-you-go version. You won't need to obtain a photo card to get the pay-as-you-go Oyster card, and after paying the initial £3 deposit, you can top up the card by any amount (you can even do so online). It's ideal if you're not sure how much travelling on the transport system you'll be doing and, best of all, you can return the card at the end of your stay to get a refund on any money still on the card (as well as the deposit). To obtain one, go to your local Underground station ticket office.

Oyster cards can be used on the Underground, the DLR, all buses, trams, some overground train services and some boat services.

Full details on Oyster cards at Oyster online.

What are zones?
The London transport network is divided into different circular zones. Central London is Zone 1, the area around that is Zone 2, around that Zone 3 and so on. There are in fact 9 zones, althought most of the transport network is within Zones 1-6.

These zones are used to calculate how much transport journeys cost (apart from buses, on which there is a simple flat fare). A journey starting in zone 1 and ending in Zone 6 (which is where Heathrow Airport is) costs more than one from Zone 1 to Zone 4. However, transport gets cheaper the further out you are - so if you travel from Zone 2 to Zone 3, then that's cheaper still than a journey solely in Zone 1.

Some Londoners also refer to these zones when talking about locations in London. So, if you're based or know someone living in Zone 1, then that's pretty much the main part of London. Locals might say they're looking to live "anywhere in Zone 2", by which they mean a cheaper bit just outside the main part of London, but still easy to get there!