London peak hour Tube travel

[Mr Rollison]

Hi everyone,

Hope this is okay for this thread.

I'm back in London very soon for some away day punting.
When I was down in May I needed to travel by Tube at 6pm and it was great as each carriage had about 10 passengers.
Previously I've been packed in like a sardine.

So has it got as busy as it was before?

Traveling round King's Cross, Baker Street, Leicester Square.
Maybe a run to Earls Court.

My first day hopefully will have a punt around 5pm to 6pm but would arrange round peak if necessary.

Thanks for any information.

[Payyourwaymate]

Yes the TFL underground is just about back as it was pre lockdowns. Somehow everyone got dragged back to the office  .

[Vic69]

 I was out in rush hour this morning (something I very rarely do) everyone was packed in like sardines.....back to normal!

[stayer]

I've recently used the Tube in peak hours and, yes, it's packed. Everyone is supposed to wear a mask or face covering but this isn't always done.

[Malvolio]

TfL say they're not back at full capacity in weekdays, and from my experience it's been busy at rush hour, but not packed.

My definition of packed is after a football match when thousands of people all attempt to use the same station at the same time, and it's so tight you can barely put both your feet on the floor.

[bigden40]

I would say busy, but not packed, on Tues-Thurs  Mon & Fri are much quieter.  Well at least on my route (Waterloo-Canary Wharf) that is.

Definitely have been in very busy carriages but have yet to be held in the ticket hall at Waterloo for 15 mins because the Jubilee is too busy or had to let a train pass because it was too packed to get on. So no, it’s not quite back to normal.

[Mr Rollison]

Very grateful for the answers.
I'll adjust accordingly.

There's always the bus, taxi or walking.

[Soho_upstart]

If you are Covid conscious still you will probably think the tube is back to being packed at rush hour, with a lot of people not wearing masks. Some of the other responses are right that it’s not like it is after a game at Wembley but it’s still much busier than public transport outside of London.

[Youngmale1967]

You can find TfL data External Link/Members Only
Piccadilly Line don’t stop at South Kensington might have extra people traveling Earl’s Court to Victoria
On weekends engineering works & a lot more trains cancelled. Circle & Hammersmith & City Line has had lots of cancellations for months.

[Mr Rollison]

Thanks again for the last 2 replies.

I'm down during the week and having checked my departure time I hope to arrive in London about 3pm. Knock on wood.
So hopefully if I punt further away I can leave about 4ish and so be punting during the rush hour. But might stay closer to the hotel and do the traveling at lunchtime.

My reservations are partly covid but more just I previously found a packed tube a very uncomfortable experience.

[Kinkylondongent]

I've been using TFL throughout the pandemic and it's gone from hardly seeing anyone else to back to normal . And only around 10% wear masks .