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Today my report is about London trafficbr />
I have divided my report into 3 main categories. That is 1.) local traffic
2.) traffic
3.) and finally the airport
First of all I'd like to give you some information about London's population in general.
London's area has got 1579 square kilometres. (km²). 6,8 million people live there.
The municipal area itself offers more than 1,5 million jobs. Every day 1 Million people go from the suburbs to their jobs. Most of them use public transport. Most important are the suburb trains and the Underground. On the British Island cars drive on the left lane, take over on the right. However in London one should avoid to drive a car. It\'s not driving on the left lane that causes problems but traffic chaos and looking for parking place. Maximum speedlimit on free ways is 112 kilometres per hour and 96 kilometres per hour on all other streets.
"Mind the gap" the voice from the loudspeaker tells, everybody tries to get into the trains, the doors shut and the journey starts. 1863 the first Underground in London was set up. It was not very much like the Underground nowadays. Actually it was not different from a train having some first to third class wagons, which laid under the earth. It was pulled by a steamengine which had a special device against excessive smoke development.
The London Underground is the cheapest and fastest transport. It has got 273 stations and transfers people in a network from about 420 kilometres. Every day more than 5,5 million people use the underground. There are 11 big lines: Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, East London, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria. With these lines you can go nearly everywhere in London without any big problems. The trains run frequently and at an interval of 3 - 10 minutes.
Tickets for the tube are very cheap.
It seems as if the underground hasn't got any advantages. There can be a technical defect, a bomb attack or only a delay. But if these happen then the whole underground traffic stands still, absolutely still. But London has got an alternative. The busses, which also transport about 5,1 million people every week. If there's no traffic jam or
Rush - hour you can also be very quick by using a bus.
Last but not least there are the taxis. The so called Black cabs are very popular in Britain. You can hire a taxi by calling it or simple hail a taxi.
London has got a lot of important motorways and motorwayjunctions of the island. The ringmotorway M25 with its 185 km is one of them.
Driving a car in the city is more a patience test than fluent driving. There are always traffic jams and most of the time the cars stand still. In the rushhours it's very difficult to get on. With the underground you are faster.
Finally I'd like to give you some information about London airports.
Greater London has got 5 big airports. The biggest of all is Heathrow, 24 kilometres west of London. It has got 160 000 take offs and landings a year. Heathrow has got 45,2 mio. Flightguests and it is the 4 th biggest airport in the world.
Gatwick is the 2nd biggest airport in London. Most of the flights in Gatwick are charter and tourist flights.
The London City airport was built in 1987 and is only for domestic and short flights, the other two airports are about 50 km away from London. These are Luton and Stansted.
I hope that I could give you a small impression on London traffic and hope that you have enjoyed my report, thanks for listening.
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