‘Hottest’ and ‘noisiest’ tube line is actually the best during rush hour – here’s why
You’d struggle to find anyone that enjoys taking the Tube in London during rush hour.
But on a scale of hellish-ness, there are some that could be considered better than others thanks to their frequency.
According to EasyTubeMap.com, the line with the most frequent service during weekday peak times is the Victoria Line, with 36 trains per hour.
This makes the line one of the most frequent in the world. So, if you’re hoping for a swift journey to work, the Victoria Line has got you covered.
The website, which creates various downloadable London Underground maps, has designed a map where the thickness of the lines are proportional to the frequency of the rush hour service.
Coming in a close second is the Central line, followed by a tie between the Northern and Jubilee lines.
At number five comes the Piccadilly, District and the Elizabeth lines, who all have around the same frequency.
Then it’s the Bakerloo, followed by the Metropolitan. then Waterloo & City.
The two lines with the lowest frequency of trains are the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines.
The most frequent tube lines during rush hour, ranked
- Victoria Line – 36 trains per hour
- Central Line – 34 trains per hour
- Northern Line – 30 trains per hour
- Jubilee Line – 30 trains per hour
- Piccadilly Line – 24 trains per hour
- District Line – 24 trains per hour
- Elizabeth Line – 24 trains per hour
- Bakerloo Line – 20 trains per hour
- Metropolitan Line – 16 trains per hour
- Waterloo & City Line – 12 trains per hour
- Circle Line – 6 trains per hour
- Hammersmith & City Line – 6 trains per hour
The map and a bar chart showing the same stats were shared on Reddit.
One person wrote underneath: ‘Always surprises how infrequent the circle line actually is, I’ve waited over 10 minutes for a train to cover the section between Aldgate and Tower Hill or HSK and Gloucester Rd.
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‘As a non Londoner it strikes as very not like London for it to be that infrequent.’
Another person posted: ‘The Victoria line is definitely spot on. It used to be my daily commute and there was consistent tubes coming through during peak times.’
Obviously frequency isn’t the only measure of what makes a line good or bad.
The Central Line, for example, gets the highest amount of passengers, with 260 million people travelling on it each year.
Anyone who has travelled on the Central Line at peak hour won’t be surprised by this. It’s not uncommon to have to wait four or five trains before you can actually get on.
And as for the ‘winner’, the Victoria line – it might be frequent, but it has also officially been named the hottest.
Average temperatures topped 30C during summer 2023, according to TFL data.
The Central and Bakerloo lines were the next warmest with average temperatures of 26.7C and 26C during the same period.
And guess which line was found to be the noisiest in 2022? Yep, it’s the Victoria line again. Well, according to the number of complaints made to TFL about the issue.
So maybe the Victoria line isn’t the ‘best’ in rush hour after all.
What do you think? Is there a line that’s the most bearable during peak times?
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