Crossing London by taxi, Marathon day

[Deleted User]

On Sunday, we'd planned to return home by train, arriving at Marylebone, 10.00am ish, crossing London by taxi to Waterloo then to south coast, BUT, have realised its the London Marathon. I assume there could be delays, anyone have experience please? 

heatherw_01

I can't advise personally as when I have been there when it is on, I have used the underground which wasn't really affected other than more people as there are a lot more people around.

There is some info on the road closures for the event which might be useful to you seeing as you will be using a taxi

https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com/the-event/road-closures

baser999

At that time of day you should be ok as the earliest racers (wheelchairs) doesn’t get started until 08:40 and runners not before 09:00. You should be clear of the area by the time they get into central London

Alan_Bowen

The road closures start at 0730 but a decent taxi driver should be able to drive down Kingsway, around Aldwych and across Waterloo Bridge without interruption, the only issue is all those that would typically use roads such as the Victoria Embankment are going to be forced onto other roads so I suspect the traffic will be much slower than a normal Sunday morning. Allow plenty of time, and recognise that the meter keeps ticking even if you are not moving!

baser999

Add to that Extinction Rebellion marchers who are supposedly turning out in force, suggested 30000 of them

DullGreyGuy

Copter said:

On Sunday, we'd planned to return home by train, arriving at Marylebone, 10.00am ish, crossing London by taxi to Waterloo then to south coast, BUT, have realised its the London Marathon. I assume there could be delays, anyone have experience please? 

There could be delays but your route doesn't cross the Marathon route so its more about excess traffic taking more easterly bridges than your route being blocked.

If you are going by train to Marylebone and train from Waterloo any reason why not to take the Tube from Baker St/Bond St to Waterloo and avoid road transport?

[Deleted User]

We're both old, frail with mobility walkers. Last time I used the underground I fell going down escalator, the emergency button was pressed, people walked OVER me. Only used a walking stick at that time. 

mr_stripey

[Deleted User] said:

We're both old, frail with mobility walkers. Last time I used the underground I fell going down escalator, the emergency button was pressed, people walked OVER me. Only used a walking stick at that time. 

I can believe that. The tube can be a pretty unpleasant place - especially for visitors who aren't used to it or don't use it often.

A large amount of ignorant and rude people all rushing to jump on the train (even though there's another one coming in two minutes!)

(and i say this as a Londoner myself)

macman

 Waterloo has full lift access, but Baker St does not, so I think to avoid escalators, you'd have to enter the tube via Paddington?

geordiejon

don't know how it will affect the underground but there are more people coming in sunday morning.
man. utd fans arriving at euston for the f.a. cup game and newcastle fans at kings cross for the tottenham match.

strawb_shortcake

I was in London last July and there was a half marathon on that weekend. Trying to get from our hotel near Trafalgar Square to Paddington was not a fun or easy experience.

That was walking though, we very rarely use the tube.