Help me with my Tube fears! What routes shall I try?

[Chocalata]

Hi Mumsnetters! I am so ashamed of my Tube claustrophobia and panic, I can’t really talk to friends about it. I need to spend some time in London for work and I am going to spend a day in advance trying to get myself used to being on the Tube again after 4 years. Which routes would you start with that wouldn’t be too scary? And which ones should I avoid as too much too soon? I am going to spend the whole day practising so any advice really welcome! Thank you.

I know this sounds stupid but why don't you catch the bus instead? I know it'll take longer but might be easier for you.

Can you just avoid the tube? I know that’s not that helpful but my personal experience is those kind of phobias are really hard to get over and is it really worth it if you can just get cabs/busses instead?

I am not phobic but I hate the tube and avoid it as much as I can!

My autistic friend lives in London and never takes the tube. Ever. Just catch buses!

I wouldn't bother - you can often walk nearly as fast as the tube gets you somewhere by the time you've done the trek down and ticket barriers etc and its easy to check on google streetview where you are going

If it's really long then bus instead. Or uber

I quit the tube in 2014, unbearably hot and just all round awful.

Would it make a difference if you started with the routes that are largely overground? I'd probably head out to one of the terminuses and take a line that starts overground before dipping under - like starting at Wimbledon and taking the District Line towards Central London. Feels quite train like and suburban for quite a while!

Here's an article about overground tube stations: www.mylondon.news/lifestyle/travel/london-underground-156-tube-stations-18549630

I'd avoid rush hour, or any line where the trains go screetchy or rickety - maybe give the Bakerloo line a miss for a while.

What are the routes that you need to take Op?

I have lived in London for over 35 years and avoid the tube as much as possible!

Don’t force yourself if you don’t need to. London is full of transport- unless it’s totally unavoidable you don’t have to use the tube.

If you do want to go ahead, look at any of the lines that start or end overground - but this is towards the outskirts so you’ll need to factor that in.

The issue really is that even the ‘nicer’ lines e.g. Jubilee Line if you’re panicking and need to get out the labyrinthine nature of the walkthroughs makes it hard.

Keep getting the bus or walk or Uber if you want to. Loads of people never go on the tube.

Maybe go for some of the above-ground sections of the District Line. The trains are also the big and airy walk-through ones. You could go from Hammersmith to Ealing Broadway / Richmond, or Earls Court down to Wimbledon. I don't really know the East side of it so not sure where it goes overground.

The overground sections of the Central Line from Ealing Broadway or West Ruslip to White City are also quite nice, but the trains themselves are the small ones (like the Piccadilly, Jubilee etc).

What is it about the tube that makes you panic? Is it all the people squashed in (pick a quieter time to travel), the small trains, the tunnels?
Maybe check out bus routes as an alternative to the underground bits?

The tubes are back to pre-pandemic conditions in peak times now, so if no-masks and people standing close are going to make you anxious, you should be aware that too.

Thanks everyone! So I think I will have to be on the underground rather than buses as we will be travelling around doing promotional presentations all over London and I won’t be deciding on the mode of transport sadly. I don’t want to make a fuss and ask to go a particular way, but then I am worried that I will panic around other colleagues! So my dear really is the underground bit - the dark and feeling trapped. I lived in New York for a bit and it started there, with full blown panic attacks. I could manage it for a while in London when I came back to UK but they restarted again after having children. I get so cross with myself and my OH doesn’t get it at all.

Thanks @MissSueFlay I am going to get out a map tonight and plot your suggestions and try them first on my practice day. Maybe by then it will be lunchtime and I can have a drink before trying the next level!!!

Start then with something like Baker Street out on the Met line which starts off outside then goes underground - but not deeply underground.

Then the district can be good as well on the Earls Court to Wimbledon bit.

And take it from there.

AVOID starting with the Northern and Bakerloo lines - the oldest ones and defintely the dark feeling trapped bit

@NoSquirrels the walkways are almost the worst but for me, especially if I feel I want to panic and go against the crowd. Which stations have the worst labyrinth walkways - I have learnt with anxiety to arm myself with knowledge!!!

I had therapy for quite severe panic attacks on the tube.
You may benefit from medication also - propranolol is particularly good and non addictive.
In terms of therapy, we did gradual exposure. Pick any tube line. Go down to the platform. Come back up.
Next day. Go one stop. Cross over and come back one stop.
Next day do a longer journey.
Next day repeat on another tube line.
Keep going until you can do a specific journey eg Waterloo to Kings Cross or Euston. If you have a bad experience, you go back to the previous step (not the very beginning). It is totally treatable, and I promise you are not alone. You’d be amazed how many people have a phobia of the tube.

@Quartz2208 thank you! So if I start at Baker Street to practice the Met Line where should I get off?

I got really freaked out by the noise of underground trains in Paris, it helped to tell myself "it's just a noise, if I couldn't hear it I wouldn't be scared, none of these other people are worried about it, so it must be normal." After a while it didn't bother me so much.

OMG @LapinR0se you amazing person you! Well done for facing it. I love the idea of just going to the platform and going back up. Baby steps.

@BertieBotts I had a horrible moment with my children in Paris - I think I managed to mask it from them but it didn’t help with the overall phobia. Well done you!

The overground (the orange line) is airy and more spacious, so could be a good one to start with. It'll get you used to some of the stations (many are shared with underground lines).
Then the trains on the district and circle were upgraded a few years ago and are much more comfortable, and less confined.

Good luck.

@Chocalata baby steps are key. You can do this but not all in one go. You have to retrain the neural pathways that currently go crowds>fear>panic>avoidance so it’s more like crowds>unpleasant but tolerable

I think your colleagues would be understanding, honestly. It’s a common phobia - I’ve lived & worked in London for years and known absolutely loads and loads of people who don’t take the tube theough various degrees of severity of dislike to full on panic attack phobia.

Be honest! Bet Uber is as cost effective if there’s a few of you travelling together and it’s business.

I find the District and Circle are OK as they are not very deep. The Bakerloo, Northern and Jubilee I avoid. My issue is the very long and fast escalators.

Circle line which has air con walk through trains so much nicer. I used to do the journey from Paddington to Euston Square which is quick, and you can get off and out easily if you need to. Suggest late morning or early afternoon.

The DLR route is mostly overground and you do get outside views of Canary Wharf

North from Baker Street is outside so you could go say to Wembley Park and the majority be outside. Then the Jubliee Line also runs and does go underground back to Baker Street and see from there.

Start as well outside of rush hour.

I dont like the tube at all and Met Line/Jubilee/District/Hammersmith I am ok on.

Central/Piccadilly/Bakerloo/Northern (in that order) are for me worse

The other side is that Jubilee line is new (opened in 1979) and from Waterloo to Stratford is new 1997 and the walkways etc are newer and feel more open so you feel less hemmed in on that bit. So that might also be a good place to start.

Certainly I feel less claustrophic on the jubilee than I do on Northern and Bakerloo

I'd agree that London is totally do-able on buses.

If you do want to try the tube, then start on the London Overground, then the above ground bits of the tube, then maybe the Jubilee (relatively modern and clean) or district (old but quite sedate and not too deep). Avoid Piccadilly/Central/Bakerloo till you're feeling confident.

Good luck!