A folding bike goes almost anywhere on London's transport, at any hour, free of charge. A normal bike goes on about a third of the Underground, and only outside the weekday rush hours. An electric bike that does not fold is banned from the Tube, the Overground, the Elizabeth line and the DLR altogether. Those three sentences cover nearly every question visitors ask.
The rules exist because deep-level Tube carriages are small and because lithium battery fires have made Transport for London much stricter about electric vehicles on its network. Our guide to cycling in London covers riding itself, and hiring a Santander Cycle explains the public bikes, which never leave their docking stations and so never raise this question at all.
Bikes on TfL services at a glance
- Folded cycles, including folded e-bikes
- Allowed anywhere, at any time, on almost all services. Free
- Non-folded cycles on the Tube
- Listed lines and sections only, outside weekday peaks; any time at weekends
- Non-folding e-bikes
- Refused on the Tube, Overground, Elizabeth line and DLR
- Buses and trams
- Non-folded cycles never
- Cable car
- Non-folded cycles at any time; no e-bikes of any kind
- E-scooters
- Banned from every TfL service and station, folded or not
- Charge
- None, for any bicycle, on any TfL service
The rule that solves everything: fold it
A folded bicycle is treated as luggage rather than as a bicycle. It can go on the Tube, the Overground, the Elizabeth line, the DLR, trams and buses at any hour, including the height of the morning peak, and nobody will charge you for it. The same applies to a folded electric bike.
Two qualifications. The bike has to be folded, not merely foldable: carrying an unfolded Brompton through a gate line during the rush hour is a non-folded bike as far as the rules are concerned. And a bus driver may decline to let you board if the bus is too busy, which is a judgement call rather than a rule.
If you are in London for a few days and want to combine cycling with public transport, hiring a folding bike rather than a conventional one removes every restriction on this page. It is the single most useful piece of advice here.
Non-folded bikes on the Underground, line by line
An unfolded bicycle may be carried on some of the Underground but not most of it, and the permitted sections are largely those out in the open air. This is the full list.
| Line | Where non-folded cycles are allowed |
|---|---|
| Circle | Anywhere |
| District | Anywhere |
| Hammersmith & City | Anywhere |
| Metropolitan | Anywhere |
| Bakerloo | Between Queen's Park and Harrow & Wealdstone |
| Central | Between Leyton, Epping and Newbury Park (via Hainault only); and between White City, Ealing Broadway and West Ruislip |
| Jubilee | Between Stratford and Canning Town; and between Finchley Road and Stanmore |
| Northern | Between Golders Green and Hendon Central; between Colindale and Edgware; and between East Finchley, Mill Hill East and High Barnet |
| Piccadilly | Between Oakwood and Cockfosters; and between Barons Court, Hounslow West and Uxbridge |
| Victoria, Waterloo & City | Nowhere |
Look at that list and a pattern appears: the four sub-surface lines take bikes everywhere, and the deep lines take them only on their outer, open-air sections. In practice, if your journey stays on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City or Metropolitan lines, you can cross a great deal of central London with a bicycle. Anything that needs the Victoria line or the middle of the Northern line, you cannot.
The time windows
On the Tube, the Overground and the DLR, non-folded bikes are allowed:
- Monday to Friday: before 07:30, between 09:30 and 16:00, and after 19:00.
- Saturday, Sunday and bank holidays: at any time.
These windows are wider than the fare peaks, which run 06:30 to 09:30 and 16:00 to 19:00, so a bike is banned in the afternoon from 16:00 while the fare peak also starts at 16:00, but the morning ban begins an hour later than the fare peak. Our guide to avoiding the rush hour has the fare times; for a bicycle, remember 07:30 and 19:00.
The Overground has one useful exception in each direction. Non-folded cycles are allowed on trains leaving Liverpool Street towards Chingford, Enfield Town or Cheshunt between 07:30 and 09:30, and on trains arriving at Liverpool Street from those places between 16:00 and 19:00, because those are the counter-peak directions.
Weekends are the time to plan a bike-and-train day. At weekends and on bank holidays every permitted section is open all day with no time restriction, which turns the District and Metropolitan lines into a way of reaching the western edge of London with a bicycle and riding back along the river or the canal.
The Elizabeth line, the DLR and the interchange trap
The Elizabeth line has its own set of windows, and they are direction-specific. On weekdays, non-folded cycles are allowed on trains arriving at Liverpool Street from the Shenfield direction before 07:30 and after 09:30, and on trains leaving Liverpool Street towards Shenfield before 16:00 and after 19:00. The same pattern applies at Paddington for trains to and from the west. Between Paddington and Abbey Wood the ordinary windows apply: before 07:30, 09:30 to 16:00, and after 19:00. Weekends and bank holidays are unrestricted.
Then comes the part that catches people out. At five stations you cannot change from the Elizabeth line to the Tube with a non-folded bicycle at all:
- Tottenham Court Road, for the Central or Northern lines
- Bond Street, for the Jubilee line
- Paddington, for the Bakerloo line
- Liverpool Street, for the Central and Northern lines
- Stratford, for the Central line
These are the busiest interchange passages on the network. If your plan involves arriving at Tottenham Court Road on the Elizabeth line and continuing north on the Northern line with a bike, it does not work; you will have to ride between the two stations instead. Our guides to the Elizabeth line and to the DLR and the Overground cover the lines themselves.
On the DLR the standard weekday windows apply, with one restriction: only folded cycles may be carried on services to or from Bank, at any time. Bank is reached by a long escalator tunnel, which is the reason.
Electric bikes are the big exception
This is the rule that has changed most in recent years, and it is stricter than most visitors expect.
An electric bike that does not fold is barred from most of the TfL network: the Tube, the Overground, the Elizabeth line and the DLR all refuse it. The ban covers ordinary bicycles that have been converted with an aftermarket kit, which is the type most often involved in battery fires. Mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs, including powered attachments for wheelchairs, are not affected and remain allowed.
Non-folding e-bikes are allowed on the Woolwich Ferry, on the Silvertown Tunnel cycle shuttle, and on some river and coach services, where you should check with the operator first. A folded e-bike, by contrast, is treated like any other folded bike and can go almost anywhere, with one exception: no e-bike of any kind, folded or not, is allowed on the cable car.
E-scooters are banned outright from every TfL service and every TfL station, even folded, and TfL says the fine can reach £1,000. Non-motorised kick scooters can still be carried. Our guide to e-scooters and e-bikes in London covers the wider legal position on riding them.
Buses, trams, boats and the cable car
No bus and no tram in London will carry an unfolded bicycle, at any hour, on any route. A folded bike is allowed, subject to the driver's discretion when the bus is crowded. Our guide to London's buses explains the space situation on board.
Most river services carry non-folded bikes, but TfL advises checking with the operator before you turn up. On the Uber Boat river bus there are ten bike spaces on the larger boats and no charge, which makes a river crossing with a bicycle one of the pleasanter ways to move around east London.
The London Cable Car takes a non-folded bicycle at any time, and there is no charge for bikes before 10:30 on weekdays. No e-bikes, as above. It is the only way to cross the Thames in the air with a bicycle, and the ten-minute ride is a genuine experience rather than just a crossing.
A conversion kit makes an ordinary bike an e-bike. If you have fitted a motor to a conventional bicycle, TfL treats it exactly as it treats a factory-built e-bike: banned from the Tube, Overground, Elizabeth line and DLR unless it folds. Staff do look, and the battery is the giveaway.
Day trips out of London
Once you leave the TfL network, the rules belong to the individual train company, and they vary a great deal. Some require a free reservation for a bicycle, some limit each train to two bikes, and some ban them entirely at peak times. National Rail's journey planner marks services with a PlusBike icon that shows what each one allows, and that is the only reliable way to check a specific train.
Plan this before you buy the ticket, not at the platform. A reservation for the bike is separate from the ticket for you, and on a busy summer Saturday towards the coast the bike spaces go first. Our guide to buying UK train tickets covers the ticket side, and our day trips from London section suggests where to go.
Coaches vary too. Some operators carry a bicycle in the hold for a fee if you book it in advance, others refuse. Ask before you book.
At the station with a bike
Practical details that the rules pages do not mention. Use the wide gate at the barrier, which every gate line has, and touch your card on the reader beside it. Lifts are for people who need them, but with a bicycle you will usually be waved into one if there is room. On an escalator with a bicycle, do not: carry it up the stairs or find the lift instead.
On the train, stand with the bike in the space by the doors and hold it upright by the handlebars and saddle. Sub-surface line carriages have more room than deep-level ones, which is another reason the permitted list looks the way it does. Our notes on carrying luggage on the Tube apply almost word for word to a bicycle, and step-free travel explains which stations have lifts at all.
Finally, if a member of staff tells you that you cannot bring the bike on, that is the end of the conversation. The lists on this page are TfL's published rules, but station staff can restrict further when a platform is crowded or a service is disrupted, and they do. Our guide to the Underground covers how the network is staffed.
Frequently asked questions
Which Tube lines allow bicycles?
Only a folded bike goes everywhere. A non-folded bicycle is allowed on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines anywhere, and on listed outer sections of the Bakerloo, Central, Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines. It is never allowed on the Victoria or Waterloo & City lines.
What times can I take a bicycle on the Tube?
On weekdays, before 07:30, between 09:30 and 16:00, and after 19:00. At weekends and on bank holidays there is no time restriction on the permitted sections. The Elizabeth line has its own direction-specific windows, and the Overground allows bikes in the counter-peak direction from Liverpool Street.
Are electric bikes allowed on London transport?
Only if they fold. Non-folding e-bikes, including ordinary bikes converted with a motor kit, are banned from the Tube, Overground, Elizabeth line and DLR. Folded e-bikes are treated like any other folded bike, except on the cable car, which takes no e-bikes at all.
Does it cost extra to take a bike on the Tube?
No. Transport for London makes no charge for carrying a bicycle on any of its services, folded or not. You pay only your own fare. On National Rail services outside London some operators require a free reservation, and a few charge, so check before you travel.
Can I take a bike on a London bus?
Only a folded one, and the driver can refuse if the bus is too busy. Non-folded bicycles are not carried on buses or trams at any time. If you need to cross London with a bicycle and the Tube does not allow it on your route, the river bus and the cable car both take bikes.
Sources
- Transport for London - Cycles on public transport (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Santander Cycles (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Cable car fares and cycle carriage (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - River Bus, including bicycles on board (checked September 2026)
- National Rail - PlusBike and cycle carriage on train operators' services (checked September 2026)