London's Tube network is the most popular way to get across town, but it groans with age — its first line, the Metropolitan, opened in 1863. Today, that line still runs alongside more than a dozen others in a half-modernized system that handles up to 4 million trips a day.
London's entire transit network handles an average of 12 million trips a day — and officials are expecting up to 3 million extra journeys each day during the Olympics.
In all, the British government has injected 6.5 billion pounds ($10 billion) to upgrade the transport network for the games. Whether that is enough is still an open question.
"It can't even cope in normal times, all it takes is one problem and the whole system gets paralyzed," said Tony Shelton, an accountant who was riding the Northern line. His journey was only slightly delayed but he said: "I'll probably avoid coming into town."
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Associated Press Writers Jill Lawless, Gregory Katz, and Raphael Satter contributed to this report.
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