Time doesn’t work the same in London and these theories prove it

After hopping off one tube, you’re now trying to push your way through the hustle and bustle to get your connecting line.

But the doors close seconds before you’re able to jump on and you try not to look too embarrassed about missing it.

As city dwellers, we’re all used to having to wait a few minutes for the next train. But why does a four-minute pause seem to make us 30 minutes late?

On X – the app formerly known as Twitter – Londoners have come up with a theory.

You see, while friends, family and employers think your lateness is due to tardiness, time just isn’t the same in the capital – and there are theories that prove it.

In response to a meme showing Sharon from EastEnders sprinting down the market, people are sharing their oh-so-relatable issues with ‘London time’.

‘Can’t explain it, but when I lived in London, taking a tube four minutes later somehow made you 30 minutes later. Time works differently there’, one person said.

Other commuters weighed in on the theory and the comments are hilarious.

‘It’s the link bruh, the chain effect. That tube might be the difference in catching the once in 30 mins bus/tram/district line,’ one person shared.

Another agreed, adding: ‘It’s the connections, you take the four minute later train, you miss the next one and that’s another five mins to wait, that late connection you miss your last bus etc. suddenly the extra three minutes waits here and there end up being 35 mins’.

Another commuter added: ‘Leaving the house five minutes later makes me 45 mins later to where I’m going’.

Someone else quipped: ‘That’s because, in the world of TFL, a minute isn’t 60 seconds. It’s whatever they want it to be.’

The ‘unwritten math’ of London time was explained by a commenter, who shared: ‘Every minute you’re late means you delay every connecting tube by five times that amount. The cycle repeats. It’s unwritten math that everyone in London knows. Next thing you know your travel time went from 35 mins to three business days’.

Maybe this explains why everyone in London is always in a rush.

Of course there are the unexpected cancellations, delays, and part suspensions in the mix, too. But don’t worry, chances are you’re not a ‘time optimist’ – a person who is ‘habitually late because they think they have more time than they do’. 

You’re just on London time.

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