London without a car - Baby Jogger City Go Review

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Cars are certainly not a necessity in London. Running costs, congestion charges, and parking issues aside, it is often easier and faster to travel by public transport than it would be to drive.

But what about once you have kids? Don’t you need a car then? We do have a car (and three children), but we pretty much never drive into London. It is very easy for a family to get around in London without a car. In fact, most of the parents I know in London do not have a car.

There are, however, those occasional times when it’s pretty handy to travel by car, or perhaps you are visiting somewhere that isn’t easily accessible on public transport.

This post documents how we travelled around using taxis with our four month old over the course of a day in London.

10am

We are on our way to Stratford Circus Arts Centre to see a children’s theatre show. It is easy to take the train, but we take Baby O’s Baby Jogger City Go car seat in the basket of the pushchair, in case we will want to take a taxi later.

The show is called Bedtime Stories. The children are captivated by the incredibly immersive performance. It’s a touching story about the mum/child relationship, bedtime struggles, and dreams. And in a fun twist, the audience sit on beds and pillows.

1pm

We eat lunch at Pizza Express, alongside seemingly every other young family in London. Service takes AGES, which means Sam and I drink a little more wine than planned – another reason it’s nicer not to drive sometimes.

3pm

Sam needs to buy some last minute clothes for an upcoming work trip, so we head round the corner to Westfield. It takes longer than expected and now we are running really late for our friend’s party. It’s not on a quick public transport route, so this is where our Baby Jogger City Go comes in very handy.

We load the pushchair into the boot of our Uber XL, strap in the City Go using the usual seat belt installation, and we are ready to go. Thanks to the taxi, we make it to the party somewhere between fashionably late and rudely late.

10pm

Woops. We’ve stayed out far past the children’s bedtime. They lulled us into a sense of security whilst they were running around gorging on sweets with their friends, but we can see the sugar crash approaching fast. Sam and I have had a couple of drinks (there was no way we were going to drive this one, even if it were an option). It’s a 20 minute walk home, and we both know there are not enough hands to carry a child each whilst also pushing Baby O in his pushchair.

We have the City Go with us, though, so yep you guessed it, we call a cab again. We get from door to door in record time and are pretty pleased that we didn’t have to endure the cold and the whinging that would have been inevitable if we had decide to walk home.

Our verdict on the Baby Jogger City Go?

The baby Jogger City Go is very light, and it fits snugly into our, admittedly huge, pushchair basket. So it’s really easy to bring the City Go car seat along with us without needing to give it too much thought. If you have a pushchair from the Baby Jogger Range, the City Go also fits onto the chassis, making things even easier for those occasional times you decide you want to get a cab.

Just because you are starting a family in London, doesn’t mean you have to rush out and buy a car if you aren’t sure you will really need one. It is really simple to use public transport with children, pushchairs, etc. And an infant car seat like the Baby Jogger City Go is a brilliant, flexible alternative for those times when you decide to travel by car or taxi.

Car Safety

As our older two boys are both over three, they are allowed to ride in a taxi using the adult seat belts. (And actually, legally, a child under three can ride in the back seat of a taxi without a seatbelt). These are the minimum legal requirements for children travelling via taxi without a car seat. For a long journey I would want all three children in their rear facing car seats, but for occasional short journeys in 20mph speed zones, we have decided that we are OK to let the older boys go without their car seats.

The safest option would be to bring their car seats too, or even an inflatable booster seat to make sure the seatbelt is at the right height for their smaller bodies. The safest option for a baby is to use a Group 0 infant car seat like the Baby Jogger City Go.