Anyone with delicate sensibilities may wish to stay off London’s transport network on 8 January 2023, as the No Trousers Tube Ride returns.
For the uninitiated, the event is exactly what it sounds like: people getting together to ride the tube with no trousers on. In the interest of keeping things legal, underwear with decent coverage IS required.
It started in 2002, with New York’s No Pants Subway Ride (steady on: ‘pants’ in the USA are, of course, what we call trousers), and it’s since become an international event. It’ll take place on subway systems in several cities around the world on 8 January.
Why? Fun. Nothing more, nothing less. We went along for the ride in 2019, and spoke to our trouserless co-commuters to find out why they were taking part.
It’s the first time the event has taken place since January 2020, due to Covid, and it’s an extra special one this year, as it’ll include the first ever trouserless ride on the Elizabeth line (well, the first official one — we’re not sure what people get up to on their way back to Reading after a few pints).
How to take part in the No Trousers Tube Ride
Anyone can take part in the No Trousers Tube Ride. To join in, head to the meeting place at Newport Place in Chinatown, WC2H 7JR, by 3pm on 8 January (trews and all other clothes still firmly on at this point, please, and remember a bag to carry your trousers in later on).
Here, the event organisers will split partici-pants into groups, and you’ll follow a group leader into a nearby station. Only once you’re inside the tube station are trousers removed, and people board a tube train. Here’s where it gets fun — the point is to act nonchalant about your detrousered state. Read a newspaper, scroll through your phone, just do whatever you’d normally do on the tube.
The exact route isn’t advertised ahead of time, as organisers are keen that only people willing to remove their trousers and take part turn up. So only go along if you’re willing to bear some flesh. Not too much though — no thongs, banana hammocks or mankinis. Someone’s got to sit on that tube seat after you, you know.
The No Trousers Tube Ride takes place on 8 January 2023. It’s free to take part (except for the tube fare), no booking required.
