For somewhere located on the eastern edge of London the commuter has a few choices from Barking on how to get into the center of London and beyond.

Barking station is quite a busy as it is served by C2C services into Fenchurch Street, District line services to Richmond and Wimbledon, and Hammersmith and City line services to Hammersmith during the peak times of the day.

Your chosen service will depend on your destination, if you are heading to the square mile then your preferred option will have to be the C2C trains. These are very frequent and even with some services stopping at West Ham and Limehouse you can still be walking down Fenchurch Street in a little over 10 minutes.

For anywhere else though it will be one of the two tube lines, even though these are a little slower but they are more flexible. Both lines follow the same route, and stop at the same stations until their routes diverge at Aldgate East, with the District line roughly following the river Thames for a while, and the Hammersmith and City heading northwards to visit all the mainline stations of Liverpool Street, Kings Cross, Euston, and finally on to Paddington. However if you are planning to change at West Ham to the Jubilee, or at Mile End to the Central line, taking a short extra walk to the Hammersmith and City train will usually guarantee you a seat, or at least some extra space as these are less heavily loaded when they leave Barking station as most people get on the District line trains as they are more frequent and closer to the entrance to the platforms.

For commuters or tourists wanting to go to Canary Wharf both tube lines go through West Ham, where it is a short walk down to the Jubilee line for the 10 minute journey. A useful tip here is to walk down to the far end of the platform as the trains are usually less busy at the front and your chances of getting a seat are much higher. Changing at Mile End is even easier as its just a few steps across the platform to a usually waiting Central line train, which is perfect if you are heading for Bank, or even further afield for shopping like Tottenham Court Road, or Bond Street.

The district line roughly follows the line of the Thames, passing through some of the mainline stations that serve Kent and other places south of the river, Monument where you can change to the Waterloo and City line for a 4 minute trip to Waterloo, but be prepared for a long walk and forget it if its a Sunday, Cannon Street, Embankment which is a 2 minute walk to Charing Cross (which is actually quicker than changing to the Northern line) then onwards to Westminster for Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, then through Victoria before heading further west.

Whichever line you choose the trains are all quite frequent, with District line trains every 5-6 minutes during the peak, and Hammersmith and City line trains every 10-15 minutes.