With their alternative plans honed during several strikes that have crippled the city's transport network over the last three years, many Londoners left home a little earlier and walked, cycled or drove to work to arrive more or less on time.
Such preparedness meant many could treat the 24-hour walkout - which has made most tube travel impossible since 6.30pm yesterday - as a minor inconvenience.
For others, particularly those who live further from work and are more reliant on public transport, today proved more of an ordeal. But one thing that unites people in both categories, judging by the comments of those interviewed by Guardian Unlimited, is a total lack of sympathy for the tube workers.
Investment banker James Clenell usually takes 25 minutes to travel from Shoreditch to Canary Wharf (using the East London and Jubilee lines, with a change at Canada Water). His journey today - a longer walk to Shadwell station and a ride on the Docklands Light Railway to Canary Wharf - took almost twice as long.
"I left earlier so I wasn't late getting to work, and I actually enjoyed the walk to Shadwell because it was a nice day. Most people in my team seem to have got in without too much fuss. I think people are just getting used to working round strikes and are more prepared for them.
"But people shouldn't have to worry about whether they can get to work or not because of a tube strike. The drivers lost the support of the public a long time ago - if they ever had it."
An employee of the BBC making her way from Brixton to White City had hoped to avoid the worst of the strike by travelling by rail from Brixton to Victoria - instead of her normal journey on the Victoria and Central lines with a change at Oxford Circus - and then jumping on a special bus service laid on by the corporation.
She left home just after 10am, which is possible because she works flexible hours, in the hope of avoiding rush-hour crush and was able to ride a near-empty carriage to Victoria.
The problems began when she arrived at the pick-up point for BBC workers and was confronted by "a long line of disgruntled employees" who told her that - due to the extra congestion caused by the strike - the bus service was running at least one hour late.
She finally arrived at her desk at 12.15pm - more than two hours for a journey that normally takes 50 minutes.
"This is infuriating," she said. "I have loads of work waiting on my desk and it means I am going to have to stay on very late tonight.
"I would not mind if the tube workers were striking about safety, but it is all about a shorter working week and more pay. Well I have to work much longer hours than them and I also have a daily struggle on a tube system that's regularly delayed."
Anthony France, a writer, was more sanguine after finding that his alternative route actually cut his journey time from Watford to his office in Canary Wharf by 10 minutes.
His normal route on the Metropolitan and Jubilee lines takes about one hour and ten minutes. Today he took a train service to Euston, then the Northern line [running a limited and very crowded service] to Moorgate, before walking to Bank for a DLR service to Canary Wharf.
"Because of the strike, I actually found a quicker route to work that I will continue to use. There are more changes and a bit of a walk, but it is substantially shorter.
"The tube staff at the stations were very helpful in telling me the best way to go, and the hundreds of commuters I saw walking through the City seemed in good spirits. They were just taking it all in their stride, determined to beat the strike.
"I don't think they had any sympathy for tube drivers who earn £32,000, which is more than a lot of people. They are just being greedy."
