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Three years, two months and six days is how long it takes to completely master the London Underground network, new research has revealed.

Only 39 per cent of people UK-wide would call themselves a "Master of the Underground", according to a new study.

Sixty-one per cent of Londoners meanwhile considered themselves a "Tube Jedi", meaning they can draw upon immediate knowledge of all aspects of the stations and lines.

Respondents were also asked how long a person needs to live in London to navigate the Tube without help, and the average of the answers was three years, two months and six days.

Thirty-five per cent of Londoners said they would be willing to take a Knowledge-style test to prove their ability, showing commuters' pride in their Tube skills. The research was carried out by Censuswide for MasterCard and Samsung polling more than 1,000 commuters.

Counter-intuitively, the research found that commuters from the West Midlands were most confident in their abilities with 43 per cent saying they do not need to use apps to find their way around London transport.

That compares with only 38 per cent of Londoners saying the same about their own home turf.

However the survey also asked questions to test respondents' real knowledge.

Answering what was the quickest route from Covent Garden to Blackfriars, 50 per cent of Londoners picked the right answer which is Piccadilly Line to Leicester Square, Northern Line to Embankment and then the Circle/District line to Blackfriars.

No Trousers Tube Ride 2018: Londoners strip off on Underground 15 show all No Trousers Tube Ride 2018: Londoners strip off on Underground 1/15 Prior to the event organisers said: "Our aim is to make people laugh, not p*** them off.” @JimmyAvenger (Twitter) 2/15 The stunt ends with an after-party @OrionHombre (Twitter) 3/15 The event has since spread to over 60 cities around the globe including Tokyo, Jerusalem and Moscow Tom @PositiveLad (Twitter) 4/15 Hundreds of people pledged to join the event on Facebook Tom @PositiveLad (Twitter) 5/15 It is part of the worldwide No Pants Subway Ride which began as a small prank in New York in 2002 Tom @PositiveLad (Twitter) 6/15 In 2017, 300 Londoners took part in the gimmick Tom @PositiveLad (Twitter) 7/15 This year marks London’s ninth No Trousers Tube Ride stunt @OrionHombre (Twitter) 8/15 People rode the escalators semi-nude AFP/Getty Images 9/15 One man was captured reading the newspaper casually alongside Underground travellers AFP/Getty Images 10/15 Groups also used cash machines without their trousers as they traversed London AFP/Getty Images 11/15 They were spotted at Liverpool Street station on their travels AFP/Getty Images 12/15 A dog also took part in the prank AFP/Getty Images 13/15 Some participants donned fun underwear and socks for the event AFP/Getty Images 14/15 People made sure to wrap up warm everywhere but their legs REUTERS 15/15 Participants were told to 'act natural' PA 1/15 Prior to the event organisers said: "Our aim is to make people laugh, not p*** them off.” @JimmyAvenger (Twitter) 2/15 The stunt ends with an after-party @OrionHombre (Twitter) 3/15 The event has since spread to over 60 cities around the globe including Tokyo, Jerusalem and Moscow Tom @PositiveLad (Twitter) 4/15 Hundreds of people pledged to join the event on Facebook Tom @PositiveLad (Twitter) 5/15 It is part of the worldwide No Pants Subway Ride which began as a small prank in New York in 2002 Tom @PositiveLad (Twitter) 6/15 In 2017, 300 Londoners took part in the gimmick Tom @PositiveLad (Twitter) 7/15 This year marks London’s ninth No Trousers Tube Ride stunt @OrionHombre (Twitter) 8/15 People rode the escalators semi-nude AFP/Getty Images 9/15 One man was captured reading the newspaper casually alongside Underground travellers AFP/Getty Images 10/15 Groups also used cash machines without their trousers as they traversed London AFP/Getty Images 11/15 They were spotted at Liverpool Street station on their travels AFP/Getty Images 12/15 A dog also took part in the prank AFP/Getty Images 13/15 Some participants donned fun underwear and socks for the event AFP/Getty Images 14/15 People made sure to wrap up warm everywhere but their legs REUTERS 15/15 Participants were told to 'act natural' PA

That was better than the UK-wide average of 38 per cent of people getting the answer right.

The research also ranked Tube stations by how difficult they are to navigate, with King's Cross St Pancras taking the spot as it was picked by 29 per cent of respondents.

Bank came in second with 18 per cent of votes, while London Bridge was considered the trickiest by 14 per cent of those polled.

A gender divide was also evident in some aspects of the research, as 32 per cent of men admitted they had accidentally given someone the wrong directions for tube navigation, whereas only 19 per cent of women had made the same mistake.

The research comes as Mastercard and Samsung Pay offered that their users will be able to travel for free around London on this coming Monday, April 30.

Customers need to touch in and out on London’s transport network using their Mastercard within the Samsung Pay app and they will have their fares refunded by Mastercard.