The Canadian’s pay-package includes a paid-for chauffeur, but Mr Carney preferred to travel to the City at 6.30am on the Central line, where he spent the journey studying the financial news headlines on his iPad.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that Mr Carney will spend his £250,000 annual housing allowance on a family home in West Hampstead, but has not yet moved in.
In the meantime, he is understood to be staying in a temporary apartment in West London.
City veteran Justin Urquhart-Stewart, who travelled in the same carriage as Mr Carney, reports that the Bank of England governor got on the tube at either Holland Park or Notting Hill.
Mr Carney arrived for his first day at the Bank of England before 7am, but has not yet mastered the maze of exits at Bank tube station, continuing straight ahead, rather than turning right for the correct exit to Threadneedle Street.
Mr Urquhart-Stewart, who runs the asset manager Seven Investment Management on Threadneedle Street, congratulated the Canadian central banker on his appointment, and wished him the best of luck in his new job.
Mr Carney, in return, complimented Mr Urquhart-Stewart on the colour of his socks, a traditional scarlet to match his red braces.
“He was absolutely charming, and had none of the typical pomposity of Brits,” Mr Urquhart-Stewart told The Telegraph.
“It is marvellous to see our new Governor using his expenses wisely,” he added. “Mr Carney has realised very quickly that the tube is by far the quickest way to get into the City.”
The Bank of England declined to provide further details of Mr Carney’s choice of accommodation during his five-year term in London.
In March, Mr Carney’s wife, Diana Carney, attracted criticism for suggesting that the family’s £250,000 housing budget was not generous enough.
Mrs Carney, vice-president of research at the Ottawa-based think-tank Canada 2020, tweeted a link to a story on rich Parisians fleeing France’s punitive tax regime with the comment: “Maybe I’ll be able to find a place to live in London after all.”
She has since defended her right to have “separate opinions” to her husband.
“In this day and age, people are okay with Mark and I being separate people,” she told Canada’s CBC News Network in April. “Though we are married, we are not entirely one,” she added.
Mr Carney’s first duty is expected to be a briefing with BoE officials about the agenda for his first meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee on Wednesday.
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