London Public Transport
At £4 per ride, the Underground has to be the most expensive regular fare metro in the world, by a lot. With an unlimited day pass costing £7 including busses, why offer such a high regular fare? A day pass is less than one round trip! The same marketing geniuses that came up with that one are probably also responsible for giving every line a name instead of number. Take the Picadilly line and transfer to the Jubilee line? That means nothing to me. At least they each have a color. One line whose name I don’t mind is the Circle line. Goes in a circle, that makes perfect sense. The main benefit is that you can’t get lost. To quote myself, “you can go the long way, but not the wrong way”
A slight annoyance was that each train car, regardless of the line had all the lines displayed inside. Sure, the metro stations are well marked, and I can follow arrows, but when I get on, I like that one last reassurance that I’m on the right train. I think the reason they do this is so that any train car can be used on any line. Keeps it simpler maintenance-wise. And it does seem like the do a lot of maintenance. The system is old and on any given day there are announcements about which lines aren’t working or are delayed. My first day in London, I decided not to take the metro and just so happened hundreds of people were stuck underground in the dark for hours. That was a good enough reason for me to use buses mostly. It’s a lot easier to get out of a stuck bus.
I have very good things to say about the London bus system. It’s very well marked. Each stop has a complete map of every bus that comes through it and nearby stops, the routes of those buses, all their stops, time estimates, and a directory of popular destinations and which line gets you there. See pics below. It was all laid out like a metro system map. The buses came very often and the 2nd story gives you a nice view. Many stops also showed when the next bus was coming.
A slight annoyance was that each train car, regardless of the line had all the lines displayed inside. Sure, the metro stations are well marked, and I can follow arrows, but when I get on, I like that one last reassurance that I’m on the right train. I think the reason they do this is so that any train car can be used on any line. Keeps it simpler maintenance-wise. And it does seem like the do a lot of maintenance. The system is old and on any given day there are announcements about which lines aren’t working or are delayed. My first day in London, I decided not to take the metro and just so happened hundreds of people were stuck underground in the dark for hours. That was a good enough reason for me to use buses mostly. It’s a lot easier to get out of a stuck bus.
I have very good things to say about the London bus system. It’s very well marked. Each stop has a complete map of every bus that comes through it and nearby stops, the routes of those buses, all their stops, time estimates, and a directory of popular destinations and which line gets you there. See pics below. It was all laid out like a metro system map. The buses came very often and the 2nd story gives you a nice view. Many stops also showed when the next bus was coming.
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Labels: england, london, transport
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