Roll On 2016
I saw this article in Global Rail News, about Eurostar starting services between London and Amsterdam in 2016.
About time too!
New Buses For London Arrive At Liverpool Street
New Buses for London are now operating out of Liverpool Street station.
What better way is there now to show children Central London, if Liverpool Street is your London terminus? You just take the escalator up to the bus station and go to stop C, where you board one on route 11. Wikipedia says this about route 11.
The bus route passes many tourist attractions such as Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Methodist Central Hall Westminster, St Margaret’s, Westminster, Churchill War Rooms, The Cenotaph, Downing Street entrance, Banqueting House, Horse Guards Parade, Admiralty House, Trafalgar Square, Royal Courts of Justice, Prince Henry’s Room, St Dunstan-in-the-West, St Bride’s Church, St Martin, Ludgate, St Paul’s Cathedral, St Mary Aldermary, Mansion House, and Bank of England.
it will get even better when the route gets its full compliment of new buses and they finish the works at the station for Crossrail.
Will this updating of route 11, help to solve one of London’s worst cross-London transfers between Liverpool Street and Victoria, as this route goes very close to that station for journeys to the south of London? At a quieter time, I would certainly take the bus, but that is always the best way to get round Liverpool Street station’s lack of Underground lines going south!
How Does Liverpool Street Shape Up?
I needed to get my ticket for Ipswich for later in the day, so I travelled S Class to one of London’s busiest stations; Liverpool Street.
It was fairly quiet, but the litter levels outside were worst than at Kings Cross.
Note the clock on the front of the station, which is placed so you can see it, as you walk from the City.
When they talk about good stations, they always seem to forget Liverpool Street, as it was created in its present state in the 1990s when few were interested and it is very much a commuter station. It’s also effectively my local terminus and I often use it for shopping and collecting tickets.
you might do a few things differently today, but in many ways it was a very good updating of a Victorian station. You notice how good it is, when you arrive in the station at a far from busy time. Like at the New Kings Cross and St. Pancras stations, you walk in natural daylight to the barriers and onward to your destination or bus or Underground to get there. Compare liverpool Street to the dreaded Eusless.
Let The Fun Begin
Kings Cross Square is hosting a party over the weekend.
It looks like it could be a good party.
I was pleased to see the area clean, so early in the morning. there has been a report saying on the day it opened it was rather litter strewn.
The Hospital Test
As I travel around the country, I like to apply the hospital test to all of the places I visit.
Imagine, that a friend or relative has been taken ill or had an accident and is in the local hospital!
By going to the local main station or airport, can you get to that hospital easily using information available there?
Some hospitals are easy to do the last link, but for others, the information is sadly lacking.
I’ve just looked up Barnet Hospital, where both my in-laws died. I did find the nearest station and bus information on the web site, but it wasn’t on a front page link, as it seemed to assume most will drive. On the Transport for London web site, I did find a spider map for the buses to and from the hospital. But not in every case, will I have such good local knowledge!
Incidentally, it seems that most London hospitals have their own spider maps showing all buses around the hospital. The only one I can’t find is one for University College Hospital.
How does your local hospital stack up?
Remember a high proportion of visitors will not be in the first flush of youth and many will have mobility and eyesight problems.
The Anonymous Widower 