London Underground Stations To Avoid
Londoners all have the Underground stations they don’t use. Here’s a few of my list.
Green Park – I was talking with a friend last night about my experience here yesterday and she also said she doesn’t use the station either, although she has to when she goes to the Royal Academy. I don’t as I will use a 38 bus from the stop just around the corner from my house. Outside of the rush hour, it’s almost as quick and I have to get a bus to Highbury and Islington station to get the Underground anyway.
Kings Cross St Pancras – It may be fully step-free, but it’s another station with endless subterranean passageways and I still get caught out by going to the wrong end of the platform, when getting off a train. If you want to exit, it’s better to go to the Euston Road exits, as that way it’s generally a short walk and an escalator. Following the recommended route puts you in the endless passageways. But again, I have the luxury of a 30 bus direct to the station. When they finish the plaza in front of the station, bus access will get much better, so this station, should improve overall later this year.
On the other hand changing between the deep lines isn’t too bad, which can’t be said for Green Park.
London Bridge – This is another station, designed by an architect with shares in a shoe company. I would never change Underground trains here and avoid getting on them as well. It used to be much easier, when the 141 bus ran from the new bus station. It doesn’t at the moment, as after they’d built it, the sewer collapsed, but in a few weeks it will be different.
Victoria – This is another on the list at present, but probably only until the station and the Underground interchange has been rebuilt in a few years.
Bank – This is another station that I avoid at weekends to change onto the DLR, but it is much better during the week. It’s also improved over the last few ears, with several extra escalators. It will also get better in the future, as I believe it’s getting some more lifts.
Camden Town – It’s just so busy with all the markets and the tourists they attract. It had been slated for rebuilding completely, but nothing is on the cards at the moment. I either use a bus or the Overground to Camden Road station to get there.
I’ve already had a couple of suggestions from a friend.
Mile End – I know this one well and used to use it a lot, when my son lived round the corner. My friend suggests you should avoid it because it is a suicide hot-spot and because of it’s depressing decor. But I’ve always found it a good way to get onto the District or Metropolitan lines from the Central or vice-versa. It also has a very useful black cab rank outside the station, which is rare on the Underground.
Edgware Road – This is the subsurface station, which can be a nightmare as it is the gap in the Circle line. I’ve waited there in the past for a lot more than several minutes to turn the corner to the south. I was talking to station staff at Kings Cross and the new Circle line layout generates a lot of queries, especially from those, who are visiting London after several years.
You will notice, that I often do a split journey using a bus at one end. I also know the bus stops pretty well, so for example, if I was returning home from say Paddington on the Metropolitan line, I’d go to Moorgate station and get a 141 bus from there, as the stop is by the station. In a similar way, say if I was going to Wembley, I’d take a 56 bus to Barbican station and get the Metropolitan from there.
I do hope that Crossrail doesn’t muck up the bus connections too much. After all, it would be easy to go to Heathrow, by getting a 141 bus to Moorgate and then getting Crossrail direct to the airport.
You will also notice that two of the stations I avoid are on the Jubilee line. I don’t think, it was the best designed of the Underground lines and we are paying the price that shoddy design. Spectacular some of the stations like Canary Wharf , Westminster and North Greenwich might be, but couldn’t a proportion of the money been better spent at the interchanges like Green Park, London Bridge and Bond Street.
Westminster always amazes me, as I walk through its subterranean structures. But then it is in effect the foundation of Portcullis House; that grandiose monument to Parliamentary excess.
The Fyra Farce Goes Worldwide
I’ve just been notified of two articles about Fyra; the Dutch/Belgium high-speed train from Business Traveller and Cleveland.com.
I’ve also had a look on the Eurostar web site. They’re saying this.
To travel to the Netherlands book your Eurostar to Brussels first and then your Thalys train from Brussels to Amsterdam, Schiphol or Rotterdam.
I suppose they’re only telling you what is possible.
Let’s face it London to Amsterdam is probably only a similar distance, as London to say Perth in Scotland. I haven’t done that journey but I know it would be one web purchase not two, as incidentally so would London to Geneva on Eurostar’s web site, changing in Paris.
It’s a complete mess and it seems to be getting worse, with little leadership or common sense being shown.
Step Free In Name, But Not Spirit!
Transport for London is rather proud of the work it has done at Green Park station, judging by this page on their web site. Here’s a key section.
The £48m project to provide step-free facilities at Green Park Tube station has been completed ahead of schedule and under budget by Tube Lines and London Underground.
Passengers with restricted mobility, as well as people with heavy luggage or buggies, are now able to use the new lifts at Green Park Tube station to access the Piccadilly, Victoria and Jubilee line platforms.
Other work includes new flooring, ceiling, lighting, tiling and signage in the ticket hall plus new entrances and lift lobbies.
In common with I suspect many others, I rarely if ever use the station as an interchange, as to get from one line to another means a long walk underground.
I do use it though, if I want to come home from the western reaches of the Piccadilly line, as the stop for my local 38 bus is just outside the station and at most times of the day, the upstairs of these buses isn’t full. I’d far rather use an uncrowded bus, than play sardines on the Underground.
So today, as I was coming home, I decided to check out the step-free access at this important station. I arrived on the Jubilee line and wanted to use the lift to get to the surface. I found the lift easily enough on a cross tunnel between the two Jubilee line platforms. I didn’t wait long and the lift whisked me and an elderly couple up to the next level.
To get to the exit, you have to walk miles to the lifts that connect you to the booking hall. So the design fault, that I always hated about this station, is still there. My fellow passengers at this point gave up, as the lady was walking with a single crutch and returned to the Jubilee line platforms.
I walked on and eventually arrived in the newly redecorated booking hall, after coming up two levels. I mentioned to station staff, that this couple were a bit lost and one said he’d check them out on the CCTV. So at least the staff know about the problems down below.
I crossed to the north side of Piccadilly and then walked up the steps to get my 38 bus. The lift is on the south side, which is only useful if I want to catch a bus to the west, which would be unlikely in my case, because of where I live.
It may have all cost £48million, but I do think, the money for the lifts could have been better spent. Perhaps even elsewhere!
The Doors Are Open Again
I came home on a New Bus for London and was pleased to see the back doors were open.
The Doors Are Open Again
The driver/conductor told me, they’d only been shut because of the cold.
This picture also shows one of the nicest feature of the new buses. It has a vertical handrail in the middle of the open platform to hang on to as you enter or exit. It’s just in the correct place for those of all heights.
Some older buses used to have such a handle like this in the middle of the front entrance, but although it was convenient for some passengers, it got in the way of those in wheelchairs or with kids in buggies.
but of course on a New Bus for London, wheelchairs and buggies would never use the rear platform.
Graffiti On The London Overground
The trains in the United Kingdom, don’t often seem to get the awfully boring paint jobs, that you see in many other countries, so I was surprised this morning to this train at Highbury and Islington station.
Graffiti On The London Overground
i hope this isn’t an advance warning of more to come.
Fyra Suspended
The launch on the Fyra trains between Brussels and Amsterdam, must rank as one of the worst launches of any train services in the last few years. We’ve had a few bad ones in the UK, where reliability has been questioned and we’ve also had problems with the wrong kind of snow, but nothing, which seems to have been hated by so many as this train has. The BBC tries to explain the mess here.
If we are going to go back to the future, let’s hope that Eurostar are able to reinstate their beautifully simple ticket to Any Dutch Station.
I will be first in the queue to buy one!
If they don’t I’ll just go by train to that jewel of the Essex coast; Southend, get in an orange aeroplane and hop across to Schipol. The Belgians, Brussels and the planet will all be losers.
London’s Step-Free Bus Stops Show Their Worth
The picture shows the bus stop I used to go to lunch today.
A Typical London Bus Stop
It is typical of many stops in London these days, with a wide pavement reaching out into the road, so the bus can draw close alongside.
This one has the standard shelter with a seat and I suspect a map inside showing all the local routes. It’s also got a litter bin.
It looks like too, that Hackney Council has been keeping the snow off the pavement to make it all very safe.
When I got off, there was no chance I would slip, as I only had a downward step of a few centimetres to get off the bus.
It would be interesting to look at the statistics of accidents where passengers are getting on and off buses. I suspect they’ll be some very bad anomalies.
I also think that the expense of these more spacious stops may well pay for itself in less accidents.
Taking The Prison Bus
I have joked that the 274 bus, is the prison bus for Pentonville a few times, as it always seems to drop of and pick up unfortunate wives, partners and girl-friends in the vicinity of the prison.
I took the bus back to The Angel, so I could get some shopping before coming home.
What surprised me was outside the prison, I was getting a rather strong Wi-fi signal. Was it escaping?
What Is The Dutch For In It Up To Your Neck?
We have had problems with trains including the wrong kind of snow, but the Dutch with their new high speed trains called Fyra seem to have got the wr0ng kind of everything, like politicians, strategy and trains. It’s all described here on a Dutch web site. This is the introduction.
The problems with the Fyra high-speed train service from Amsterdam to Brussels are as much to do with politicians as with the train manufacturer and railway operators, according to the main Dutch railway union chief.
Roel Berghuis of union FNV Spoor says the problems with the Fyra service go ‘well beyond the teething problems when a new train is brought in’.
So don’t knock Network Rail and the train operating companies too much, as it might happen here.
Holloway And Caledonian Road Stations
In some ways these two stations are a pair, but not in their step-free access.
Holloway Road is a classic two lift station, where you descend to just above the tracks and walk down to the platforms. But there is more to this station than meets the eye. Just look at this picture.
Holloway Road Station
It shows two passenger bridges over the westbound platform. according to Wikipedia, the station was built with two lift shafts and experiments were tried out with a spiral escalator. Perhaps the second one was for this device. The tiles certainly show a second entrance to the platforms. That spiral escalator would have been something if it worked.
If Transport for London could find a solution for step-free access here, they could probably solve the problems at other stations, like Covent Garden and Russell Square.
Caledonian Road shows what might have been. The lifts go down to platform level and you step outside, turn left or right and you’re on the platform. Perhaps they made a mistake somewhere and dug the lift shafts too far. But they did create a truly step-free station. But this is curious.
Where Are Lifts 1 and 2?
I found lifts 3 and 4, but where are 1 and 2?
The Anonymous Widower 