Should Thameslink Be On The London Tube Map?
in 2018, Crossrail and an updated Thameslink will be fully opened to form an East-West/North-South railway crossing London.
Transport for London has stated that Crossrail will be added to the tube map, but should Thameslink be added as well?
In the 1980s, Thameslink was for a period on the tube map, as is indicated in this forum.
But the tube map is very crowded around St. Pancras and Farringdon, which probably led to the line’s removal.
London Tube Map
To make matters worse the upgraded Thameslink will call at more Underground and Overground stations, like Finsbury Park, Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill.
So to put Thameslink on the 2018 tube map might not be very easy.
Why Is London’s Transport So Well Mapped?
I’ve travelled all over the UK and a lot of Europe in recent years, and as I don’t drive, I have to use public transport.
What amazes me, is how poor mapping is in most cities and towns outside London.
There are exceptions like Munich, Glasgow and surprisingly, Ipswich, but most are pretty terrible. I’ve even had a letter in The Times complaining how bad the situation is in the UK.
So why is London so much more advanced with its maps, information and wayfinding?
In the 1920s and 1930s when the Underground was going through a major expansion, they probably had a problem with passengers not knowing where they could go!
So this led to Harry Beck‘s iconic Tube map, a version of which is still use today.
In the 1950s, when I started to explore London on my own, my mother told me that if I got lost to find a Tube station, as they had a tube map to me back to Oakwood and a local street map to find what I was looking for. It is still the same today, except that the tube map is more comprehensive and the local maps are generally larger and much better.
Over the last few years London has applied the pre-war principles to the buses, with bus route or spider maps that could have been designed by Harry himself and local walking maps at every bus stop with a shelter.
And then there’s Legible London and all its liths and fingerposts. Wikipedia sums it up like this.
Unlike other wayfinding projects, Legible London leaps over bureaucratic boundaries in order to provide one consistent visual language and wayfinding system across the city. This city–wide approach was implemented to help visitors and local residents to easily gain local geographic knowledge regardless of the area they are in.
In contrast if you go to the Manchester area, Manchester uses one design and Salford another.
London is different to other UK cities and most in Europe, in that it is so much larger.
Consequently, most Londoners are regularly a visitor in their own city, when they find themselves in a part of the city they don’t know.
And of course this applies to those who manage the city, so they appreciate the problem.
If you take a city like Nottingham or Liverpool, most of the locals probably have the city in their head, so they can’t see the point of providing consistent visitor information all over the area. And if it were to be installed, many locals would see it as a waste of money.
So I believe that London’s size is the main reason its information system is so good.
But you must add the tradition started by Harry Beck! He may not be lauded as a great artist, but surely the London Tube Map is one of the greatest examples of public art of all time.
Have I Put In Enough Sockets?
We live in an age, where every device we have has a different charger and everything else needs to be connected to the mains.
My phone, broadband and Sky television lines all come in at one end of my living room, whereas the ideal place for the television is at the other end on a bracket that allows the television to either face the room or be visible from the kitchen.
So I decided to put upwards of a dozen plugs at each end of the room and run three HDMI cables along the wall, so that I could feed the signals to the television. I also ran aerial and Ethernet cables along the wall. Note the two plastic trunkings.
Until now, I’ve just used long HDMI cables, which because they have to go into the back of the Sky and BT boxes, they go round the bend a few times and make everything difficult.
The new layout, has also allowed me to move my laptop, so that when I use it, I face directly at the television, which is much more comfortable.
Is This The Ideal Bread For A Lone Coeliac?
Yesterday, in Marks and Spencer, they had sold out of my usual bread, so I bought a pack of Brown Bloomer Slices.
There are six or so slices in the pack, which costs £3.15, and it is pretty good either fresh or as toast, as the pictures show.
I hope you don’t get the impression that I live on toast and jam, but I am partial to a cup of tea and toast in the afternoon, if I’m at home.
These slices are ideal for me, as they are good untoasted and cut in half they fit my toaster. The toast isn’t bad either!
This loaf would be good, if you’re having a coeliac friend staying for a couple of nights or just coming round for a meal, as the way it’s packed it will keep for a day or two.
But for my purposes of a coeliac living alone, it does everything I need and as a loaf seems to last about three days, that means it probably costs me around a pound a day or fifty pence a slice. As my daily State Pension is around twenty pounds a day, I think I can afford it.
One problem is that as the bread has no crusts, which might cause friction in some families.
I wonder how many cafes and restaurants will start using this bread, as it seems to be in most Marks and Spencer’s stores, except possibly those in stations. The pack size would satisfy a couple of patrons on perhaps two days.
Marks and Spencer have either designed the product and pack size very carefully or they’ve just struck lucky.
I don’t care as the product is excellent.
Lib Dems Dither Over More Runways In The South East
According to a report on the BBC web site the Lib Dems are thinking of making a U-turn over their aviation policy of no more runways in the South East. This is the first bit of the article.
The Liberal Democrats are heading for a possible U-turn over their opposition to airport expansion.
The party has been committed to a blanket ban on the construction of any new runways in south-east England.
But two Lib Dem MPs at the party’s conference in Glasgow have tabled an amendment that would allow Gatwick Airport to be exempted.
I have been feeling that the only policy on airports in the South East that will work in the short-term, is to wait until we’ve seen the Crossrail/Thameslink effect work its way through the system. This will make Central London an enormous terminal to the current three runways at Heathrow and Gatwick. No-one can predict how the passengers will react, but coupled with the growth of Manchester Airport, I suspect that the transfer traffic at both Heathrow and Gatwick airports will decrease as a proportion of traffic over the next few years.
As I write this note it has just been announced on the BBC that Virgin is closing their Little Red airline.
Virgin Atlantic has said it will stop running Little Red, its UK flight network launched in 2013, next year.
The flights between London Heathrow and Manchester will stop in March, while those between Heathrow and Edinburgh and Aberdeen will end in September.
Obviously, it hasn’t been bringing in the transfer passengers for Virgin’s long haul flights.
We should be pushing on with developments that will take the pressure of runways in the South East.
1. Eurostar has just announced that they are making Geneva services easier from St. Pancras. The trains could go to direct to places like Amsterdam, Cologne, Geneva and Lyon from London now, if only governments could sort out the political problems, like immigration and security.
As the European high-speed network grows, we could be seeing a large shift from plane to train, which will mean a big reduction in short-haul services from the South East airports.
The French are even talking about building a new line to make London to Paris under two hours. If they could make onward connections in Paris easier, it would increase the number of passengers going by train from London. Better and more welcoming French stations in the style of St. Pancras and Kings Cross would help too!
2. Over the next few years we will see a tremendous improvement in the rail services between Scotland and the South East. Both the East and West Coast Main Lines are being upgraded to remove bottlenecks and allow running at 225 kph, allowing Edinburgh and Glasgow to be within the magic four hours from London. So will most passengers between the South East and Central Scotland, go by train at the end of this decade?
I think they will and we must do those improvements that make England Scotland rail services even better.
3. An interesting knock-on from the previous point, is that even today Glasgow to Heathrow Airport by train, takes well over two hours longer than going to Manchester Airport. The train services have increased in recent months, but Scots are increasingly seeing Manchester as their long-haul airport of choice.
We should be improving the rail links across the North of England as fast as we can, so that if you live North of the line between the Mersey and the Humber, you use Manchester as your long-haul airport.
All this can only make Manchester Airport a bigger rival to the airports in the South East. British Airways might not like it, but they should fly where the passengers are, not where they say they should be!
4. HS2 from London to Birmingham, will make is easier to go to Birmingham Airport from the South East. This extract is from Wikipedia.
According to Birmingham Airport‘s chief executive Paul Kehoe, HS2 is a key element in increasing the number of flights using the airport, and patronage by inhabitants of London and the South-East, as HS2 will reduce travelling times to Birmingham Airport from London to under 40 minutes.
That makes Birmingham Airport closer to Central London than Stansted, so will we see more flights out of London Birmingham International.
5. Trains though, have some very big advantages advantages over flying.
- They generally go from city centre to city centre, where major cities are concerned.
- There is generally, no requirement to get to the station and be subjected to endless security checks, except possibly in Spain. It’s certainly turn up at the barrier with a valid ticket, which has often been purchased just a few minutes before, sit in your seat and go. When was air travel last like that?
- The UK is also showing the way with creating stations, which are very welcoming with decent shops, bars, cafes and restaurants. St. Pancras must rate with the best airports for what it provides the customer.
- But on the trains, we are seeing more and better services, with an improvement in on-board services like wi-fi and catering.
6. Virtually, the only advantage left to flying by air, is that you can drive to the airport and leave your car in the long-term car-park.
For many though, this is decreasingly becoming another facet in the old adage – Time to spare, go by air!
7. Those wanting a new runway in the South East are discounting ingenuity and innovation.
- Ryanair have said that they will be starting low-cost transatlantic services. Knowing them, they won’t be using an expensive airport in the South East.
- Icelandair have been very successful at getting passengers to split their transatlantic flight. So will we see the same happening in London? Perhaps fly from America to London, where you check out the city and then onward by train or short-haul flight to Europe. This will be more relaxing and London will benefit.
- Airliners will get bigger and quieter, so the amount of runway space we’ll need will be less, but the number of passengers through each airport will rise. The latest Boeing 737s to be delivered in 2017 will carry 220 passengers, as opposed to about 160 today. So if all airliners have that sort of increase in capacity, that is almost equivalent to an extra runway for Heathrow and Gatwick.
So perhaps we’ll get the extra capacity without building it?
But in the end are the passengers having the final say and not flying in the same ways they have for years?
I think that any political party that backs another runway in the South East wants its credentials examined.
Why No Sensible Person Would Vote Lib Dem
The political headlines this morning are about Nick Clegg saying he will raise taxes to cut the deficit.
This may well be what will have to happen but because I’m on a pension, it probably wouldn’t effect me very much.
So has Nick Clegg consigned his party to oblivion, as surely no sensible person in the squeezed middle will vote for someone, who pledges to squeeze them even more? After all commentators say that Ed Miliband’s poor showing in the polls is because many voters don’t trust him with the economy.
But on a wider note, surely for Nick Clegg to say it so forcibly, because of its negative effect, is not the thing to do.
Nick Clegg has had his five minutes of fame, and perhaps now is the time to let someone else have a go at the most forgettable job in British politics!
Match Eleven – Nottingham Forest 2 – Ipswich 2
After Hillsborough on Tuesday, it was good to be in a much better staium in Nottingham.
As is usual at Forest, there was a good turn-out of Ipswich supporters, in a total crowd of over 24,000.
Not A Spare Seat!
It was a pity in a way that Town couldn’t hold on to their lead in a hard fought match.
But I suspect most supporters are fairly pleased we got five points out of three tricky away matches at Wigan, Wednesday and Forest.
One plus side for me was that my two First Class tickets bought day before cost me just £34.35 in total. And I got a proper InterCity 125 rather than a dreaded Class 222, with free tea and coffee both ways.
Why Is It Not Planned To Take The Nottingham Tram To Trent Bridge?
From my limited knowledge of Nottingham, I find the Nottingham tram, a bit of a conundrum, in the way it doesn’t serve the football and cricket grounds.
England has four major cities; Manchester, Sheffield, Newcastle and Nottingham, that use tram or light rail to move passengers around the city. In addition, Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol have heavy rail networks that do a similar job.
Most major sports ground and arenas in larger cities are located on these networks. In fact, some clubs have the tram stop or train station named to connect it to the stadium or club.
There is Arsenal, Upton Park and White Hart Lane in London, St. James in Newcastle, Hawthorns in Birmingham and Hillsborough in Sheffield.
Nottingham has three stadia in the Trent Bridge area of the city; Trent Bridge cricket ground, Forest’s City Ground and County’s Meadow Lane, but surprisingly the Nottingham tram doesn’t go or isn’t even planned to go to the area.
However this lack of connection to the City Ground, didn’t stop the tram advertising in the stadium.
I am totally surprised that Nottingham are spending all these millions on constructing a tram system, that doesn’t go near the area, where a lot of visitors to the city want to go.
Today for instance, after arriving from London, I took the tram up the hill to a restaurant I like in King Street. After my lunch, it would have been so easy to walk to the tram line and then get a tram to the ground! I’d have also probably taken a tram back to the station. So instead of probably a day ticket for £3.70, I bought just one single ticket at £2.20.
And did a lot of walking!
Ovo Signs A Breakthrough Deal
It has been announced in This is Money, that Ovo has joined with Plymouth Council, so the council can be a low energy supplier.
Ovo Energy is set to unveil a ground-breaking deal that could pave the way for local councils across the country to become energy suppliers.
A tie-up with Plymouth council will be endorsed today by Energy Secretary Ed Davey when it is announced at the Liberal Democrat party conference in Glasgow.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot of these deals, as councils get more proactive in helping hard-pressed consumers. Come to think of it, the average council, like my one of Hackney, must be quite large purchasers of energy. So they could be getting a good deal too!
Does this deal also mean that councils are thinking more intelligently about energy issues?
After all my next-door council; Islington, has built the innovative Bunhill Energy Centre to provide district heating and electricity.
So some may well be!
But are we? So many people I talk to haven’t moved away from their large energy supplier.
They’re going to change at some time, so it is best to get the pain over now, as probably like my old supplier, they’ll muck up the change.
But once you have changed, you’ll have a piece of paper with all the relevant details of your supplies and meters, so a second change will be a lot easier.
Thoughts On The Borders Railway
I’ve been looking at a page, which describes progress on the Borders Railway.
To my untrained eye, progress appears slow, but as I can’t find anybody saying it is on the Internet, I suspect I’m wide of the mark.
I did find some commentators sceptical about the railway, but unless someone drops a complete haggis, I suspect that the railway will be a success.
Just look what happened with the London Overground, which wasn’t a new railway, but the rebuilding of a zombie line, where the trains smelt like travelling urinals.
Near me, Transport for London took the old East London Railway, which had been part of the old Metropolitan Line and extended it with some new infrastructure to create the East London Line we have today.
They made two miscalculations with the East London Line and its cousin; the North London Line.
In the first place, they underestimated the passenger demand and they have been playing catch-up ever since, my lengthening trains and platforms.
And then, I don’t think they realised how much property prices would rise along the updated lines.
I also think that no-one has found a way to properly model, the novelty factor, which often gets someone to use a new railway or road in the first place.
I know the Scots are canny people and don’t exaggerate, but I would be very surprised if the costs and predictions for the Borders Railway weren’t very conservative, as they had to satisfy so many different politicians, companies and agencies.
East Londoners immediately liked the London Overground and used it, as they’d never seen anything like it. Clean smart trains running to time, even if some of the stations weren’t up to the standard of the trains, got them excited and they recommended it to their friends. Young people got a new way to get to that decent job a couple of boroughs away. New trains were so much more cool than red buses.
I have a feeling that the people of the Borders will embrace their new railway in the same way and in a year or two’s time, they will be clamouring for more trains and extension of the railway all the way to Carlisle.
So at a time when Scotland is probably getting more independence, the railways seem to be getting joined up again!
One final thought concerns the affect a successful Borders Railway may have on England. Will it give further impetus to the reopening of long-closed rail lines?
The Anonymous Widower 