Liverpool Street To De Beauvoir Town
I regularly do this journey both ways to get to and from the main line station, which I regularly use to get a train to and from Ipswich.
Getting to the station has now got a lot better as the 21 and 141 buses that are the simple way now stop in Eldon Street by the station.
But coming back is getting to be an increasingly variable and difficult journey.
Take last night!
As I was watching Murray’s progress on my phone and the train from Walthamstow Central to Hackney Downs didn’t have any working announcements, I missed by stop in the dark and ended up in Liverpool Street at about nine o’clock. My normal route from the station these days is the reliable one taking the Metropolitan Line to Whitechapel and then getting the Overground to Dalston Junction, from where I get any of a number of buses to my house.
But last night the Overground wasn’t working due to Crossrail works and the last time on a Sunday night, I had walked to Moorgate to get a bus, I’d ended up walking all the way to Old Street to get one and then I’d waited for perhaps twenty minutes.
So I took the Central Line to Bank and luckily a 21 arrived in a few minutes to get me home.
Crossrail and the lengthening of platforms on the Overground, has made the last two or three years difficult, as you never know what you’ll find when you make the journey. Hence my going via Whitechapel, as on most days that is the most reliable.
It would help if Transport for London provided one stop that was never closed, especially as the only one that seems to be there all the time is the one by Bank, which requires a long walk or a one-stop Tube trip.
After Crossrail opens it will get better, as not only will Whitechapel-Liverpool Street be a fast one stop, but surely the 21 and 141 buses will be an easy and perhaps underground and covered walk from Liverpool Street.
Look at this Google Earth map between Liverpool Street and Shoreditch High Street stations.
Liverpool Street And Shoreditch Stations
Liverpool Street station is in the bottom left, where all the indicated Underground lines join and Shoreditch High Street is in the top right on the orange Overground line.
Surely something could be done to create a better walking route between the two stations.
How To Organise Chaos
At the moment N1 is seems to be in permanent chaos on the roads.
But I don’t drive, so why should I bother?
Every day, perhaps two or even four times, I take a bus to or from the Angel or Highbury Corner.
Yesterday, I wanted to get to Paddington to go to have lunch with a friend in Burnham near Slough. My normal method to that station, is to walk to Dalston Junction and take the East London Line to Whitechapel, where I get the Metropolitan across London. That may seem a long way round, but it’s quite reliable in the time it takes. But yesterday the Metropolitan and \district lines were not serving Whitechapel, due to engineering work. So I thought, I’d get a bus to the Angel, where I’d swap to a 73 or 30 for Kings Cross, from where I’d get the Hammersmith and City Line to Paddington. Highbury and Islington is solid at the moment due to the rebuilding of the bridge, so the direct route up the Essex Road using a 38 or 56 would be sensible. But then that road was locked solid, as they’d decided to resurface it, on a weekend with no Metrolitan Line and jams at Highbury Corner.
It took nearly an hour, to do a journey that takes just twenty minutes normally. I was even later to Kings Cross as there were diversions on the way, which meant I missed my train to Burnham by five minutes. I might have actually caught it, if the ticket machine at Paddington hadn’t gone bonkers and issued loads of blank tickets.
The problems could have been avoided, if whilst they’re doing the bridge replacement at Highbury and Islington, they refrain from doing any other major works.
It was no better today and they’ve now moved the road works further towards me on the Essex Road.
Someone is definitely not getting their project management right!
Poetry In Walthamstow Bus Station
I was greeted by these poems and words on the shelters in Walthamstow bus station.
They are simple and different and even the supervisor was enthusiastic.
Transport for London now need to get the closely related Walthamstow Central station up to a similar standard.
Musical Buses In Malta
Malta has an efficient bus network and as everybody speaks English and seem to believe in Old World courtesy and common sense, using them is very easy.
It is an ideal place to play musical buses, where you get on a bus see where it goes, explore the destination and then get another.
You pay a flat daily charge of €1.50 and the driver gives you a ticket, which you show on all future journeys. This fare system could in the future be modified with the appropriate reader, to accept bank cards as tickets.
The bus company is the same as that that runs the 38, I regularly use in London; Arriva.
Some bus systems are impenetrable to visitors, but in Malta, buses are easier to use than those in say Manchester or Sheffield.
Also Available In Red
I took this picture on Piccadilly after leaving the Royal Academy.
Also Available In Red
As I passed the bus, the tail-gunner recognised me and wished me well, probably because I travel on a 38 up to four times a day and usually sit downstairs.
All very uplifting!
I do wonder though, if new Routemasters do create their own little communities as they cruise around London, which all helps the city run smoothly.
Should Every Train Have A Clock?
Every London bus shows a clock on the stop display and because of this, I rarely wear a watch these days.
Some trains now show a clock on their destination displays too!
I hope this is going to be universal.
An Unnecessary Good Deed
I like to think that I can be a gentleman some of the time.
When I was going home this afternoon from London Bridge, I took the Northern Line to Old Street with the intention of getting a 141 bus from Provost Street opposite Moorfields Eye Hospital.
To get from the station to the stop I first had to cross East Road, walk past the stop for the southbound 43 bus and then cross Provost Street itself.
As I started to cross Provost Street, I noticed a classic little old lady with a white stick, who seemed rather feared to cross the other way. So I crossed over and asked if I could help. She told me that she needed to get a 21 bus south towards Lewisham. I should say that I did do a bit of training with Guide Dogs for the Blind on how to lead people, so after telling her that the stop was behind the building on our left, I guided her across the road, past the 43 bus stop and then across East Road to walk back to the step for the 21.
What was a bit frustrating was that as we crossed East Road, a 21 bus disappeared on its way south.
A few minutes later and with a bit of help from a fellow passenger, who told us a 21 was due in three minutes, I put the lady on the bus to New Cross and her home.
I used the word unnecessary in the title of this post. for two reasons.
I said the lady was a classic little old lady in the mould of Louisa Wilberforce in The Ladykillers or Mrs. Ross in The Whisperers, but she certainly was totally on the ball and without any eccentricities. She was also proud too, that she’d got the bus so easily northwards from New Cross. She also thought it a good idea to try my route next time, of a 43 to say Finsbury Square and then get the 21 from the same stop.
But the main reason, all of my guiding was unnecessary is that if there had been some clear large print signs, she would with her mental and physical faculties managed the walk without any passing assistance. Although, she thanked me profusely, she was a very independent soul, and she would probably have felt really satisfied to have been able to manage the walk unaided.
Surely outside an eye hospital, there will be quite a few people walking around, whose eyesight isn’t 20/20.
As I indicated in Is Silicon Roundabout Going To Become Silicon Peninsular, Transport for London are rethinking the Old Street Roundabout.
They have a unique opportunity to sort out the area for the visually impaired.
My Personal Big Red Taxi To Waterloo
I went to Waterloo on a 76 bus from near my house. It wasn’t busy and I was the only passenger at Waterloo.
Hackney to Waterloo is not the easiest journey unless you take a roundabout route via the East London and Jubilee Lines, changing at Canada Water. The alternative better route via the Waterloo and City Line is not available at the weekends. One of the things that would encourage me to vote for a Mayoral candidate, is if they backed longer opening hours for London’s forgotten line.
Also Available In Red
I saw this New Routemaster on Bishopsgate.
Also Available In Red
It must be a nightmare to keep clean.
Is Silicon Roundabout Going To Become Silicon Peninsular?
Silicon Roundabout or the Old Street Roundabout is well known as the centre of a high-tech area of the UK.
But is that all going to change as part of the de-roundabouting of London by Transport for London, the roundabout will be simplified. The full plan is here. It includes this map.
Note how in TfL’s words in the full plan, it has been turned into a peninsular. Hence the title of this post.
I think car, truck and van drivers will hate it, taxi drivers will do what they always do and adapt and joke, cyclists will love it and pedestrians will probably find it better.
For myself, I would like the bus stops placed so that I could get on a 21/141 bus going northward with only a short walk from the station. Coming from Kings Cross or Euston, I might take the Northern line to Old Street station and then get the most convenient of the number of buses that serve my house. I probably wouldn’t go the other way very often, as getting a 38 to the Angel will probably be slightly quickly.
Whatever you say about the plan, it has been very well explained on a good map.
The Anonymous Widower 