Armchairs Outside St. Paul’s
As someone, who is getting on in years, I do like to see nice places to sit on the street. These chairs were outside St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Armchairs Outside St. Paul’s
I don’t think, I’ve ever seen single oak armchairs before. Sadly, it was so cold and miserable, I just walked on past.
Step-Free Access To The Underground
Coming back from Kings Cross station tonight, I took the indirect route using the Circle line to Moorgate station and then getting a 141 bus from just outside the station to just round the corner from my house.
The reason was that I had a heavy parcel of bedding, I’d bought in John Lewis and my normal change to the bus home at either Angel or Highbury and Islington stations would have meant crossing a major road.
Although I’m not in any way disabled, sometimes I do find that my left hand is a bit gammy and it is better to take an easier route, with escalators, lifts or right-handed staircases. For this reason, I know a lot of the best routes to get around London.
As I went through the gate at Kings Cross, the staff were chatting about step-free access and how difficult it will be to put in at some stations. I said that I think we’ll be finding some innovative engineering solutions used in some stations.
I know that inclined lifts are going to be used on Crossrail, but when I got home I found that at Greenford station, London Underground is going to get its first inclined lift. There’s more here on the Crossrail web site.
I think we’ll see a lot more of these, especially at stations, where there are three escalator positions, but the middle one has never been installed to save money.
The great advantage of inclined lifts is that in these stations, they can be installed without any digging or disruption to the station during the installation process.
I also think that buses have a large part to play in step free access.
As I said, I often plot my routes around London to avoid difficult stations or interchanges. For instance, I don’t change at Green Park station, as although it has lifts and is step free, you can walk miles between trains. Kings Cross too, is a bit of an Underground maze. Often though, the best route is to go to an easier station and then get a bus.
But not all stations have easy access from the trains to the buses and vice-versa like London Bridge, Euston and Victoria.
It may improve the lot of passengers and especially those who are disabled to improve the bus/Tube interface, as it will mean that some difficult stations can be bypassed.
I want lots more step free access to stations, but lets see if we can have innovative and more affordable solutions, that allow more stations to be given the full treatment.
Changing At Clapham Junction On The Overground
Yesterday, when I returned from the New Kings Road, I didn’t come the obvious way of taking a bus to somewhere like Sloane Square or Piccadlly from where I would get the Underground. after all, the last time I did this journey, it took forever. As it was sunny, I decided to walk to Imperial Wharf station on the Overground.
I had three choices there.
- I could go north to Willesden Junction station and then get the North London line to either Dalston Kingsland or Highbury and Islington stations.
- I could also go north on a direct train that eventually ended up at Stratford.
- I could go south to Clapham Junction station and then get the extended East London line to Dalston Junction station.
Dalston Junction station is my preferred destination, as I can walk out of the front and get any of a number of buses to close to my house.
In the end, I let the trains make my decision for me and after looking at the indicators I got on the first one to arrive.
It was a southbound one to Clapham Junction station.
It was the first time I’d done this west to east transfer at the station and it was simple, in that I just walked up the platform and got in the train to Dalston Junction. There was a staff member on the train, so I was able to know what was the front. But on these trains it doesn’t matter as they are walk-through from head to tail.
In some ways it was a surprising way to go from Chelsea to Dalston, but it was painless and probably quicker than the alternative. The view was a lot better too!
The step-free train change at Clapham Junction station was so much better, than those where you have to walk miles between platforms. The decision to split a platform and have one destination at each end, seems to have been an excellent one.
I suspect the only improvement is to have more and longer trains on the Overground. But that will happen!
And Now The iPotty!
I didn’t believe it, when I heard this on the radio.
But the iPotty is here.
I think it’s one of those ideas that might work for girls, but boys tend to spray everything in front, after the experience of our three sons. Or in some cases stand up and poo on the floor in front. I wonder, what that would do to an iPad!
Kenneth Grange Gets A Knighthood
The BBC has at least flagged this up on their web site. But they are not talking about it on the radio.
Kenneth Grange has created some of Britain’s most iconic designs. This from Wikipedia perhaps sums up his philosophy.
He has also said that his attitude to designing any product is that he wants it to be “a pleasure to use”
My question is why has the knighthood been so long in coming?
We may idolise some worthies and a lot of non-entities in this country, but there are few who have achieved so much and created objects for us all as Kenneth Grange.
The Dead Can’t Enter A Plea Of Not Guilty
The media has already found Jimmy Savile and Cyril Smith guilty, but under British law and in fact in a lot of countries, defendants are not guilty until proven to be guilty. Daniel Finkelstein had a long and measured opinion about this in The Times yesterday. He finishes with a plea that everybody has a fair trial and as he says, not being taken to court in their coffin.
But we all tend to be hard on the dead and their perceived crimes.
In a post yesterday, I was being very hard on the man, who decided to electrify the trains south from London using a third rail. I know design faults are not as serious as child abuse, but I’m not alone in condemning the dead.
A Flying Boat From Norway
This was also pictured in today’s Times. It’s an escape life boat for an oil platform being tested by dropping from sixty metres.
There’s a video here, that is really worth watching.
The Times says that the boat can carry seventy passengers and is made of plastic.
Sensible Grab Rails
I mentioned here, that the Transpennine Express trains didn’t seem to have enough things to hold on to, when they are crowded. I took these pictures today in London.
I suppose they were extra and the Treasury didn’t want to pay for them. But on a crowded train, they are a necessity.
Not In Venice
Pierre Cardin is really trying to upset everybody with this design for a building near Venice. The Mail cals it a fashion faux-pas.
And we worry about wind turbines!
Will The New Bus for London Change London Forever?
I could have entitled this post “Will The New Bus for London Change London And Bus Travel Forever?”
It may be an outrageous statement, but then I believe it will.
Yesterday, when I got stuck in the jams at Highbury Corner and the New Bus for London arrived, I was very relieved and felt that the crew would sort out the mess.
I had been prepared to walk down St. Paul’s Road from the bus stop where I stood, to jump on the platform at the back. But the driver stopped and allowed everybody who wanted to get on normally.
Having used the bus for some months now, this is typical behaviour of the drivers, as they seem to delight in picking up passengers, which can’t always be said for everybody, who’s ever driven a bus.
It could be that because these driver/conductors were hand-picked, they only took those, who treated the job very seriously. After all, if they hadn’t done a good job from the start, there would have been a lot of political fall-out.
There is also the Kings of the Road effect. In my youth, those who drove the heaviest of trucks, always felt themselves superior and made certain they never did anything to dent their reputation.
The crew of the New Bus for London seem intent on creating a similar reputation. Talk to one working in their conductor role and they will always say they like both the bus and the job. Especially, as they get to meet the public properly and seem to enjoy the banter and the experience.
We are very much social animals and the New Bus for London feeds on that. If you want to chat, no-one seems to bother and if you don’t then that’s OK too! I’ve said before that the New Bus for London is a superb viewing platform for tourists and those like me, who’re fascinated by the environment.
But remember, this is only the first radical bus design in fifty years or so. I doubt it will be the last and who’s to say that Scania, MAN or the other manufacturers won’t come up with a better and even more radical take on mass transportation.
I’ve said before there’s a war out there, and the New Bus fir London, is just one of the first attempts to dominate the market.
So what in my view, should the design of a bus have.
- It should have at least two doors, so that access is better and the driver is away from the scrum at the exit.
- Obviously, wheelchair access must be to at least the standard on all London buses.
- The bus should at least have hybrid drive. All electric is an option, but until power storage problems are solved, it will always be a novelty.
- It should talk to the passengers automatically, so that they know where they are.
- Larger buses may well benefit from a conductor, as I believe London has shown they do.
- Ticketing must be touch-in like London. This speeds up the buses and increases capacity.
It’ll be interesting to see the next skirmish in the bus war. But in this war, the only winners will be the customers.
The Anonymous Widower 