Olympic Walking Routes
Yet again last night, I feel victim to the badly laid out walking routes away from Olympic sites.
From the Olympic park, they always assume you want to get away on the Jubilee line to the centre of London, so late at night they always ban you from going to Stratford, where they funnel everybody across the bridge to the station. As I want the Overground out of Stratford, it’s very difficult for me. They want everybody to walk to West Ham. It’s probably quicker and easier to get to Dalston from Welwyn Garden City, than it is from West Ham.
Let’s face it, the Jubilee line is about as useful to me, as a chocolate teapot.
In the end last night, I walked to Eaton Manor Gate and then found I just missed the W15 bus, I needed to get to Hackney Central for any number of welcoming buses home. I should have taken the Victoria Gate and walked through the park for a 277 or 30. But hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I had a similar problem at ExCel trying to get to the cable-car, where you had to walk twice the length of the Excel building to get going in the right direction. Wasn’t the Emirates Air-Line supposed to be an important part of the Olympic transport network?
I can only assume that Olympic travel routes were drawn up by someone who doesn’t walk or use a bus and probably lives in Houston. They certainly didn’t bring the 488 bus into their thinking, despite the fact that Transport for London said they extended the route to Dalston for Olympic purposes.
They certainly made it difficult for those who live close to the stadium and just a couple of Overground or Underground stops away difficult.
What A Difference A New Train Makes
Getting back to Central London after a match at Wembley has been difficult all of my life, although since the new Wembley Park station has been built it’s been a bit better, especially when the police get their Triggers out.
But these last two days home after 70,000 plus crowds at Wembley have been much easier because of the new 8-car S-Stock trains. These take passengers on the Metropolitan line at 1,400 in each air-conditioned train load, On both days, I went all the way to Moorgate station for a friendly 141 bus almost to my door.
The trains are an enormous improvement and will get better, as track improvements and retirement of the A60-Stock allow higher speeds.
Fifty Shades of Grey On A 38 Bus
After seeing a young lady reading the book of the moment on a Tube, I was surprised to see, another young lady reading it on the lower deck of a 38 bus. And not on a Kindle either!
Fifty Shades of Grey on the Tube
This morning,as I went to the dentist on the Central line, I noticed that the young lady next to me was reading a book. But not just any book, but Fifty Shades of Grey.
It’s funny, but I don’t think a man would even have read Lady Chatterley’s Lover on the tube even a dozen or so years ago.
Hopping On And Off Buses and The Underground
I often don’t do all my trip around London in the obvious and direct way.
Today for instance, I went from The Angel at Islington to Oxford Circus. I could have taken a tube changing at Kings Cross, but in the end I took a 30 bus to Kings Cross and then the Victoria line. So sometimes you inevitably have to choose where you get off from deep underground. Wouldn’t information on the weather be useful? Especially as the weather changed dramatically, whilst I was underground. But I’ve heard complaints of information overload already.
The other thing that irks me is that the Underground is a right-handed world. You stand on the right of the escalators, most staircases are easy to go up and down on the right side and the gates are always set-up to be right-handed. Why can’t at least the wide gates have a touch pad on both sides to speed-up those dragging mobile wardrobes? I always try to be left-handed to give my gammy hand something to do.
No Engineeering Works on the Underground This Weekend!
I wondered where the board with the information was yesterday, as I travelled on the Underground to and from Euston.
But it wasn’t needed!
I suppose someone thought about all the Jubilee traffic.
A Dalmation on the Tube
Dalmations don’t have the reputation of being the brightest of dogs and perhaps this is why you don’t see too many. In fact, I don’t think I’ve seen one since I moved to London.
So it was quite a surprise to see one behaving very well on a lead in the depths of Highbury and Islington station this morning.
A Design Crime – A Badly-Designed Handrail
I noticed this hand rail on a new Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 double-deck bus.
A Badly-Designed Handrail
The supports for the handrail mean that you can’t slide your hand up the rail, as you climb the stairs. The supports too are square, with unnecessary sharp corners.
When you have a hand with limits to what it can do, you want the rail to be as smooth as possible. This is only one example of several that I’ve encountered on London’s transport system. Some of the worst examples are on steps into the Underground.
Paying by Phone
They are discussing this on BBC Breakfast this morning.
It won’t work for me, as I use a 12 year old Nokia 6310i. In fact, I’m now going the other way, taking just one credit card, my camera and my Freedom Pass with me, when I go travelling or shopping in London. I sometimes leave the phone at home anyway, as when I’m in the Underground, there is no signal.
It Was the Jubilee Line Again
When there is a London Underground chaos story, it’s always the Jubilee line, just like it was on Wednesday. I think a lot has to do with Blair’s government, who were desperate to get it finished for their millennium bash at the Dome, so they paid what the workers demanded. But you never hear of such horrendous problems on other lines.
The Anonymous Widower 