Monday’s Friday Reads – 16 December 2019

1. I always find it interesting that when people propose other versions of the tube map, they have stripped it of all the accessibility data. Which they could have done to the standard TfL one to create the same effect.

   And the London Overground seems to work for passengers without unnecessary sub-line names because it quite impossible to have two different London Overground routes from any set of start and end points. If there were the need to pick from different paths, but the ancient-nature of the lines means that passengers never need to choose.

   And at the stations with more than one route (the “core” plus Highbury & Islington, Canonbury, Clapham Junction, Willesden Junction and Gospel Oak) the signage is of the highest quality.

2. Not sure what the lack of alternative routes between the same pair of stations has to do with it really. The desirability of sub-names arises from a journey like Brondesbury to North Wembley, where you have to change at Willesden Junction, but have a small problem finding the right platform. In fact what you use is the equivalent of the Paris system (you have to know or find out that you want a train with ultimate destination Watford Junction). It might be slightly easier if you could follow the signs to the Oerlikon line northbound. But as Brian says, the signage is pretty good, and life in general has bigger challenges than this one.

3. I do wonder about “City Lab” I think they are largely inventing a non-existent problem, certainly if one already lives in a (different) large city.
   I had zero problems with the Paris Metro ( & other lignes ) when I first went there, though I was concerned. But, it turned out that it was “just another UndergounD”. Ditto for Berlin, much more recently. The language is not a problem, provided the signage is good.
   There have been one or two ideas for “improvements” on the ex-Beck map, but they still use the same basic principles.

   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
   “Give me back my footway”
   YES!
   An often-added problem is the appalling signage, or lack of it, or simply wrong directions given under these circumstances.

4. @MALCOLM

   I think what I was trying to explain was that, to the average transit user, the question runs “from the place I’m at is the place I’m going on the same line?” If it is, take that line, if it isn’t the question is “where do I change to get there?”

   This generally works in everywhere London, even though there is the two Northern Lines in Zone 1 which shouldn’t work (but Camden Town and Kenington aren’t on other lines).

   If there are more than two routes, the prospective users count the number of stops: you can often see this in (say) Kings Cross St Pancras Underground station as people from the north descend into the system, people tapping the Tube Map.

   There are some nightmares, such as Acton Town where the signage is appalling at platform level and the whole Fairlop/Barkingside “still via Newbury Park” problem.

   So yes, I agree there are more pressing problems.

5. The problem with the current London Tube map is that it’s morphed over the years into a map of TfL services, thus including obscure lines (Rominster), the cable car and commuter lines which TfL have taken over but NOT including key National Rail lines like the Thameslink core and the GN Moorgate to Finsbury Park line, both of which would be far more useful for the people who actually use the Tube map to get around. Indeed those lines have been on the Tube map previously.

   It’s ridiculous for example that Cheshunt is on the Tube map but Essex Road isn’t. Or that a tourist arriving by Eurostar at St Pancras and wanting to go to London Bridge might cram onto the Northern Line instead of using the Thameslink because the latter isn’t on the Tube map.

6. It’ll be interesting to see if TfL’s smaller map displayed in the carriages gets a little less North London centric once the branch to Nine Elms opens.

   The exclusion of the under-used Vauxhall to Waterloo to London Bridge overground route from the tube map is something I’m selfishly happy about. It’s nice to be able to get a seat on public transport in rush hour in London!

   But as the route potentially relieves the northern line from nine elms traffic going to the city (and so much of that is expected that they are digging new connecting passages at Kennington), leaving it off the map seems just as odd as the exclusion of Thameslink.

7. Bob
   the under-used Vauxhall to Waterloo to London Bridge overground route
   Uh?
   Where – or is that a typo?

8. Unless there’s a strike on, trains to Waterloo typically half-empty at Vauxhall in the morning and it’s possible to get a seat even at 8am.

   Quick stroll through Waterloo to Waterloo East, then the trains from there to London Bridge are never heavily loaded in the morning.

   The same is true in the evening going the other way – the first leg is against the rush hour, and the second has so many trains that picking one with free seats is simple.

   It’s slower than the northern line from Nine Elms station will be, but you don’t need to take a shower on arrival. Or change at Kennington (which is bad now and likely to get worse).

9. Mikey C 17 Dec
   Re. The Thameslink Core on the tube map: although there may be some journeys for which the Thameslink core would be better than than the UndergrounD, St Pancras to London Bridge isn’t one, as it is invariably slower and less frequent.

10. The problem with all the Overground having a single identifier is demonstrated by the status boards. The whole system gets tagged as having delays when it’s actually just a single route. The boards have separate entries for each underground line though.

11. They do love their crayons at City Metric don’t they? I notice that City Metric man even pops up in the CityLab article…
    There’s a simple way to de-clutter the tube map of step-free blobs – make all the stations step free! Maybe by the 22nd century?

12. ROGERB
    On the the other hand from STP (and some parts of the Kings Cross area) the Thameslink trains are a shorter and easier walk than the Northern Line platforms, and a spacious 8 or 12 car air conditioned 700 much easier to get on to (especially with luggage) than a tube train. And the Thameslink service is fast and frequent enough now that the time difference would be minor.

13. “Is London’s Tube map still fit for purpose?” – They simultaneously complain that the map has too much information (Overground) and too little (no National Rail)…

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