News from the Mayor of London

Too many jokes

As Chandler from Friends would say.

I got my copy of The Londoner through my letterbox yesterday and haven't had to time to read the whole thing yet, but it's a laugh a minute as far as the tube and London Transport is concerned:

Front page story: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer actress Alyson Hannigan praised London Transport as she helped to promote Totally London's theatre ticket offers"

Page 3 story - Transport system will rise to the Olympic challenge. The short feature ends "Customer services on the Underground will employ bi- and multi-lingual staff to help spectators from overseas". Cool, having two languages will make all the difference, unless they are the usual ones of "Gibberish and Mumbling" that many staff on the underground use.

Page 7 - "Do you ever glance at the driver of the Victoria Line service as it pulls into the platform and suspect that he or she is not actually driving the train? If so you are right".

This is not an attempt at surrealism or celebrating the fact that most tube drivers that I see, seem to be reading the paper or having a cup of tea when they're "driving" the train. It's a full page article on Automatic Train Operation, way too trainspottery for me to go into on this blog, but basically you'll be reassured to hear it's all done by computers and coded pulses. "Your driver has no control over speed or braking."

Page 8 - full page on the joys of the Oystercard. Too much of an easy target, I'm not even going to go there.

Double page centre spread - What Londoners think about London - The Annual London Survey carried out by MORI for the Greater London Authority provides a snapshot of day to day life in the capital.

"Almost one in four (23 per cent) of Londoners now mention transport as one of the best things about living in London. This is a significant rise since last year. And 74 per cent of people say that London is a city that is easy to get around.

However improving transport remains a priority for Londoners. Top of the list is reducing traffic congestion followed by more reliable buses and Tubes, more investment in the Tube, cheaper fares and improved personal safety on public transport"

Nicely followed by:

Page 15 - "Horror thriller Creep about a woman being stalked through a warren of secret tunnels, is being partly shot on the Tube".

Read The Londoner yourself here. It rox.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Friday, February 06, 2004 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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