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Annie Mole's, daily web log (blog) & “guide” to the London Underground
If you like this you'll LURVE One Stop Short of Barking, the fun and informative book about travelling on the London Underground.
Never rode the subway there, so I've no idea how it compares with the subway in New York or elsewhere in the US. If anyone's used the LA Metro, let me know.
At the weekend, I really enjoyed taking a tram up to the Getty Center. The sun was pouring through the windows, the sky was blue, it was warm, the air was clear. If only Tube travel could be like this!
As you can see from the picture below there were fantastic views of Los Angeles. Luckily there was a break in the weather (last week California had big winter storms and it rained from the day we arrived).
Back in London on Saturday, but in the meantime, here's a link to my Flickr set of photos from California, Los Angeles & Santa Monica - will be updating it over the coming week - as I have a backlog of photos to upload from the weekend
Flicking through the eight titles, I was drawn to a film from 1932 showing the 'new' Piccadilly Line extension and seeing how stations that I often travel through now, such as Acton Town and Hammersmith looked back then. You also get to see crowds of thirties commuters (most of the men in hats) boarding the London Underground at Piccadilly Circus & using the ticket halls at Hyde Park Corner.
It's a great collection to browse and dive into, not just for transport buffs, but also to see how film & animation styles have changed over that period.
It's claimed that staff based in Stratford are paid less than "their brothers and sisters elsewhere on the Underground". The pay gap is said to have grown to thousands of pounds.
However, on Wednesday a new proposal was put to the table for the RMT to consider.
Bob Crow the RMT leader said "Despite lengthy talks aimed at reaching an agreement that ensures that Stratford Market depot fleet staff get the same wages as their brothers and sisters elsewhere on the Underground, Alstom have dug their heels in and left us no option but to take decisive action to break the deadlock.."
A TfL spokesperson told the Press Association: "This is a matter for Tube Lines, its contractors and the RMT and we urge them to resolve the matter quickly without any disruption to Londoners."
It's hoped that a decision will be made by Monday.
Update - Jan 27th 2010 - These have been suspended as a new pay offer is now being considered.
The union leader Bob Crow said, of the LU: "It's their bully-boy management style which has forced us into this dispute."
He continued "LUL seem to be hell bent on confrontation by tearing up the Signals Framework Agreement and by unilaterally introducing new working practices which mean they can make people work what hours they like, when they like."
London Underground are denyiing the union's allegations and their chief maintenance officer, Phil Hufton, said striking over rosters was "ludicrous".
He said: "We are planning to introduce a roster covering 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to ensure planned engineering staff are always available. That agreement already exists, but the RMT is trying to tear it up.
"They should stop threatening industrial action at every opportunity."
As yet it's not been announced when the strike action would take place if the dispute is not resolved.
I quite like the way the language is really specific here, as it brings out that nice "jobsworth" official Tube tone "If you fail to hide your true emotions fully or make any attempt to engage with passengers".
I've put in bold where I imagine the emphasis would be if this was ever to become an announcement.
My blog posts will be a bit sporadic over the next two weeks, as I'll be in California for work. I'll be thinking of you & hope your commute & travels aren't too problematic. Whatever you do, make sure you follow the signs about your emotions to avoid the penalty fare.
It says: "To provide customer service and safety, London Underground stations need more staff not fewer. Popular opposition stopped planned ticket office closures in 2008; now we need the same popular opposition to stop them again."
From a safety point of view, I don't think it's a great idea to have unmanned or unpersonned stations. A number of old British Rail stations have suffered an increase in assaults etc due to de-staffing.
"Leaked proposals indicate that up to 144 ticket offices will be closed and up to 1,200 jobs will be axed, said the Socialist Party website.
"Already scores of jobs around the combine are left vacant, with no intention by management to fill them. Many outlying stations are regularly left unstaffed, which is a health and safety risk for the travelling public - who are already faced with the costliest transport system in Europe."
This is probably one a few times when I find I'm in support of the RMT! If you'd like to sign the petition it's here.
It's also pretty frustrating to find unstaffed stations when you want to ask a question or the Oyster & ticket machines are broken, giving you the prospect of a tiresome explanation at the other end of your journey. I wonder how many people will also use the lack of station staff as a way of dodging fares?
Rammi took part and is featured in trouserless at King's Cross Tube in today's Metro! Updating on Twitter she said "I was in the 5th carriage for most of the ride, with foreign young people and elderly women giving me evil looks. I think photographers outnumbered the participants"
My wishes of warmth didn't work as it it was "freezing" at the meeting point in Trafalgar Square, where she tweeted "W00t for coldness and mismatched underwear in public view!" However once on the trains it was really hot and packed at King's Cross.
"After the first stop we all awaited the signal from Team Leader Seamus to drop trou. Initially, when the six of us in my carriage all de-trousered, the reaction was mild surprise.
Or the old "Look! Don't look!" gambit.
I just leaned up near the door, at the end of the car. Reading. Finally the guy next to me (after a few stops) asked me why I took my trousers off.
"It's hot in here," I explained.
"But what about them?" he asked, gesturing to the other bare legs in the carriage.
"Yeah, they took theirs off too," I agreed.
For some reason this seemed to satisfy his curiosity.
Sounds like London - I bet everyone else was dying to ask.
Rammi also pointed me to the video of a trouser removal at Covent Garden. Hopefully next year it won't be freezing & more people will turn up. Well done to the those who braved it & putting London on the No Trousers Metro map!
It may be a little bit too nippy or snowy to happen, but so far over 100 people have signed up to the first ever No Pants Tube Ride or No Trousers on the Underground 2010. The No Pants Subway Ride has been running in the US since 2002, starting on the New York Subway by ImprovEverywhere.
I wondered if it would ever make it to the London Underground and typically on what looks likely to be a freezing cold weekend, on Sunday 10th January there'll be people casually travelling around the London Underground sans trousers.
The aim is to be nonchalant and like the US riders to look as though you've just forgotten to wear trousers. The organisers say: "You can wear fun underwear if you like, but nothing that screams out, 'I wore this because I'm doing a silly stunt.' Wear two pairs of underwear if it makes you feel more comfortable. Don't wear a thong or anything else that might offend people. Our aim is to make people laugh, not piss them off."
Good luck to them, and I look forward to seeing any pictures or video on Monday, that's if TfL don't find some way of suing people for public exposure!
He reviews a freebie (Tube Map) and four at 59p (London Tube 09, London Tube, iTrans London Tube and London Tube Deluxe). In principle I love the idea of London Tube (which sounds similar to the Nearest Tube app at £1.19 for iPhone 3GS phones only) as it's the only one that used augmented reality so "using the iPhone's camera functionality you can see an arrow that points you towards the nearest Tube station. However, there is no departure board functionality and the 'points of interest' feature requires additional payment."
Andreas gives London Tube Deluxe his vote. What do you think? Have you used any others or ones with extra bells & whistles like the Tube Exits app?
I don't think it will surprise many of you to know that cycling won, but what surprised both me and Andreas was by how much!
He said "I made the test as fair as possible by starting and ending the journey standing on the same spot. For tube route planning and estimating journey times I used TfL’s journey planner. Above ground I used Bike Route Toaster to plot a suitable route. I then exported the data to my iPhone which is mounted to my bike using the Bicio bike mount.
According to TfL’s planner the journeys should take:
Swiss Cottage to Covent Garden 21 minutes (Tube) 23 minutes (Bike) Covent Garden to London Bridge 19 minutes (Tube) Not available (Bike) London Bridge to Mornington Crescent 18 minutes (Tube) 23 minutes (Bike)
I won't go into too many details of the Tube journey because it will be about as thrilling as walking down a staircase. Which incidentally made up a large part of it."
His bike journey had some technical hitches with his iPhone app, so he ended up going the wrong way to Covent Garden.
The walking bits on the Tube were done at a "brisk pace" and his cycling was "fast but not erratic", wearing normal clothes & not cycling gear.
Here's the results
Swiss Cottage to Covent Garden 28 minutes (Tube) 19 minutes (Bike) Covent Garden to London Bridge 22 minutes (Tube) 13 minutes (Bike) London Bridge to Mornington Crescent 30 minutes (Tube) 22 minutes (Bike)
"The bike was on average 33% faster. Someone could therefore save 1/3 off their travel times or in the case of these journeys nearly 30 minutes!
The second big surprise was how inaccurate the TfL journey time predictor is. My guess is it doesn't calculate the time required to get down to the Tube and back out again."
Andreas says he's going to try it with some other routes and see what the results are. He'd also like to know if you've noticed anything about journeys you make by bike or on foot & how they compare with making them by Tube. I currently don't own a bike but would be worried about the fumes travelling round central London & also getting knocked off.
With Boris Johnson's craze for bikes & the upcoming bike hire scheme, it would be useful to see more experiments like this. Maybe even a Tube map or an app showing journey where it is faster to cycle!
Webponce joked that the station "is making a transfer request to the newer more shiny Jubilee Line. Either that or we're part of conspiracy to confuse South Londoners."
Any other spots of London Underground stations or platform indicators misbehaving would be most welcome.
Excellent! Helen Duffett has just sent me the mysterious non existent Putney Green Station showing at Mile End:
She said "TfL don't know how/when it got there!" & has put the reply TfL sent her in the comments! Wonder how long it will take them to change it?
Two Tube stations have one picture. Five are made up of two pictures and one Tube station is made up of three pictures. 9 and 10 are stand alone Tube stations with the others all mixed up.
There's no prizes, it's just for the satisfaction of seeing how many you can get. Leave the station names in the comments and try not to look at what other people have left.
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