Tube Map shows hottest spots

TfL have revealed the hottest spots on the London Underground to identify the areas which need the most cooling. The heat map compiled on July 28 - the hottest days of last year, showed the Central Line was the warmest. Luckily it was already coloured red. That part of the network was above 30C (86F).


The baking Bakerloo Line was the next hottest. Between 4pm and 7pm, most of its stations were in the highest temperature band, although things got cooler the further south you went. Even in the coolest stations the temperature hovered at about 25C.

On the map the green areas show 26 degrees, moving up to 29 degrees in the yellow areas, with the read areas at 32 degrees centigrade.

In previous tests, temperatures in some carriages during the summer have exceeded 35C, which would make the network officially unfit for transporting cattle.

The Underground hotspots can be seen on this map and more information is on The Times.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, August 24, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Fat Seats on the Tube?

Baffled underground bosses in Sao Paulo, Brazil say that some seats they've introduced for large passengers aren't being sat on. If they were on the London Underground I wonder how many people would also ignore them? The special chairs at the stations, which are twice as wide as normal chairs and can support passengers up to 550lbs, are supposed to trains cope with rising obesity rates.


But no one is sitting in them. Could be the following: "A sign above each seat shows a cartoon of a roly-poly passenger saying "Priority chair for obese people." said Metro.


"It may be that they don't want to think of themselves as fat or they resent being put in with pensioners and the disabled," said one manager. Well it doesn't take a rocket scientist to work that out.

Any sign saying "large people welcome" or "fat people sit here" isn't the most subtle approach.

Why not just have the seats and let people gravitate to the ones they're more comfortable sitting in? With cut backs on the Tube, perhaps we'll see seats of half the normal size saying "Priority seating for size zero's".

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, August 21, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Delights of the Northern Line

Someone on the London Underground got too excited about showing people the way to the Northern Line. Tom S spotted this enthusiastic sign on Sunday:


You could just hear the commuters not being able to believe their luck. "No surely the Northern Line can't be this way. I've been searching for it for ages. And now you're telling me that I'm almost there. Come on everyone, we've been told it's this way. Hoorah! Our delightful journey on it can now begin".

Maybe the Tube are doing a PR job for it, and trying to brighten up the Misery Line.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, August 20, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Gingerbread man on the Tube

Lovely story & picture from Cole R, which really illustrates why people are mad to travel on the London Underground in any sort of bulky fancy dress:


He said: "I happened to catch this on the Central line. The poor girl in the suit was quite hot and tired (as she fell asleep fairly quickly). The whole ride was quite amusing, though I felt a bit bad for her. She struggled throughout the ride as we all watched her try and get on the Tube in the clumsy feet, figure out what to do with her Oyster card (which was in her suit's hand), and get comfortable in a seat that clearly wasn't designed for someone of her build at that point.

Once she fell asleep, everybody that got on the Tube felt inclined to surreptitiously pull out their camera and snap a shot of it. The tourists loved it the most I think. My shot is above."

I suppose this suit kind of embodies how a lot of us feel travelling on the London Underground. Tired, hot, clumsy, struggling and not knowing what to do with our Oyster card. She should be seen as the patron saint of Tube travellers.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 19, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Design a new Tube moquette

Think you can design something that will be sat on by millions of Londoner's bums? TfL are running a competition to design some new London Underground seat upholstery for the Piccadilly Line. Full entry details are available on TfL's site.


TfL's brief says that: "The design will require applicants to take into consideration certain utilitarian elements, as required by public seating, such as being commercially viable, having a repeat pattern, and not being too small to cause 'dazzle' or 'strobe' visual effects.

However entrants are also encouraged to challenge conventional ideas of traditional seating fabric designs where possible."

I'm not sure what those conventions are but I imagine the design's "wear and tear" will involve being able to soak up booze and crisp crumbs and have the ability to hide footprint & vomit stains. Something I'd also love for the Piccadilly Line moquette is an anti-bag resting repellent (it covers all the Heathrow stations). It would sound an alarm or leak out a flourescent paint whenever it came into content with luggage or the base of a rucksack or large bag.

If there's anything else you'd like to see on Tube upholstery, I'd love to know.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, August 17, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Time Travelling on the Tube

I love the precision of the wrongness of this sign that Luke Bozier took on the London Underground


Luke said that this wouldn't happen anywhere but London. I think it's something that wouldn't happen anywhere but the Tube. They seem to have a thing on joking about the time. Remember the energy saving April Fool at Wood Green station with the clocks being decommissioned to save power. I wonder what the point of having clocks on the Tube is?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, August 17, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Censorship on the Tube?

What's wrong with this poster advertising Quentin Tarantino's new film on the London Underground?


I've walked past this poster for the last few weeks and thought it was a cryptic trailer to deliberately not show the film's title - Inglorious Basterds. I was expecting to see a reveal with the film's name. However, James Cridland's most likely hit the nail on the head here and said:

"What's missing from this picture? Ah, yes, the name of the film... couldn't have people seeing "Inglorious Basterds" now, could we?"

I'd love to know why the Tube thinks the word Basterds is so offensive. Specially considering the ad with the film's title is carried in Metro and thelondonpaper which are handed out freely at Tube stations.

I'm also surprised the distributors bothered advertising it at all if they couldn't use the film's title. Although perhaps they think Tarantino's name is big enough to not need the title as well. There might be something fun about going to the cinema and saying "Can I see that film with no name that I saw advertised on the Tube?"

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, August 14, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Watch out for children on the Tube

Were the staff at Covent Garden Tube trying to say something about the size of children coming through the station?


Tom W spotted this on Monday and also heard the following announcement from the driver of a District Line train: "The next station is Victoria. Change here, surprisingly for the Victoria line, Victoria coach station and suburban rail services. Making sure you take all belongings, luggage and children with you when leaving the train".

Joking aside, some of you probably heard about the child that actually slipped through the gap on the London Underground last week, but was fortunately rescued by a commuter.

Metro managed to find the 'guardian angel' who originally just disappeared after rescuing the four year old at Acton. Tochukwu Mokah said "The mum was screaming. She had already got on to the train and I could hear the train doors trying to close. I lay on the platform and put my hands in the gap. I knew I had to get him out – he was on the track."

It is amazing that you don't hear of more children falling through the gaps. There are obviously lots of "Mind the Gap" announcements, signs and warnings on the platform, but there seems to be little advice or signage about keeping children close by on the Tube or even holding their hands when you get on the Tube with them. A lot of kids I see are quite over excited when they travel on the London Underground. I've also seen a couple of instances of kids who are dawdling being left behind by their parents as the sliding doors close.

Has anyone else seen any signs aimed at kids on the Tube? Or have you seen any particularly unruly kids & wished there were some signs for them?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, August 13, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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London Underground Tube Map Shower Curtain

Blimey, people have been asking me for years whether they could get hold of a London Underground shower curtain, and now thanks to the brill @LDN, I've found out there's finally an official one.


It seems to only be available from the US at the moment. Freshomes site says "The London Underground and Izola have collaborated to release the first ever officially licensed London Underground shower curtain. Printed on 100% PEVA, the curtain is virtually odorless and won't offend the senses with the odors often associated with plastic shower curtains."

Izola who produce the curtain have rightly cottoned on to the fact that loads of people from the UK will want to buy this. It's $29 but "Please note to all London residents that your order will be automatically converted into UK currency. The cost of the curtain including shipping is approximately £30 depending on your exact location. Please feel free to email info@izolashower.com if you have any questions."

Happy showering!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Photo of the Week - Tube Aliens

Just some err.. average commuters on the Northern Line. Thanks to Colin for taking this


He said "I was travelling on a Northern Line Tube from Chalk Farm to Embankment last Sunday and saw these 3 strange people on the Tube train, and thought you might be interested for your website."

Colin actually started talking to them (brave move) and knows the back story to why they were dressed like this. He hasn't got back to me yet, but I kind of like to imagine that they had landed from a distant planet and were truing out the London Underground for the first time.

They'd have probably been quite surprised that in typical Tube style, hardly anyone has noticed them as being remotely out of place!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 12, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Masks on the Tube

Despite all of the swine flu fears, I'm quite surprised I haven't seen more people wearing masks on the London Underground. I imagine it's because most people know that wearing masks don't really protect you against the disease. I was close enough to one guy on Friday to take the picture below and I wondered how many of you had seen people with masks on the Tube?


Dave Hill from the Guardian read a blog post from an American tourist who was totally convinced that the "Stay Cool in the Heat" posters were all about Swine Flu.


She said about the bullet points, they "had nothing to do with the heat anyway. The bullets fed the hype and fear about swine flu (which the media there is freakin’ out about). It's important in advertising, as it is with slides, to make sure you’re communicating one clear message. The call-to-action to 'keep cool' might as well have said to wear surgical masks too."

It's amazing how things get mis-interpreted, although perhaps the guy wearing the mask read the "Stay Cool" posters that way as well.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, August 10, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Animals on the Underground

This is more like a zoo on the London Underground as the fab Animals on the Underground site as put all of the animals seen on Tube map into one image.


They're still inviting people to find other animals by staring at the map in a strange "Magic Eye" type of way until you can spot a cat or a cockerel, stag or snail, whale or wallaby. Nice way to while away the time when you're waiting for a train.

Must dig out my animals on the underground vest as we might be in for a warmer weekend.


Thanks to LDN for reminding me the animals still exist and are still being found!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, August 06, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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£695m upgrade to Victoria Tube station

One of the London Underground busiest & most congested stations is going to have a major upgrade. The Secretary of State for Transport recently approved a major upgrade for Victoria station following a three month public inquiry. When complete, the upgrade will increase the size of the station by about 50 percent with a new ticket hall (see artist's impression below), lifts and additional escalators to ease congestion, and step-free access from street level to all platforms and for interchange.


This will be music to your ears if you're one of the 80 million people who use it every year and like me have spent time standing outside the barriers waiting for the congestion to ease.


Subject to Transport for London's Board approving the £695 million funding for the project this Autumn, construction will start in 2010, but it will take about seven years to complete.

For more on this see TfL's press release.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 05, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Line Song Mugs

We know how the London Underground has inspired lots of songs over the years. Well EMI Music Publishing have got together with TfL to produce some mugs and T-shirts featuring lyrics from songs about London & the Tube lines they feature on.


The range features lyrics written by EMI Music Publishing's songwriters including Suggs, Pete Doherty (from both Babyshambles & Libertines era), Eddy Grant, Ronnie Laine and Sir John Johns (aka Andy Partridge).

Interestingly, the video for The Libertines' 2002 single 'Time For Heroes' shows both Doherty and then-bandmate Carl Barat jumping over the ticket barriers - seemingly without having bought tickets - at an overseas underground station. But let's pass that by!


Each lyric features on the mugs & shirts in two individual designs – one based on the classic London Underground font & and map and one inspired by the song, its genre and era (see the mugs on the right or on this link).


"London and music are inextricably linked, and a huge number of songwriters across all genres and time periods have been inspired by our capital city. We're thrilled to become the first music company to work with Transport for London, and to link the music of our writers with music fans in this new and interesting way." said EMI's VP of Sales Melanie Johnson.

The mugs & T shirts can be bought online at TfL's shop.

It would be great if other music publishers got involved if only to have some Duffy inspired Warwick Avenue mugs, as they'd make a great gift for the cheery guy at Warwick Avenue station.

Let us know of other Tube or London lyrics you think would make a good mug and maybe one day you'll see them!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, August 04, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Answer to DFS Tube Ad

You've probably seen a new ad campaign for furniture shop DFS on the London Underground with some punnage based on Tube stations to promote its sale:


I spotted an interesting response by Charliedotgilbert on Flickr.


Glad he got that off his chest!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, August 03, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Planning dispute delays air conditioned Tubes

There could be a longer wait for air conditioning on the London Underground as Westminster council don't like the "crude" design of an electricity substation needed to power the Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, Circle and District trains.


The substation is due to be built near Edgware Road Tube station but Westminster Council are likely to refuse permission tonight as they reckon the building will be "injurious to the amenity of the neighbourhood", said the Evening Standard.

Wow how bad can it possibly look? Has anyone seen the plans? It's not as if all the buildings around Edgware Road Tube add value to the skyline or neighbourhood.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, July 30, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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"Points of Interest" Tube Map

Haven't seen many spoof or alternative London Underground maps for a while, so it was refreshing to see a work in progress, sent to me by the good folk at LDN Interesting. It takes the Tube map and replaces station names with "main points of interest" for the area. I like how these main points interest should be taken with a massive pinch of salt:


If you look on the whole map, you'll see all of the Heathrow stations simply saying "To other places". Limehouse seems to be just known for Ian McKellen, Camden Town for Goths, Canonbury for Guardian Readers and Kentish Town for Struggling Indie Bands.

Dan Zambonini who came up with the idea is looking for people to help him complete the map, so please leave suggestions in the comments or reply to him on Twitter!

It's interesting to see the suggestions already being made and how people can associate a whole area of London with an actor or a bunch of restaurants.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, July 28, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Nom Nom Nom Voting & Charity Raffle

Some of you will know that I helped to organise Nom Nom Nom again this year, which was basically a blogger's version of MasterChef. It's now time for the public vote and there's some familiar faces to this blog to vote for. L J Rich (you'll remember her from my fab trip on the Orient Express last year) & Jemimah (fab blog post on the day) who made up Team Bork Bork Bork & Cowfish (the evil clue master of the London Transport Museum Flickr Scavenger Hunt) & Eater. I'm sure they would really appreciate your votes!




You've got till this Friday to vote!

Also we've got lots and lots of scrumptious foodie goodies up for grabs in a charity raffle in aid of Action Against Hunger. They include meals out at Le Gavroche, hampers, wine, BBQ sets, fudge and even a lesson at the Cookery School where the event took place. Tickets are only a fiver and as not all of the prizes have been bid on yet, you're in with a good chance of winning. Good luck!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, July 28, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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First new Tubes in ten years

The first new London Underground trains in 10 years have entered the system on the Victoria Line. Look out for them as they're gradually being phased in as part of the £750m Victoria line upgrade.


Peter Miller pictured above said "Completely by chance, just had most exciting experience to be had on the Tube - inaugural journey of new advanced train on Victoria line!"

Kulveer Ranger, the Mayor's transport director, said: "Londoners have heard a lot of talk about investment on the Tube, but now they can see and experience the reality of the upgrades that they have been promised. The new trains are a fantastic, state-of-the-art addition to the Tube network, which - along with signal upgrades - will transform the journeys of those using the Victoria line." There's more on the upgrade & new trains here.

If you manage to find yourself in one, tell us what the journey was like & thanks to Utku for spotting Peter's experience.


He said that he managed to outgeek other Tube geeks on the train when he asked them how the signalling worked & how much software would need updating if a new station were added.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, July 27, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Photo of the Week & Holiday

It's the cheery guys at Warwick Avenue again. SamCarelse spotted this and said "Some sensible advice from London Underground staff during the heat wave".


Thanks to Mags Halliday for the hat tip to this. Plus it's kind of appropriate for me to post today as I'll be going on holiday for the next week, so there'll be a break in posting on the blog.

I'll be relaxing on a yoga holiday in the south of France, near the Pyrenees and am looking forward to no commuting or computers. Have a good week & see you again soon.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, July 17, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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