Personalised Tube Map products

Tired of your blue generic travel card wallet? Want something that's more personalised or important to you? Now you can get wallets, and also mugs, mouse mats, coasters & T-Shirts with a part of the London Underground map that's special to you on it. Including the river! Thanks to London Transport Museum with the click of a mouse you can grab part of the Tube map and get in printed on a range of products.


Last night they launched their "RailOrder" series (see what they've done there). They're part of a number of lovely items which let you carry a bit of London Transport around with you. At the moment the travel card wallets don't seem to be on the site, but the samples I saw last night looked really hard wearing and like they'd withstand several years worth of swiping.

The launch also unveiled some "Routemaster Retro" products. Travel bags, wash bags, wallets and shoulder bags, which have been inspired by the Routemaster upholstery - or moquette


There's even a furniture collection, if you love the feel of sitting on Tube & bus seats so much! I'm told they don't come with added chewing gum and crisp crumbs.


It's great to see the Museum offering items like this. Particularly the personalised map products. I'm told they'll be looking at ways to increase the personalisation even more in the future. It might not extend to changing the names of the stations, but it wouldn't take a big stretch to allow people to personalise messages to the Tube stations of their choice. "Nearly home" or "Back to the office" or "Great pub stop", would make them even more personalised.

Update: Alex Gollner's been playing around with the tool and has come up with some nice looking T shirts really zooming in on certain intersections. See if you can guess where they are.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, September 23, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Can you read these Central Line stories?

Sometimes I think that art on the London Underground ought to be sponsored by brands. The piece below would be a perfect candidate for Specsavers.


Even if you had time to read the stories on this poster, you'd need to have incredibly good eyesight or certainly need a pair of glasses at the end of it.

Helpfully though you can read and even hear some of Sarah Butler's stories online.

Similar to the project where a photographer has taken pictures of staff from each station on the Tube system, staff on the Central tell small stories.

"Central line staff guided Sarah, introducing her to their colleagues and recounting personal tales. These initial conversations highlighted a very human desire to communicate through storytelling.

Together these stories offer the reader a glimpse into the rich imaginations, cultures and experiences of the London Underground staff who you may well encounter on your next Central line journey."

Certainly more interesting than hearing them saying "Stand clear of the doors" or "The next station is Snaresbrook".

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, September 22, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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River returning to the Tube Map

Apparently Boris Johnson was outraged to find that the Thames had disappeared from the new London Underground map and has demanded that it be returned.


Paul Waugh from The Evening Standard blog said of the Thames' disappearance: "I can't for the life of me think what possessed the TfL people to consider this. Did they really think that Londoners are so stupid that they imagine the strip of blue is a new Tube line? Did they not have any feeling for the history of the beautiful Harry Beck design? Did they not stop to think that actually many Londoners divide the city into north and south of the river and therefore it is essential to any map?

Anyway, Bojo has saved the day. I'm told that he was amazed at what had been proposed while he was away and has now ordered that the Thames should be reinstated as soon as practicable. Apart from anything else, Boris wants to increase the river's role as a transport link with the Underground network."


At the moment there's nothing on TfL's website to confirm this. Although Boris Johnson has just Tweeted that it will be back. There's also no word as to whether the zones will return. But by all accounts by December the river will be back at a cost of £80,000.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, September 17, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Roundels not on the Tube

Sorry I haven't done these for a while, but here's a collection of Tube roundels not on the London Underground. I must thank everyone over the years who's taken the trouble to spot these little blighters "in the wild" away from their natural homes in London.

First off a roundel with a word that you certainly wouldn't normally associate with the Tube taken by Pete from the Londoneer


It's from an English school in Katowice (pronounced Cat-O-Vit-Sa appararently) in Poland which he visited over the weekend.

A little closer to home - Hull - was the following spot from Nick Cooper taken over the Bank Holiday weekend:


We cross the pond with the next couple:


"This one's on the front of a gallery on Marcy Street in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Note the adobe and vigas -- typical southwestern U. S. architecture. Not the kind of place you'd expect to find the Underground roundel." Nicely spotted by M. J.

Here's a spot from Middlesboro, Kentucky, kindly sent to me by Lisa A


Finally we go down under to Sydney, with a spot from Paul Holloway:


He said "I spotted this recent when I was on holiday in Sydney, Australia. Sydney doesn't have an underground metro system (at least not yet), but some of the stations on the central loop are below ground. Wynyard is one such station, which is where I took the picture of the Concourse Bar. I didn't have time to go in the bar unfortunately, but I'm guessing that the use of the roundel is likely to be a nod to the fact the bar is in a below-ground railway station. It didn't look particularly well patronised!"

Thanks to you all and if you'd like to see more of Roundels not on Underground they're here. If you spot any in the flesh on your travels, please send them in to me and I'll blog the best in a future post.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, September 16, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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New Tube Map loses river

There's been quite a major change on the new London Underground map. Blech took a photo and said he thinks "it's the most radical change it's had in at least one decade, possibly even two. Has someone been reading Maxwell Roberts?"


Blech said:

"Since March, the map has lost:

* the river (no map since 1924 has omitted it, I believe)
* the zone structure
* the East London line buses (it's now a line, "under construction")
* walk distances
* info boxes in the map body
* limited-time junctions (eg Kennington, Woodford)

It's also gained more stations marked as interchanges (eg Paddington, West Hampstead) while Imperial Wharf is also there ("opening late 2009").
If it wasn't for the wheelchairs, this would be the most minimal pocket map ever."

There's already a lot of discussion about this on Blech's Flickr thread. version-3-point-1 said it's "an attempt to make it less cluttered, the Gods from on high told us! LUL opened up a forum for us staff to offer feedback and as far as I've heard, quite a few of my colleagues have made nothing but complaints!"

What do you think? Is it more helpful now it's less cluttered? What about the loss of the river? And the loss of the zones, is this a help or hindrance?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, September 14, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube posters for London Fashion Week

From today, Friday 11th September, a new collection of posters will be unveiled on the London Underground. ELLE are working together with TfL to celebrate the 25th anniversary of London Fashion Week. They've got designers who've helped shape British fashion – from Paul Smith and Christopher Bailey to Henry Holland and Naomi Campbell – to create the one of posters which will be at central London Tube stations this month.


John Ball, Director of Strategy and Service Development for London Underground said:

"We're very proud of our tradition of putting great design at the heart of our organisation. This includes the iconic and world-class design of our stations, signage, maps, typeface and posters. We have always been committed to new ideas and leading design."

Five of the posters have been made into covers for ELLE magazine and these collector's issues can be bought at from WHsmith and Selfridges. More details here.

For me it was a shame that the posters weren't a bit more London focussed or had a few more nods to the Tube. But I love the one above from Paul Smith with the tangled hangers looking a little like a mad Tube map.


Speaking of fashion on the Underground, mondoagogo had a great spot the other day of a person who seemed to get her footwear to match the Tube seats.

For a second I thought they were those shoes made out of moquette, but they're just an amazingly good match!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, September 11, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Alphabet or Letters on the Underground

Remember the animals on the Underground - animals that have been "found" in the Tube map. Well, this got regular contributer & commenter Jon Justice thinking about whether you could see anything else in the London Underground map. Letters for example.


He was sitting with a friend on the Tube and she insisted that she could see letters - almost a whole alphabet.

"So we ended up sitting down in the pub trying to trace out the whole alphabet. It's harder than it sounds. As long as you mix upper and lower case, you can get most letters, but some we just couldn't get at all. B, C and O eluded us entirely (at least not without making them huge) and we're not at all happy with A or S and we had to cheat and use the DLR to get a G. The M is pretty ropey too." he said.

I think it's a very good attempt- although I'm surprised they couldn't get a better S! Do you think you could find the missing letters? Or have you seen anything appearing in the Tube map if you stare at it too much?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, September 09, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Should ghost Tube stations be resurrected?

There's been a couple of Londoners in the news lately who've been making moves to get some of the system's 40 disused London Underground stations opened. If you're lucky you might be able to get on the odd tour of Aldwych station, but they're few and far between.

Adrian Davies lives close to the old "Brompton Road" Tube and believes there's a case for opening it, and not just from a historical viewpoint. He told the BBC in the film below, "While this station saw little passenger traffic in the 1930s times have changed. There are a lot of tourists, a lot of shoppers, I think it would be a busy station today and take some of the pressure off other stations on the line."


Ajit Chambers is also on a mission to get stations re-opened. However, he thinks they would make great tourist attractions. He is also feature in the BBC's film above. TimeOut spoke to him about his plans and he said

"I have created a company that is planning to open up the 26 disused ghost stations underneath London as 'tourist adventures'. So far my proposal has been very warmly accepted by the Mayor of London; the transport commissioner has handed it to the MD of the London Underground. I have offered to raise the capital myself to start the pilot station as an operational proof of concept and am waiting for the Mayor of London to give me the go-ahead to send my survey team down into the first station."

He seems quite determined and I wish him luck with his endeavours - which you can read in full here. Although I don't think he should hold his breath. The party line from TfL isn't in favour (warm acceptance from the Mayor aside). Howard Collins from London Underground said "To make them safe, even for visits, requires a lot of resources and special arrangements.

"Our focus is upgrading the system. We are spending billions of pounds of investment: upgrading with new trains; adding air-con trains on some lines and working on track signalling."

What do you think? Would you like to see some of these stations restored to their former glory? Do you think it's worth the expense? Which stations re-opening could actually help take pressure off other stations in the network?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, September 08, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Buskers looking for sponsorship

CBS Outdoor are looking for brands to take on sponsorship of the 35 mini stages for licensed buskers on the London Underground.


The spots are available from November and apparently can be tailed to suit the sponsor. Specific music genres or themes can be built into the sets or branding can be expanded above ground or linked to other media activity.

Donna Price, from CBS Outdoor, told Media Week it offers the chance for clients "align their brands with music culture and to play their part in brightening up journeys for passengers".

It would be great to see some imaginative sponsorship of these sites and I wonder if one brand will take it on or if it will be open to many?

A while back there was talk of labels experimenting by getting buskers to play certain songs. Perhaps something could be introduced where even commuters can decide what they'd like played at each station.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Monday, September 07, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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EMO Reset Button on the Tube

Is this button for when staff on the London Underground feel themselves going a bit goth? Or for when they see too many Emos on the Tube?


This photo taken by Rhys Isterix got me and a lot of other people on Twitter, thinking. Someone must know what it's really for. So please let us know otherwise I'll just have visions of seeing a Punk reset button, or an Indie reset button at certain stations on the network.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, September 03, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Tube Suburb Walks in Golders Green

People living in Golders Green have created a series of walks about what their suburb means to them to tie in with the London Transport Museum's latest temporary exhibition Suburbia that opens on Oct 15th.


Golders Green was apparently the first Tube-created suburb in 1907 when the green fields of Golders Green were transformed by the coming of the Tube.

The locals have created three walks along the themes of tasty places to eat, places of reflection and green spaces that highlight the diversity of their community today and what makes it unique.

Free guided tours are happening from 8th September, (bookable online or over the phone on 0207 565 7298), which start at Golders Green London Underground Station. There are pdf self-guided walks that can be downloaded from the London Transport Museum's website.

There will also be an interactive map that people can add their photos to, coming soon.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, September 03, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Nail Clippings on the Tube

We've had many a discussion about people putting make up on the London Underground. Commenters on this blog generally aren't wild about it. But what about nail clippings? What's acceptable "grooming behaviour" on the Tube?


Zoe and Carolyn broadcast a podcast last week - 2peaspodcast - where they discussed what people did on the Tube and public transport. Zoe made the great point that people seem to think they're in a bubble that makes them invisible when they travel.

Have a listen at about 6 minutes onwards & let us have your thoughts. Is it better if people apologise or look slightly furtive? Is nail clipping or filing worse then make up because "deposits" are left behind? Is there something about the noise that makes it bad?


Do you think TfL will or should start up some signs about "bathroom habits" on the Tube? It's already happening in Japan.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, September 02, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Wooden & Mirrored Oyster cards

Fed up with your blue plastic Oyster card? Someone over at Etsy has produced some alternative Oyster cards covered in wood and mirrored plastic. When I first looked at them, I thought that they'd gone down the dissolving Oyster card route and inserted the chip in the new cards.




But it's not the case. The Etsy seller says "Due to its magnetic functionality, the casing does not affect the function of the card in any way and so can be topped up and swiped just like any regular card. Each card comes with its unique ID included for registration as is accepted at every underground cashier desk I have ever been to."

Thanks to Vikkichowney who originally spotted these on Notcot.

Surprised no one has thought of doing this before and I love how they're scratchproof, as my Oyster card has really been through the wars. Probably worth getting one while they're hot, as it might only be a matter of time, before Transport for London say "down with this sort of thing", as they did with the Oyster card wands!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, September 01, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Archway renamed to Whittington?

Islington residents have got a sort of yes from Boris Johnson in their bid to rename Archway London Underground station. However, he told them not to hold their breath as it would be very costly. Walter Roberts has been campaigning for some time to get Archway Tube named after on of London's much earlier mayors, Dick Whittington.


Roberts told the Islington Gazette "The Dick Whittington legacy is one of inspiration, courage, dedication and the first great English romance.

"If London's most famous son gets a Tube station named after him, it would point many tourists in the direction of this Gateway to the North in a way Archway can't as it sounds dull as ditchwater. The name Archway is irrevocably linked to the suicide bridge and the dreadful Archway Tower which is loathed as one of the worst examples of contemporary architecture.

"It falls to reason therefore that the area would benefit commercially and culturally if the station is renamed - perhaps as Whittington Cross or Whittington Stone."

Thanks to John Bull from London Reconnections for the hat tip to this.

TfL are less enthusiastic about the change and said "London Underground receives a number of requests each year for the names of Tube stations to be changed. The cost is substantial and it's time consuming." You may remember the many requests to change Arsenal's name.

A spokesman for the Mayor said "As well as changing signs along the line, there are the costs of changing maps and announcements.

"Given the pressures on Transport for London's budget, it seems unlikely that the names of Tube stations can be changed in the near future."

I don't want to rain on the residents parade, but that sounds like a NO to me. However, if it somehow became a yes, it sets an interesting precedent for changing names of Tube stations to be associated with famous people & stopping them sounding "dull as ditchwater".

Which ones do you think need changing and any celebs you think they should be named after?

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Friday, August 28, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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Face Behind The Station

Regular readers will know that on this blog, I love to try to highlight the more human side of the London Underground and show that Tube staff have personalities. Well it's good to see that Maria Cox has undertaken a massive photography project with a similar objective. She visited every station on the network and took a photograph of a member of staff.


"There is more to the London Underground than getting from A to B," she says, "there is a friendly face at every station, often ambiguous and lost in the hurly burly of working life. Many commuters take these people for granted, often giving them abuse, but I have been struck and very impressed by how friendly and important to the safe working of the tube network the Station Supervisors and other underground employees are."

Alongside each photograph is a biographical piece about them, so you can find out their likes and dislikes, famous people they've met on the Tube and strange incidents they've encountered.


Thanks to both LDN and Vikki Chowney for the heads up to this!

Hopefully her project will be exhibited on the network but you can find out more about The Face Behind the Station and see more pictures here.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Thursday, August 27, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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End of the World on Northern Line

Great spot by Kate Matlock at Old Street Tube this morning:


Looks like the people who write the temporary signs are getting more of a sense of humour. Last week we had Northern Line delights.

Perhaps this policy of not so quietly veiled sarcasm is the new norm on the Misery Line?!

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Wednesday, August 26, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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No "Man Sitting" on the train badge

Female commuters in Boston have got so fed up with "man sitting" on the trains, they've designed a badge and sent an open letter to the MBTA hoping that something will be done to stop it:


"We've designed a badge for public transportation customers to wear in order to encourage passenger civility. We hope to raise awareness of fellow passenger's comfort with this visual reminder.

"Often, we believe, some T-riders aren't aware that they're taking up three seats with their knees. Of course, there are many other discourteous behaviors, like occupying additional seats with your belongings, but the particular posture depicted on our button is the most commonly complained about offense found in our survey of T- passengers.

"We hope you will adopt this button to display or distribute as a way of encouraging courtesy among your riders. If you contact us we will provide you with some of these buttons for your use."

Thanks to Charlotte Cooper for the heads up to this!

Go for it ladies and let us know if it's a success over in Boston. If so I'll start a similar campaign for the London Underground.

London Underground; Tube Posted by Unknown Tuesday, August 25, 2009 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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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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