Fast, frequent and bright orange (Glasgow Underground)

Member Name: jamesontheroad

Product:	Glasgow Underground
Date:	20/01/09 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cheaper & faster than the bus, reliable

Disadvantages: Small! Only serves the West End, city centre and a sliver of the city south of the river

Metrophiles like myself (what can I say? I like trains, I like tunnels, I like timetables...) usually say the same thing when they first step down onto a station platform of Glasgow's Underground:

"It's sooooo sweeeeeeeeeet / miniature / tiny!"

Opened in December 1896, the Subway (as it is commonly known) is the third oldest undergroundin the world after London and Budapest. It forms a circular route of fifteen stations with an outer (clockwise) and inner (anti-clockwise) track. A complete circle takes about twenty-five minutes, connecting the retail and commercial heart of the city with the near southern neighbourhoods of Govan and Ibrox and the west end districts around Partick and the University of Glasgow.

For visitors, its an essential part of your trip, since it smooths over the horrible scar left between the city centre and west end by the M8 motorway. Stops at Kelvinbridge, Hillhead and Kelvinhill bring all the shops, cafés, bars and museums of the west end into easy reach of the city centre, and for £1.20 single it's cheaper than the bus.

Using the Subway is easy. Every station has a manned ticket office and ticket machines. In addition to single, return and multi-journey tickets many passengers use the SPT (Stratchlyde Partnership for Transport) Zonecard or DayTripper. Consider the latter if you're travelling as a family. Most stations are very shallow, and therefore only a short flight of steps beneath the pavement. Note that there is no disabled access to the Subway: a long period of closure permitted refurbishment in the nineteen-seventies, but lifts have still to be added.

Since it's a circle, you travel on either the outer or inner circle depending which way round the circle is the quickest to your destination. Large signs will help you identify the quickest route, either on the outer or inner circle.

Trains run on a varying frequency, as often as every four or five minutes in the peaks. When a train arrives, you might again by struck by how small they are. Just three carriages long, and much shorter and narrower than comparable trains in other cities. Taller passengers should mind their heads when boarding!

Fast, frequent and reasonably inexpensive, the Subway is a great way to get around Glasgow. It's just a shame that it serves only a single loop, and that extension plans to the East End or South Side have repeatedly been put on ice. For now, however, it's a remarkable survivor and a great tool.

Summary: Rainy day? Bring a good book and take a few spins...