Freshly squeezed commuter anyone? (Piccadilly Line)

Member Name: ihatebroccoli

Product:	Piccadilly Line
Date:	20/02/01 (140 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Some Handy Stops in Central London

Disadvantages: "Move down inside the cars please" when you are already bandaged like a splint to the person next to you.

Aka "The joys of travelling by vacuum-packed cattle train"

Firstly, my advice is, if you possibly can, avoid it at all cost if you are travelling particularly long distances, unless you actually get on at Heathrow. I used to commute regularly on the Piccadilly Line from West London right across to the other side, but cunningly I have found an alternative route, and boy am I glad. It might be the best known line in London, but that is probably due to it linking directly with Heathrow Airport.

Basically, the Piccadilly line is touristsville, not many people speak English, and it is always absolutely ridiculously crowded. People get their hands and feet stuck in the doors because of the overcrowding, thus slowing the train departure up even more, and this is at one train every minute-two minutes on average. It seems that there is nothing to be done, no more trains can possibly fit on the tracks, as they are certainly frequent most of the time, but every single one that arrives gives those of us on the platform a deep-seated feeling of despair, as sure enough, the great underground worm winds it’s way towards the end of the platform absolutely chocked full of tourists and commuters.

My only suggestion is to have a specific train for tourists travelling to and from Heathrow Airport, there already exists the Heathrow Express, but at around £15 a ticket, it can prove a bit on the expensive side. It is however a very enjoyable way to travel, with onboard televisions and plenty of room. We travelled on it between Heathrow terminals 1-3 and 4, where it is free, it only becomes costly when you travel the full distance to Paddington, where it may only take 15 minutes, but it is effectively a pound a minute - a worrying thought.

Still, I’m almost tempted to say *anything’s* better than travelling long distance by Piccadilly line. I’ll have to admit though, that it is a very handy line once in the centre o
f London, you hop on and off if you have a travel card between Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus, or Covent Garden and Knightsbridge, and there are plenty of links to other lines along the way, the District line virtually runs alongside it for some of the way coming in from West London – Earls Court etc..

On top of all this, and despite there being X million more people travelling by tube than a couple of years ago, and the service is obviously not being improved, the ticket prices are still going up. A one-day travel card (all zones) has now gone up to £4.90 for an adult. Although this is a very useful little card to have, being that you can easily travel pretty much anywhere you want in London, be it on the tube, bus, train or the Docklands Light Railway, at nearly 5 quid a day, it can prove very expensive (considering my old student pass in Sheffield was about that a week!).

The other thing about the Piccadilly line is it’s two branches. I may have bashed the fact that it carries mainly tourists from Heathrow, but this is not altogether true. There is another branch of the line which heads West, going to Rayner’s Lane and Uxbridge. The services on this branch are of course less frequent than to Heathrow as there are fewer people travelling there.

My advice to non-tourists travelling back west and needing to get to Heathrow is to catch a train in central London bound for Rayner’s Lane or some where on that branch, and change at Acton Town (where the branches meet on their way into London). This means that you are more likely to get a seat for most of the journey when travelling home, and you’ll probably at least only have to stand for half your journey (from Acton Town towards Heathrow), providing everyone else doesn’t have the same idea that is!

I have, however, waited considerable amounts of time before (anything up to 25 minutes! Off-peak) at Acton Town for a Rayner’s Lane or Ux
bridge train. If you are wanting to get to Uxbridge at busy times, it is probably more advisable to get a Piccadilly Line to Rayner’s Lane, and then change for a Metropolitan line which runs parallel to the Piccadilly Line from Rayner’s Lane to Uxbridge. Uxbridge-bound trains don’t usually run at peak times.

Despite all my “Piccadilly-Bashing” I have to admit to have been using this line for many many years, as it has always been the closest line to where I’ve lived when in London. It can take a long time to get in to London however, and the over-ground can beat it sometimes by almost half an hour. Alright, I’ll admit it, that’s my alternative route, but don’t all go travelling by train now, as we’ll have the same problem all over again (and it’s getting pretty bad already).

Getting back to my possible solution to the over-crowding. I think there should be specific trains for tourists travelling to Heathrow and back, or else, they should not be allowed to travel during peak commuter times. There is obviously no space for another line to be built, although this would be the ideal solution, so this is the only other suggestion I have. Although, I recently heard that apparently there runs a secret underground line for the Royal Mail only, which no one seems to know about, although I can’t confirm this, maybe someone out there knows?

Take the Piccadilly line by all means when you are already in Central London, everyone seems to get off at Green Park anyway, as this is where you can change for the Victoria line, but I wouldn’t advise travelling a long way on it, especially at peak times. There’s still far too many people using it, the service is not improved, ticket prices have gone up, but it’s a handy route for tourist sightseeing. South Kensington and Knightsbridge for Harrods, Science Museum, Natural History Museum and V&A, King’s Cross, for trai
ns North, and St. Pancras, Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus for shopping, and so on.

Personally though, I think the hotels in Heathrow and Central London should have to pay something towards the ol’ Piccadilly Line, if they are not transporting their customers via any other means of transport. Fingers crossed they don't start hoisting commuters on to the roof!

Enjoy the squash!

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