Mind the Gap! (Underground in general)

Member Name: ~*pink-pilgrim*~

Product:	Underground in general
Date:	14/10/08 (73 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: punctual, regular service

Disadvantages: hot, cramped, polluted conditions

A few weeks ago I visited London for a weekend. I was staying with a mate but he was unable to pick me up until that evening and I had to find something to do whilst waiting. I had wanted to visit the Confetti Wedding store for months and I was fortunate to shop there on the Friday afternoon. After arriving at London Victoria and purchasing my £7 travel card I was able to hop on and off trains to get to Tottenham Court Road. After living in Plymouth its quite refreshing to be able to hop on and off trains in order to reach a destination on time. The conditions inside the tubes e.g. dirt, dust and smoke was not as refreshing and I felt more like a hamster scrurrying around a tube than a human being.

LONDON UNDERGROUND
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As a teacher I have seen and taught a few lessons about transport and the underground has often cropped up in discussion. The London Underground is the oldest and longest underground system in the world. The first line was opened in 1863 and ran between Paddington and Farringdon. The Underground covers a length of 235 miles and has a total of 275 stations. The trains used to be powered by steam and 30 years later the first electric train was added.

The War Years
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During my project on World War Two I was very interested to learn that the underground system was used as shelter from the bombs and attacks on London. Following the war however a lot of work was carried out on the underground system and the Victoria line was added.

The London Underground is also known as 'The Tube' as the tunnels look tubular shaped. I can kind of see how my hamster may feel running around small cramped tubes all day.


UNDERGROUND LINES
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There are 12 underground lines in total. The London Underground map is easier to follow due to the colour coded lines. I found myself referring to the lines as the brown one or the blue one. I have given a bit of information on the lines I traveled on for your information, however I would advise getting a London Underground map for further info on the other lines.

CENTRAL 'RED' LINE
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The Central line (red) runs from West Ruislip to Epping this one seemed to have a very long line probably the longest. This one was most useful to us as I was staying in Ruislip and it connected us to the centre of London. The Red Line has 49 stations along the track.

THE METROPOLITAN 'PURPLE' LINE
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The Metropolitan line (purple) is shaped a bit like a tree with lots of tracks branching off. The track starts/finishes (depending on where your standing) at Aldgate, it runs through the centre of London reaching the Western towns of Chesham, Amersham, Watford and Uxbridge. I travelled on this line from Ruislip Manor on my way home to London Victoria. The train seemed to be above ground for most of the duration on this line and had a stunning view of the new Wembley stadium.

THE VICTORIA 'LIGHT BLUE' LINE
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Unfortunately the Victoria Line (light blue) was undergoing maintenance works at the weekend and I had to find an alternative route to get to the coach station. This was a bit of a pain but it is relativity each to get used to hopping on and off the tube to get from "A" to "B". Anyway the Victoria line (when it's working) runs North to South (vice versa) between Walthamstow and Brixton. This one was built after World War 2.

THE CIRCLE 'YELLOW' LINE
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The Circle Line (yellow) funnily enough it's shaped in a circle and doesn't really have a start and an end. Although it goes around many of the main stations such as London Victoria, Paddington, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Farringdon and Moorgate. The train was quite cramped and the platform leading to it was 'manic'.

THE PICADILLY 'DARK BLUE' LINE
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The Piccadilly 'dark blue' line is shaped as I would describe it as a 'washing machine logo' or a 'whirlwind' it has three branches from Heathrow, Uxbridge and Cockfosters (I had a slight immature laugh at this name).

This line basically links the North East (Cockfosters) with the West (Heathrow and Uxbridge) and really had I known the Victoria Line was closed before getting on the Metropolitan line I would have used this one. This line was affected by the 2005 terrorist attack. The bomb went off between Kings Cross and Russell Square, I must admit that this does scare me about the tubes. I feel quite claustrophobic and 'stuck' this aside however it is still probably one of the safest ways to travel.

Having been on a few 'First Devon and Cornwall' buses tube seems like the safest option. I had to get on this train and travel Westbound from Kings Cross and Kensington South where I got on the District line (Eastbound). This whole East and West bound malarkey really confused me as I had to go back and forwards to get on the right line.

THE 'DISTRICT' LINE
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The District line (green) is similar to the Metropolitan line in shape. The district Line branches out from/to Upminster from Ealing, Wimbledon, Richmond and Edgeware Road. This train seemed quite busy and admittedly I felt a bit uncomfortable in a very crowded space.

Below I have listed the other lines that I have not mentioned above for your information. I have travelled by tube before during other visits to London however my memory of them would be a bit 'outdated'.

Bakerloo line (brown) runs from Harrow to Elephant and Castle

East London Line (Orange) runs North to South from Whitechapel and branches off to New Cross and New Cross gate. It looks very small on the map and only has 8 stations, it is only about 4 miles long.

Hammersmith and City Line (Pink - my favorite colour) runs between Hammersmith and Barking. It also connects to Kings Cross which is useful to know if you need to catch a connecting train somewhere.

The Jubilee Line (silver/grey) runs between Stanmore and Stratford. The line looks fairly curved on the map and looks as if it would take you to many of the tourist attractions in London e.g. Wembley, Westminster, London Bridge and Canary Wharf.

The Northern Line (black) is a large, confusing line with a few branches leading off to Morden, Edgeware, Mill Hill East and High Barnet. IN the middle it has a circular track serving a few tourist spots such as London Bridge and Leicester Square.

The Waterloo and City line (light blue-grey) is tiny with 2 stations between waterloo and bank.

STAFF
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OK so they have a lot to deal with, thousands pass through the London underground daily and the staff are probably faced with a lot of issues and problems. I however was very upset at the advice I was given. After finding out that the Victoria line was closed I asked a member of staff which line I would have been better off getting he just said '4' thinking it would be fairly easy to find.

I found the staff quite rude and unhelpful. As a 'tourist' finding my way round London was OK but I did need some direction when in a hurry. The staff in the ticket offices seemed abrupt and rather rude, I was surprised that few of them were able to crack a smile and it felt quite uncomfortable.

TIMES
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The trains seemed fairly regular in fact I was very lucky each time to arrive at a station whilst a train was arriving. I had to wait no more than 3 minutes at Kensington and that was the only wait time I experienced. I can understand that for locals a short wait can be irritating but after living in Plymouth anything under 45 minutes waiting for a bus is good.

The trains run between 5am - 1am so although not providing a 24 hour service they are open for most of the day and night. The only problem I can see with this is that 'partygoers' will have to get a taxi, bus or alternative form of transport home.

PRICES AND TICKETS
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tickets

Tickets are very easy to buy I chose to buy mine from from the ticket window the first day and there after used the machine. All ticket machines are easy to use they are fairly straight forward and take cash and card payments. The machines however can get a little sticky with substances of some sort and I found that the buttons were awkward to press.

Here are many different types of tickets such as season tickets, day tickets, visitor tickets, single tickets and concessionary tickets for children and students. I just went for the bog standard Travelcard which costs £7 for Zones 1-6 (I think).

Oyster card

I saw people using a card on the tubes and buses. There were signs saying about Oyster cards and how they can help save money. It does in fact work out a lot cheaper with these cards however they would only really benefit locals and those who travel on London transport on a regular basis. My mate had an Oyster card and he explained that it helps him save money and its easy to top up.

The oyster card is basically a plastic card (a bit like a debit card) with an electronic chip. You can load money on the card and use it as you travel.

prices

The prices are determined by Zones. Zone 1 (Inner city London) is the cheapest with a travel card (unlimited travel) between stations in this area costing about £4. As you go outwards towards the outskirts of London you can expect to pay more. A travel card around all zones would cost about £6 (off peak a lot more during peak times). Children (i think) pay £1 off peak no matter what zone.

I would guess that as I traveled from zone 5 to zone 1 the highest single fare is £4. Although I got the impression that all single fares were £4 regardless of zone. Compared to a 'day ticket' in Cornwall this is expensive and when it took us over two hours to get to our destination it was hardly cheap.

If you are planning to travel on tubes all day to and from attractions then a travel card would be a great investment. I think you can also use these on buses.

SUMMARY
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I do not want to offend any fans of the London underground but I found the whole experience quite frightening and stressful. If you live in London you are more than likely used to the tube system have probably grown up with it. As I said this review would be great for tourists planning on traveling just to be prepared.

Living in the countryside I am not used to queues and pollution. I felt quite uncomfortable being stuck in huge crowds. The smoky tunnels felt rather unpleasant. I have left a few tips for anyone planning on visiting the Capital for the first time and I hope that it helps. None the less the waiting times were short and the service fairly reliable.

TIPS

Plan your journey prior to your visit, if possible download and print a map from Google (similar to this http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/lon_con.pdf ). I found that unfortunately you cannot rely on people to help. The staff seem too busy and a lot of passengers themselves are tourists.

Take a bottle of water to drink, it can get a little hot and the smoke can make you feel quite dehydrated and needing a drink. A bottle of water will help make the experience more pleasurable.

The tubes can get busy at certain times of the day on certain routes, try and investigate this before you go just to avoid that mad rush etc. Try and investigate events such as concerts, street parades etc as this could make a slight difference to the amount of passengers.

I did look on the website (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/home.aspx) for information about the tube services, unfortunately I did not notice the closures on the Victoria line and our experience was ruined by this. I am sure it was on the website I just didn't see it. It is always best checking this before your travels so that you can plan for this and make alternative arrangements.
Fortunately this experience has not put me off for life. I have learnt many lessons from my journey all of which I will keep in mind for future trips away. The above tips I have learned and I will be using them in the future. I hope this review has helped.

Summary: Overall not a bad experience, it gets you from A to B! - via C, Y and D