h-l's fantastic public transport poll thingy!

[baratron]

I had an extremely fun journey today - so fun, that I've decided to share its wonders with you by means of a poll.

I travel every day from Kingston to London Bridge, a journey which should take 50 minutes door-to-door:

• 5 minutes to walk from home to the station
  
• 25 minutes from Kingston to Waterloo
  
• 5 minutes to walk from Waterloo to Waterloo East
  
• 7 minutes to get from Waterloo East to London Bridge
  
• 8 minutes to walk from London Bridge to work.

Today, it took far longer. Can you guess how long?

[Poll #11303]
I look forward to seeing your answers :)

Comments

[lovingboth]

.. and we're looking forward to hearing what actually happened!

The trick to public transport in London is to have options. The flat is at Rayners Lane, served by both the Met and Piccadilly lines. It's rare for both of them to fall over at the same time. If I can get to central Harrow - two stops away, but there are also several different bus routes - there's also the Chiltern Line which is usually staggeringly reliable. And Harrow & Wealdstone with the Bakerloo line and the mainline to Euston is not that far away either.

L's has both Crofton Park (to Blackfriars or Victoria) and Honor Oak Park (to London Bridge) within a few minutes walk.

Between Waterloo and London Bridge, there's also the Jubilee line, plus buses...

[damerell.livejournal.com]

Not really in London, but I have 2 options for my journey between Bracknell and Oracle (which is midway between Earley and Reading stations). In theory, the train will take 35 minutes; 10 minutes cycling at each end, and 15 minutes on the train. Cycling the whole way takes 45 minutes, or 40 if I'm feeling exceptionally quick that day.

So which do I do? I cycle - up to 4 days a week now - because the trains have gone from being late about 1/3 of the time (which is unacceptable in and of itself) to being reliably late; on the days I have taken the train, it has been late literally every day for all November, both ways.

One of their favourite tricks is to have the train that is scheduled to leave 10 minutes before mine and stop only at Wokingham en route to Reading turn up at the time mine should, without any announcements. I, of course, get on, and am carried past Earley (where I have a ticket for) to an argument with the ticket inspectors at Reading.

Another one is to cancel the trains and leave us sitting at Wokingham, but that's less subtle.

I suppose it's making me fit without engaging in the sin of exercise for its own sake, at least.

[kshandra]

Sounds like Connex and MUNI have a lot in common. MUNI appears to specialize in what are known as "banana buses," as they all show up in bunches.... They actually changed several years back from posting timetables at each stop to posting a list of all the routes with their alleged frequency. It still doesn't work.

I must admit that as long as you're not trying to rely on MUNI during peak commute hours, it works really well. And I've yet to have problems with the Metro lines (the in-city answer to the Underground, though it's not nearly as spread out). But with all of the local transit systems (and we've got a bunch), the rule seems to be "If it breaks, it breaks HARD." Keep that in mind, and you'll do okay.

I've a train story of my own to tell - as soon as I'm in the proper mood to finish my New York travelogue....

[londonstatto.livejournal.com]

Connex is far worse than MUNI. Unless, of course MUNI has had very good weeks any time I've been out in that part of the world.

Perhaps I'm just sensible enough to avoid it entirely in commute hours, knowing how much tourists on the Tube irritate me, especially when they have huge suitcases...

MUNI also understands "special buses/trains for sports events"...

[inquis.livejournal.com]

Hmm, don't think I got any of those right, but then I have to deal with South West Trains' branch line between Staines and Weybridge. Icky. I was way too pessimistic.

Their favourite excuse on that service is "We apologise for the late running of this service. This is due to the late arrival of the train". Well, duh. It's late because it's late. Brilliant. I wish I could have thought of that.

[lovingboth]

... and we're still looking forward to the story.

Having choices is good, if you know you have to make them. A train stalled at Denmark Hill this afternoon, hitting the service I wanted to use. Did they - Connex - tell anyone what was going on for about an hour? Ha.

bad transport

[noonoo.livejournal.com]

I live near Upton Park station...
over the summer I was working in Charing Cross, and used Embankment station. it's a straight ride on the District line from Upton Park to Embankment. usual timings...

20 mins walk to station
30 mins train journey
10 mins walk to work

so it generally took an hour to get there, door to door.

then they shut the eastbound platform to re-surface it for a few weeks. it was working normally. However, one day, I think it was in July, it was the hottest day of the year. the signals broke at Barking, 2 stops down the line, and my train stopped at upton park. the carriages were really really hot and all windows were open. we stopped outside the station for about half an hour, and then moved to the next signal in the station. people were complaining and then someone pressed the emergency stop button (even though the train was stopped) because they wanted to let the driver know that someone had passed out from the heat. the station was closed, and the platform was boarded up, but there was about 1 metre wide along the station, of platform next to the train. the driver said he wasn't going to open the doors, even though people would get air, because everyone would get out onto the station.

a few more people were passing out and getting dizzy due to all the heat. another half an hour passed, and then the driver made the announcement that he was opening the doors. all of the passengers next to the doors decided to get off the train, to try and get out at the station. however, it was closed because of the re-surfacing, so you couldn't get out of it. about a quarter of an hour later, the driver made the announcement that the signal problem had been fixed, and that everyone should get back on the train. most of the people at the station decided this was a bad idea. but the train couldn't leave without picking everyone up - no trains were going to stop there for another couple of weeks!!!!

in the end, the police were called, and had to cross the tracks to get to the people on the platform. they had to usher everyone in and deal with some violent people and argumentative people. it was all just stupid, because the passengers didn't understand that the station was closed and you couldn't get out. a few ambulances were called to take the heat-stricken passengers to hospital. police arrested a few people that were refusing to get back on the train!

none of this was reported anywhere. did any of you watch the London Underground programme on channel 4 a few weeks ago? it was the same day that loads of people got trapped in a hot tunnel near Highbury and Islington station. Also, that event never found the light of day until c4 was leaked a copy of the Underground's annual report. The Highbury incident was nearly fatal. How would it have looked if 200 people died and it went unnoticed?

me thinks something needs to be done.