Transport in London is shit

i've also had lots of experience with the Tufnell Park to Dalston route. isn't there a single-decker bus that does the best part of the route? doesn't run late though, iirc. similarly, anything at the Luminaire was always a multi-stage epic, but the new overground really is brilliant. North London lines are radial, but it cuts right through 'em all. smashing looking trains too. and very spacious. i can imagine they'd be a good hang out for a gang w boombox (i.e. a mobile phone)

Victoria iirc

I never seem to be able to get out of King's Cross at the point I intend to. Last time I ended up somewhere round the back and weaving through a load of building site hoardings.

The Pope's around the Catholic cathedral in Victoria area I believe. Which is an area I usually avoid at the best of times but might be a problem for Gravel given that he lives near there.

Does the orange line go as far as Highbury yet?

Ever tried to get from Dalston to Tufnell Park when the overland is down? You either need a master's degree in City Navigation, or to wait for the possibly fiction rail replacement bus. The other weekend I ended up walking the whole way.

― rhythm fixated member (chap), Friday, 17 September 2010 14:58 (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

two short bus rides! (236 to finsbury park and then number 4)

don't even know what the FUCK they have done there, but it takes three minutes extra to exit, right? that isn't just me?

they seem to have made an extra special effort to locate the mainline entrance to the underground, and the underground ticket office, and the platforms, as mutually far from one another as possible.

first time i walked through the new King's Cross, i thought it was awesome. i was stoned though. hate it now.

To visit my friends in Stoke Newington I have a choice of two relatively infrequent busses, one of which has a ten min walk my end, and the other a ten min walk their end. Walking the whole way only takes me about fifteen minutes longer.

I often go over to Stokey and, having timed it, it's quicker to walk my particular journey (wouldn't be if it wasn't for the Emirates, so thank you Gooners)

isn't there a single-decker bus that does the best part of the route?

not entirely sure the 393 actually exists tbh. i mean, i must have taken it at some point, but still.

the kings x rebuild makes me so angry! it is just so BORING inside, why can't it be like the jubilee extension.

going to the Victoria line is highest not-recommendation

I <3 393

Oh shit, I was thinking of going to the protest the pope thing at Hyde Park Corner but I didn't even think what a mess transport would be on account of his popiness. Right, in that case, I'm going no further than the Elephant this weekend. (Thank god Rephlex understand the utility of doing things around the Elephant.)

I have no idea how to negotiate Kings Cross since they moved the Thameslink, to be honest. I never know where I am any more.

Oh I get the 393 all the time. Irritating bus, the closest it gets to Dalston is Church St. Also stops at midnight.

Really, East to North London is appalling served, considering how many people need to do it

Yeah it's very strange. Hackney to King's Cross = 25 minutes on a bike but approx 1hr 15mins by public transport (the no. 30 -- eeuurgggh, or, what, a bus to Mile End or Bethnal Green, Central Line to Holborn, Picadilly Line to King's X? Madness).

I like the 393, it has a weird route

At least the King's Cross rebuild is making the station concourse bigger, it's always been way way too small for all the people who want to use it, given it's the gateway to most of the North of England.

they seem to have made an extra special effort to locate the mainline entrance to the underground, and the underground ticket office, and the platforms, as mutually far from one another as possible.

― ledge, Friday, September 17, 2010 4:18 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

with the new n. line exit, you have an existential choice, LEFT to platforms 9-11, RIGHT (for aaaaages) for 0-8.

do they have a board saying which one to take? do they fuck.

The 4, now there is an irritating bus

The 4, now there is an irritating bus

― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Friday, September 17, 2010 3:22 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

At least three ALWAYS pass in the opposite direction when you are waiting for yours.

kings x constantly changing the platform the cambridge train goes from is a whole other kettle of dicks though

xps

i love the 4, it is so difficult, i am sure it has an artistic soul.

No way is it worse than the 30, which is the WORST BUS EVER

kings x constantly changing the platform the cambridge train goes from is a whole other kettle of dicks though

fuckin a

The 4, now there is an irritating bus

― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Friday, September 17, 2010 3:22 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

― rhythm fixated member (chap), Friday, September 17, 2010 3:24 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

i love the 4, it is so difficult, i am sure it has an artistic soul.

― camphor jars (c sharp major), Friday, September 17, 2010 3:25 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark

Haha. Also many of them are invisible. Good bus once you're on it.

I'm going to Stokey tonight as it happens. 4 or 393?

walk it! it's a gorgeous day.

my current gripe right now is with Farringdon station. it's currently a clusterfuck of temporary staircases and a special side exit that opens sporadically. if i'm late for work, i miss the side entrance opening time and have to go DOWN SOME STAIRS and BACK UP AGAIN.

i live next to St Pancras though so I should be walking, really.

Yeah it's very strange. Hackney to King's Cross = 25 minutes on a bike but approx 1hr 15mins by public transport (the no. 30 -- eeuurgggh, or, what, a bus to Mile End or Bethnal Green, Central Line to Holborn, Picadilly Line to King's X? Madness).

is it not quicker to get 30 to Highbury & islington and then get the v. line?

oh wait i see what you're saying now.

once made it from essex road to waterloo on a 341 at night in 12 minutes. probably my finest bus experience ever.

the 30 doesn't belong in the same sentence as the word "quicker" unless it's immediately followed by "doesn't belong in the same sentence as the word 'quicker'"

but you're right, 30 --> vicky line probably more sensible. I'm guessing it would still take about an hour though.

i thought the number 4 is handy actually as long as you're not actually riding it the whole way.

i think if you rely on buses to get around (esp if you don't live at a major bus hub location) you kind of need to know how to hop buses?

Fuck a hop, the bus has to take me right to where I'm going or I'm stopping at home

ooh:

Five held over Pope terror alert

Counter-terrorism police arrest five men in London in relation to a potential threat linked to the Pope's visit.

We've covered that here

> People who live on the Hammersmith and City Line deserve everything they get imo

that's fighting talk

a lot of H&C is also covered by Circle line these days. which they promised us would mean more frequent trains. but which i'm sure will eventually be scaled back and end up meaning fuller trains.

> I live on the Central Line.

hey, so do i. you are forgiven.

re: weekend plans and planning. Goldhawk Road tube station always has the map showing closed lines so far BEHIND the ticket barrier that you can't read it until you've gone through. by which time it's too late to make the decision to walk an extra 5 minutes to SB central line station.

The mess up during two days of Pope does not bode well for one month of Olympics in two years' time.

apart from road closures near Hyde park and the usual stuff on the underground what are the disruptions? I guess the tube closures could be better planned, so at least the tube is the alternative to bus travel.

Here's your list of fare increases for January 2011. Nice to see PAYG Oyster bus fares increasing by more than Tube prices again.

Advice needed:

1) Am I right in thinking that you can use pay-as-you-go Oyster cards on the 'overground' train line at all stations from Gospel Oak to Barking?

2) If a chap were to leave Upton Park at about 10pm after a football match and walked north for 20-30 minutes until he got to Wansted Park station, would he have a reasonable chance of catching the next train to Walthamstow Queens Road or would there be too many people with the same idea? Would a chap be better advised heading north-east to Woodgrange Park and getting onto the train one stop earlier?

don't even know what the FUCK they have done [at King's Cross], but it takes three minutes extra to exit, right? that isn't just me?
Haha! No, I know that well. For a time, it seemed whichever exit I took at KC took me round the back somewhere between the Cambridge line platforms and the St Pancras Eurostar/Thameslink terminals. However, I finally found one Piccadilly Line exit that brings you out the 'old way' i.e. round the front somewhere. Now I just have to remember which one it was!

NB&S, can't answer your second query but you're correct on the first one.

On the Piccadilly Line platforms you can see the old signs have been covered up quite amateurishly which will tell you which is the 'correct' exit to go to.

They seem to have fixed the Way Out signs on the Victoria line at Kings Cross now, at least Southbound. I used to keep ending up out the back of St Pancras as well, but now the Way Out signs actually say which Way Out they are, i.e. the one you want is Euston Road.

What they haven't fixed yet is that while I can now find the Euston Road way out, they've still got the entrance blocked off there, so when I come back to Kings Cross to go home I have to walk what seems like several miles to get to the Victoria line even though there is a perfectly good way in right by the Euston Road entrance.

i'm sure i saw a minotaur down there last time i tried to change lines at king's x

It's not worth it - just walk to Euston. It'll be quicker.

The best thing about Kings X is the London 2012 shop with all the cuddly Mandeville and Wenlocks - if only they had people dressed up in mascot costumes telling you WHICH FVCKING WAY IS WHICH. I was 20mins late for work on a tube strike day - not because the tube strike had delayed me that much, oh no, I was LOST in Kings X station itself as they had closed off the only exit that I knew.

I have learnt it a bit better now - there is one exit by the former Thameslink. This is the furthest away from anywhere. Take kendal mint cake. There are some secret stairs that lead you into a pub! These are my favourite. Then there is the entrance on Euston Road, which I call the 'balcony' entrance. This is the nastiest way in. Ch. There are probably more exits. There are Eurostar trains somewhere, surrounded by crying people who have bought their expired passports instead of their current ones. Idiots.

Interesting bit on how London 2012 is going to affect getting about.

http://imgur.com/O97eP.jpg

*weak laugh*

so the cost of a bus journey in london is now ONE POUND SODDING THIRTY???????

i'm sure i remember when TUBE journeys cost less than that. i bet the buses are as grim as ever, too. at what point do these fare increases result in ACTUAL IMPROVEMENTS to this godforsaken transport network?

£2.20 if paying cash. even if you're just going one stop to get out of the rain.