Transport in London is shit

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.

travelcard for me (zones 1 to 4) is now over seven quid. in a couple of years it will prob be ten quid.

the diff in price between a bus journey with and without an oyster card is a joke. its like a fine for not topping up. so fucking lame. the way buses cost the same no matter how far you go is also fucking stupid.

every time i see the poster that goes 'the congestion charge zone is getting smaller!' i want to punch boris in the face

the diff in price between a bus journey with and without an oyster card is a joke. its like a fine for not topping up.

Or for being a tourist. The differential in tube prices is terrifying.

its like a fine for not topping up

get auto top up! why don't people get auto top up?

and tourists, can't you get oyster cards from dispensers now?

Zone 1-4 travelcard at PEAK time is already around a tenner isn't it?

(Actually I am so thankful for the wonderful London Overground I almost *whisper* do not mind the increase...)

why should anyone be penalised for not buying a bloody oyster though? its a pisstake. travelling in london is just too prohibitive. just buying a bloody oyster card costs, what is it now, a fiver? i know they have to charge otherwise people wont take care of them, but ffs. saying all that, this is good for my exercise. i prefer walking to bussing it. though yesterday this was a mistake and i arrived home totally soaked. i saved money though.

Think we were £2 or £3 for buying a visitor oyster card, but not everyone KNOWS about it when you're just nipping down for the day or whatever.

(I still think transport in London is basically great, btw, because compared to transport in places in the UK that aren't London, it is)

I didn't realise the oyster top-up online took a day to process so ended up paying at the station as well. now I have to remember to activate it from Chancery Lane the next time I'm in town. grr.

Tube is great though, excepting the craziness of the central line at rush-hour

also, since I've been working in Lahndan 2 days a week I've been having vivid dreams that there's an underground network in Hull. I could easily draw the map and the trains and everything.

£2.20 if paying cash.

Or £3 if the driver says "I don't have any change, you know", like what happened to me at 6 o'clock on Wednesday morning.

Anyone used the bikes since they were opened up to general access?

nah, looks terrifying

how general is the access?

Think you have to pay with a Barclaycard.

At least that's what all the signs are for iirc.

> just buying a bloody oyster card costs, what is it now, a fiver?

yes, a fiver. but it's refundable when you return the card.

how general is the access?

Anyone with a debit/credit card afaik.

No helmets though.

bikes are tank-like, was exhausted just cycling across waterloo bridge and up to longacre. still, i like them v much, appreciate the ability to easily and quickly get to places not well served by bus or tube, when i can't be arsed to lug my own bike around.

brakes are pretty crap but you're not likely to get up to enough speed where that will be a problem.

I only go from Kx to Holburn, and there's no way I'm going to cycle that journey. just out of interest, how much do they cost?

I think the access fee for 24hrs is £1 and journeys of up to 30 mins are free (up to an hour £1 etc). If you join the scheme you can get savings on the access fee, but the duration of journey fees are the same.

Not being able to use prepay on the bikes is the wtf point for me.

yeah i dont know why you cant use oyster cards for them. would make it much easier.

because they have to be able to but a 300 quid hold on your card in case you nick one.

I haven't had a season ticket on my Oyster Card for donkeys' years (because I don't work in central London and I usually walk to work) so I just use the Top Up version. If I go for the auto-top up option, will it just top up whenever I need it to wherever I go? Or will it be like in the olden days when I bought a monthly ticket online and had to specify which station I was going to go to and get there within 3-4 days? Because the latter isn't very useful to me as I travel sporadically and usually don't know 24 hours in advance a)if I'm going to use the tube and b)which station I'm going to start my journey from.

When you first set it up you have to specify a station (pretty sure it includes NR stations), but after that it works anywhere, including buses.
Really don't get why people who regularly use PAYG don't have auto top-up set up.

without it, i like to pretend i'm keeping tabs on what i'm spending

also not sure how to set it up

Probably in the minority here but I also don't get people who get on buses when it's raining and immediately pounce on any open window. It's letting air in, not water, and now you you can't see anything and the bus smells of wet dogs.

if someone can get to a window that soon after boarding a bus, the bus is empty enough that i'll be comfortable whatever

Yeah, I get the not wanting money going on your Oystercard without you doing anything about it aspect, but none of the people i'm ever with don't change there mind about travelling, just go and queue or complain about the cash fare again.
uh, x-posts.

I'm happy for it to top up my card automatically as long as it tops up at whichever station I decide to go to (not just one specific pre-arranged station) and does this whenever I choose to travel again (which might be as much as 2 months after my Oyster has gone below the level the triggers a top up), rather than requiring me to get to a station within specified time period.

It sounds like the first part is true (apart from the first time you do it), still don't know about the second part.

Public transit in the western world is shit.

I also don't get people who get on buses when it's raining and immediately pounce on any open window. It's letting air in, not water, and now you you can't see anything and the bus smells of wet dogs.

but rain can often come in thru the window and the person a row or two behind might feel that. is a design flaw along with people not really getting the air from the window they're sitting under (but opened) whereas someone a few rows back will.

I'm happy for it to top up my card automatically as long as it tops up at whichever station I decide to go to (not just one specific pre-arranged station) and does this whenever I choose to travel again

yes and yes.

it just does it whenever you touch in (or out maybe) and are below the limit, you don't need to go to a ticket machine or anything.

I just had a go on one of the bikes. It was fine. I was wobbly and I went a lot more slowly than I'm used to, which made interactions with traffic a little alarming at times - found it a little difficult to get purchase away from junctions, and the lowest gear is, understandably of course, woah spinny, but yes, good idea and cheap - I've got 24hrs use for £1 and will only pay on journeys above half an hour, and only £1 on journeys above that.

Couldn't get it to work at either Warwick Avenue or Great Marlborough Street docks this morning. Still a fan in principle though, just seems not to like me.