Transport in London is shit

xp that doesn't sound like an argument for re-electing the joke novelty candidate!

It's not supposed to be, but if you're looking for why there's a certain lack of enthusiasm for Ken this time around I think there's some explanatory juice to it

Tracer otm. I feel like Ken should be walking it and another, newer candidate probably would have. There has to be a reason and "London's kinda done with you, Ken" might be part of it.

Boris' enthusiasm for them is pretty much what makes them his bikes. Whether or not they were Ken's idea (which even if they were he copied from Paris/Barcelona/wherever) is irrelevant.

I'm actually not surprised that no-one's been killed on them. As bikes go, they're basically tanks - very visible and impossible to go quickly on. Plus most people that use them are doing so for puddle-jump trips on the kind of slow-moving, central London roads that accidents don't really happen on too much. Plus their (presumed) inexperience means they're the kind of cyclist who doesn't take too many risks.

Although I drunkenly took one from King's Cross to Kennington at 6am yesterday.

this is the first time i've heard about any connection between ken and the boris bikes! i think the link to boris is irreversible, whatever the truth - even left-leaning types give boris grudging credit for them.

it's possibly testament to how cannily boris fostered the general image of himself as a buffoon prior to the election, but his record in office being a non-disaster with even a couple of "accomplishments" prob means that his stock hasn't gone DOWN at least; there's the fare rises, of course, but i get the impression that discontent there is more general than aimed at a specific politician (given that neither ken nor boris seemed able to stop them rising). i also think he's been quite effective at distancing himself from the coalition over certain flashpoints (eg housing policy).

how the olympics turn out may change all of this, though of course given timing it may not at all - even if boris is re-elected and oversees a disaster olympics (and really it probably won't be a DISASTER), he has enough time to make back the ground.

would that a third credible candidate could shake things up, it's not as though ken enthuses me at this point either.

With the right timing and some luck I think Diane Abbott could take it

xp that doesn't sound like an argument for re-electing the joke novelty candidate!

does anyone really see him as a joke novelty candidate any more?

I don't know, but at the time people definitely did!

fucking wish diane would take it!

though actually, the timing of the olympics is prob a v good reason why we're stuck with the same-ol-same-ol ken vs boris snoozeathon choice this year - what brand new, untried candidate would possibly want to inherit the mayoralty on the eve of the olympics with all the potential for completely fucking up/getting fucked up? talk about having to hit the ground running.

I don't know, but at the time people definitely did!

yeah they did! the fact that they don't any more, not even those who loathe him, is testament to, um, ~how far he's come~

DIANE 2016~~~

god i forgot we could've had oona king

smh labour

Bad enough having to vote for Ken, but Diane Abbott?

But seriously, she must be thinking of it surely?

Yes, Diane Abbott >> either Ken or Boris.

Surprised that people have forgotten No Drink on Public Transport, or has that turned popular since?

I think no-one really drank on public transport before, and those that did haven't really stopped. Either way, it isn't/wasn't a problem and as a bylaw it's a bit of a nonthing.

Sure, but trumpeting it as a Thing seemed to really underline his pompous buffoonery.

that was years ago and people's memories are too short to care, particularly since it's never actually enforced

First run-out of the blunder bus is going teribly by all accounts.

If someone (GOD FORBID) gets knocked off a Boris bike by a Boris bus then I think he's in trouble.

The inaugural journey of the 'Boris bus', named after mayor of London Boris Johnson, saw it stall in Islington, north London, and experience a door that would not close, despite the driver turning it off and on again.

To compound matters, the bus, on the route 38 between Hackney in east London and Victoria station in the centre of the capital, was shadowed by a 'protest' bus hired by supporters of mayoral challenger Ken Livingstone.

ITV London Tonight correspondent Simon Harris - who was on the first bus journey - tweeted that a sticking rear brake was behind some of the bus' problems, possibly caused by overcrowding.

A Transport for London recovery vehicle was dispatched to follow the new bus as well after the problems it experienced.

That's okay, buses in London are never overcrowded.

I for one welcome our new CGI bus overlords

http://www.itsnicethat.com/system/files/022012/4f4b7add0731395a0e000d40/article_extended/bus-broadgate.jpg?1330346707

http://www.fashionfuss.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/alexander-wang-satin-jersey-one-shoulder-dress.jpg

Very nice but...

... oh, got you!

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QEnupJWIrVs/ShpUj-ky3RI/AAAAAAAAG-E/Di9W8yriY0g/s400/hijab-4-main_Full.jpg

"the New Bus has fixed windows that cannot be opened"

Why would they think this is a good idea?

That'll be great at the height of summer with the buses crammed full of gormless Olympitourists

"the New Bus has fixed windows that cannot be opened"

Why would they think this is a good idea?

I'm guessing: air conditioning works much more effectively with windows closed so air hotter than target temperature is not allowed to enter the space being air conditioned. (But what happens if the a/c breaks down, or driver "forgets" to turn it on? Hopefully the design doesn't allow drivers any control over it)

IME all attempts at artificially improving the interior climate of a London bus meet in abject despair, cf. the heater that blasts the left-hand seats on the top deck during the winter, leaving your left leg a smoking wreck and the rest of your body the same as it was before

WOO THATS MY ROUTE CANT WAIT TO RIDE ON IT. not that, having no experience of the old routemasters, i have any idea what the point is. in fact my sole feeling about it right now is one of mild anxiety at getting it wrong somehow when the time comes.

i dunno Tracer the new double decker 453 had awesome air con - while it was still necessary for that one week before it's all -1C.

"the New Bus has fixed windows that cannot be opened"

Why would they think this is a good idea?

I'm guessing: air conditioning works much more effectively with windows closed so air hotter than target temperature is not allowed to enter the space being air conditioned. (But what happens if the a/c breaks down, or driver "forgets" to turn it on? Hopefully the design doesn't allow drivers any control over it)

― dubmill, Monday, 27 February 2012 12:26 (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Of course having an open platform kind of negates the effectiveness of air conditions.

Bring back the Widney Ace Mk X, It can't be a proper routemaster without them. Boris should have some made up at £1,000,000 a pop.

You can call Boris a novelty joke candidate but come on, Ken is hardly Obama here.

Indeed, Ken can actually get shit done.

As if to usher in Boris's 2nd term the Victoria line has been fucked 3 out of 3 journeys to/from work this week

Obviously, none of you are daft enough to do this, but no one should be attempting to catch south- or westbound buses that use Oxford St at the moment. I spent what seemed like a month on a 73 last night, unless it executed a bizarro diversion and then, inevitably, terminated early on Park Lane. I know they've been digging Ox St up in sections for about two years but right now it seems to be not quite bad enough that a permanent, effective, westbound diversion is in place but plenty bad enough that you can't get anywhere. Unless it was Surprise Extra Roadworks that had been held back until after the mayoral election.

It wasn't until I started my new job that I realized the doors to the Oxford St tube stations are actually CLOSED for 10 minutes at a time at the height of rush hour because of overcrowding. EVERY DAY. What the hell is going to happen in August...

Yeah I used to go to Piccadilly Circus and take the Bakerloo line to Oxford Circus rather than try and get into Oxford Circus when I worked in Soho to get around that problem.

still reeling from my commute home today. kensington to hackney overground - 12 minutes late (WHY?) hence completely sardine-packed, and the air con was broken (WHYYYYYY?). tfl continues to be intent on ruining my life. is it that fucking hard for things to RUN SMOOTHLY?

I am more pro than anti-Olympics, but fuck these Games Lanes and the "Games Family" that cruise them. http://bit.ly/L1OIoG

So. Bus strike, huh?

I'm a child of the 70s and all, but even I don't remember this many strikes under Mrs T. :-/

Got up extra early (partly because I overslept yesterday and really didn't want to be late again today) but my bus was running a normal service, luckily.

I feel so stranded without buses :(

Same! Never really occurred how much I rely on them

http://twitpic.com/aoec96

:(

not transport but rodent related. a colleague of mine was coming into work for a night shift at about nine pm, walking through the car park (this is London btw) and a f'ing RAT ran up his trouser leg and bit him on the knee!

He ended up contracting something from this (not the black death or rabies - I think the doctor actually called it rat flu - is that really a thing) and he was laid up for about a week with the sweats.

Beware: the rodents are rising up against us!

'rat flu' could well be weil's disease - scary stuff. afaik the symptoms are exactly like the flu, until you die.

was told on the 1st aid course that I took before the summer that if you get physically sick i.e. vomit on Weil's disease you've had it. It's likely to be fatal.

There used to be & possibly still is a warning sign up on the side of the pillar on the corner of the O'Connell bridge in Dublin about the stuff. & there was still an annual Liffey swim. I think people were advised to shower thoroughly as soon as they got back out.
Also that swim cost thousands when the millenium clock was in the river, apparently cost 10,000 punts to have it moved to facilitate the swim.
Could never see the face of the thing through the water as it had been designed because the Liffey was so dirty. Clock was apparently designed by the drummer of the Whipping Boy's sister.

But yeah transport in London is shite innit? Though i do like taking long bus rides across town so I can see how areas interconnect.