Transport in London is shit

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.

http://wharferj.wordpress.com/2012/08/23/underground-guerilla-signs/

i haven't seen any of these in person but i might have a look out

They popped up before the Olympics, I chuckled at the lap-sitting one.

i liked the sloths one

http://www.thepoke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/stress-twig.jpg

brilliant stuff

http://www.lookforlonger.com/GameDesktop.aspx

yeah i know it's weird posting that on the day of the deadline at a time when most brits have logged off but OH WELL

i have ONE LEFT

lambeth north is really kind of pushing it

i rolled my eyes so hard at that

Are you still missing one, the Lex? Which one?

it was the one that was a false clue (and doesn't count towards the score) (my missing one was actually a tiny but easy clue i hadn't seen)

Don't think I've had a morning train that was on time once in the past two weeks.

In five weeks time, the London Overground goes orbital. The South London link from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction opens on Sunday 9th December, and suddenly it'll be possible to ride round the capital via only orange trains.

[...]

This creates the tantalising prospect of being able to ride the entire orbital route from Highbury and Islington to Highbury and Islington via Clapham Junction in only two trains. All the most hardcore London train geeks will be doing it, although the rest of you might give it a miss because it is essentially pointless.

http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/outer-circle.html

ooh i had no idea about that! i keep ending up having to travel from hackney to clapham junction these days, will prob give the new route a try just for some variety...

The lack of a sensible or easy way to travel from SE to SW London has been a fucking nightmare for so long that I thoroughly approve of this. Shame I don't really have any reason to go to SW London.

There's been a pretty strong influx of 30-something hipsters and/or startup geeks moving to the Brockley-Honor Oak-Forest Hill axis since the orange line opened up, guess they'll start migrating west now as well.

This gives me an alternative route to work (I work nearish Clapham Junction) but this new train takes longer than just staying on the Victoria line to Vauxhall and getting a train to Clapham Junction from there unfortunately.

Alternatives are great news though, right?

This is good news for me in so far as it will enable easy getting back to Peckham when I'm coming back into London on the slow line from the South West.

A likely decrease in trains to Victoria (where I work these days) is probably bad news.

But alternatives! Good!

Dunno, they seem to love redirecting trains to Victoria and there'll probably be even more of that when the really hardcore work at London Bridge gets going.

Yer commute may be slower on the overground but it might be more bearable, although the great thing about alternative routes is that they take the pressure off the main one.

What will make a huge difference to my commute will be the extension of the Northern line to Battersea, but that's not going to be done for 4 years so I probably won't be working here then.

Commuting via Victoria line is totally fine for me cos I live at the end of it = virtually guaranteed seat unless I'm running v late.

This makes it a single train commute for me, which is great, but pisser about losing the direct Victoria trains (especially at weekends, when there seem to be none).

I had no idea that the inner loop (South London line) from Victoria to London Bridge was closing. Bit of a pain for regular users of Wandsworth Rd and Clapham High St. Also, the once-a-day parliamentary train that runs up to Kensington Olympia is finally being withdrawn from those stations too.

I've now downloaded a spreadsheet of station usage. Someone stop me.

Peckham Rye gets more than Aberdeen!

I'm assuming the closure of that inner loop means fewer trains from London Bridge down to Crystal Palace (and beyond) as well? That's going to fuck up my commute if so.

Not sure the inner loop closure will affect LB-CP, and there's no increased capacity on the stretch south of New Cross (as there was when the original extension came into service), so it should be OK. When Overground services first started between Palace/West Croydon and Dalston, there was a reduction of trains in/out of London Bridge along the Forest Hill/Sydenham line, leading to the dreaded 25min hole in southbound rush hour services from LB which I still occasionally find myself falling into.

Yeah I got my loops mixed up, this is the one that goes through South Bermondsey and Peckham Rye and places, right?

The wikipedia journey starting at Parliamentary trains is fab. Eg: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gainsborough_Central_railway_station - managed to have fewer passengers than a station which was closed and had no tracks.

We followed the same route, Stet!

MDC: yep.

Anyone else get caught out by the arriva bus strike this morning?

the extension of the Northern line to Battersea

I had no idea this was even being considered

I thought I had escaped bus strike troubles, but then I waited 25 minutes for my bus only for it to drive past me. RIP evening plans.

Ah, this explains why somebody who was supposed to meet me this morning waited 50 minutes for a bus which never came. I thought he was exaggerating.

again with my annual commute i find myself asking how this shit is acceptable or even possible

clapham junction to high st kensington - FOUR stops - has just taken me 70 MINUTES

i stayed in battersea to make the commute easier and it would have taken less time to do it from hackney FFS

i've heard many reports that the new southern overground line is a bit of a shambles, journeys involving it invariably taking 30 mins longer than they should and such.

also, inexplicably doesn't allow you to indicate that you're avoiding zone 1 by using it.

oh you motherfucker

victoria station is where the party is right now