Passenger service that is awful - and excellent
- Steve Browne, 34, from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Works for BT marketing. Takes Circle line from Tower Hill to Farringdon
Some days the tube is excellent; on others it can be a 15 minute wait for a tube from Tower Hill so it's almost worth walking for 20 minutes instead.
It isn't too overcrowded, but the trains and stations are tatty. I've been travelling by tube for about 10 years - it improved a bit about two years ago, but it's going back downhill now.
I don't think PPP will work, I just don't think the investment will be there. The plan Ken Livingstone had was better - at least it was already proven to work in New York. I think it'll end up like the British Rail privatisation. Safety will not be improved.
I think the government row about PPP was petty. It seemed the government wanted to go against Ken Livingstone and now they don't want to look as if they are backing down.
- Jan Trinnaman, 20, psychology student from north London. Victoria line from Seven Sisters to King's Cross, then Circle line to Farringdon
I take the tube as there's no other option for getting into university every day.
I don't find it too bad, but the Circle line is always quite packed. The trains are quite messy and I don't often travel at night as there are lots of drunks and I feel a bit scared.
I try not to think about the safety issues because I have to get on a train every day.
- Chris Whitehouse, 48. Civil servant from north London. Victoria line from Seven Sisters to King's Cross
I've had no problems travelling this morning, and the service is usually good. On occasion there are delays, but no more than usual.
Sometimes there are long queues at the ticket windows - the tube does seem short of staff.
I'm not completely convinced about PPP. There have been too many doubts voiced, but the government just stands up and says PPP is the greatest thing on earth, ignoring the other voices.
I think PPP will put more money into the tube, but it's where the money is invested that is important. The problem is that private firms have their shareholders to think of. The reason why many people are wary of PPP is because of the mess on the railways. We need to be convinced that that won't happen again.
- Vanessa Blackstock, 31. Secretary from Wood Green, London. Piccadilly line from Wood Green to King's Cross, then Circle line to Farringdon
My journey this morning was the same as usual: overcrowded, hot and smelly. I had no seat as usual. We're not animals, but we're being transported like them. It's diabolical. If there was an accident on the tube there would be a hell of a lot of lives lost.
Privatisation hasn't improved British Rail so I don't think PPP is going to make the tube any better. It's just going to make it more money orientated.
I back Ken Livingstone more over the tube issue than I do the government. Whoever runs the tube needs to ask more questions and listen to the people that use it. The decisions need to come from them, but even so it will take years to make the service better.
- David Fritz, 44. Manager from Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire. Infrequent tube user
I tend to use the tube to cover large distances that are inconvenient to travel by bus. I work in Mornington Crescent and take the train from there to Euston. But I always prefer to walk from there rather than take the tube.
I avoid the tube if possible because it's smelly and unpleasant and sporadic.
The tube is reasonably priced compared to trains, but compared to buses it is quite extortionate. It is unbelievable that the government has gone with PPP after the experience the country has had with privatisation and public transport.
I'm from Switzerland, and public transport works there. People use it, it's clean and it's punctual. It takes money and commitment to make a public service work - you just can't get it on the cheap.
After PPP I think things are going to get worse - fares will go up and the infrastructure will deteriorate further.
- Andrew Belton, 39. General sales manager from Reigate, Surrey. Victoria line from Victoria to Oxford Circus and Central line to Chancery Lane
This morning we were crowded in like sardines. We always are. But I think the tube is fantastic. It's just a victim of its own popularity.
I'm quite a big fan of the tube but I think it needs extreme long-term investment. I think it should be taken out of politicians' hands, but not put wholly into the hands of private companies because money is always going to be a key driver if private companies are involved. - Zuzana Slobodova, 54. Interpreter from Bayswater, central London. Central line from Bayswater to Chancery Lane
My journey was all right this morning, but sometimes it can be hair-raising.
Under PPP I think tube prices will rise, as they did with the trains. It might be that elements of London Underground could be privatised, but I think that needs to be researched thoroughly. In general it should stay in public hands.
I'm concerned about safety on the tube, I always try to sit in the middle of the train. I think the tube needs a new safety system, especially after September 11. Tube stations seem to be vulnerable to terrorism.
some articles about why people dislike the london underground.
10 Reasons Why I Hate The Tube...
- Rush-Hour
- Nutters: .....One way to avoid a nutter is to BE the nutter or simply wear a pair of suinglasses and listen to your walkman. (except for listen to walkman, passengers have new choice to play with our interactive wall.)
- Tourists
- The Circle Line: .... delays, cancellations, engineering works or more simply if it doesn't turn up at all. Delays between stops are so common that all Circle Line trains have been graffitted as the graffiti artists are so bored that they attack the inside of the train, fed up of trying to get to their destination - like everyone then. ( if train delay, people has more things to do, however, if the game of our interaction wall is too simple, how can we satisfy bored people and avoid them to graffiti/attack the train...?)
- The Tube Map: All those different coloured lines - its like a rainbow... until you come to the interchanges. Bank and Monument is a classic example - a mile walk between the Central and District/Circle Lines through dingy tunnels. ...
- Cleanliness: .....BBC London have also reported that sound levels on the tube are dangerously high and regular tube users should wear earplugs!...
- LU Staff: Grumpy, Unhelpful and Selfish (i.e. the number of ever-increasing strikes). ...
- PA Annoucements: "MIThh the GAhh" and "Thith trn wi noo stoip abbroltluy" not forgetting "Plith sta clee of the clopthie doo" all make the experience slightly less beareable. However it is amusing when tourists are looking for "clopthie doo" while the door squashes them and they lose their phrase book. Central Line users have the privileage of listening to an automated recorded woman stating every stop. She's called Sonia ('cos she gets on yer nerves). (I am thinking, if we need to include sound in our interactive wall, we need to be careful to choose a sound can relax people instead of make the underground more noisy.)
- Flashers/Gropers
- Signal Failure/Suspected Packages/Strike
A million reasons why I hate the London Underground
Posted on March 27, 2007 by simbsi
There are plenty of reasons why I hate travelling on the London Underground.
- The Northern Line has to be the worst train service on the underground.
- The announcements on the Northern Line tend to be a bit too loud. Infact it seems like the train driver wants to pierce our eardrums with all that noise. (again, people hate the annoucement is too noisy.)
- The fact that I always have to change my train at Kennington coz the train terminates there most of the time.
- People who don’t give up their seats to the elderly or pregnant women.
- People who beg on the underground by going around carriage to carriage. I have noticed this woman who comes around nearly every day with her baby to beg for money. Now if it were a one off it would be fine but then I see her like practically every day. I am sure she spends most of her day underground soliciting funds.
- I can’t stand weird people who stare at me while travelling. It tends to get a bit annoying. I had to face three people yesterday who kept staring at me yesterday.It did not comfort me one bit because they looked like major creeps.
- A notable mention to people with obssessive compulsive disorders who tend to get a bit annoying after some time. I would like to point out that guy who kept slapping his hand and then rolling his eyes around and staring at everyone every 2 mins. Then there was this guy who kept biting his fingernails and digging for gold and trying to achieve every goal in the “a million ways to irritate people on the underground” book. To top it all the old foggie sitting on my left kept licking his lips. The worst bit was that I could hear him through all that loud music i was listening to. At least it was better than that guy who kept tapping his feet while listening to music.
I Hate London Underground (a personal experience talking about a keen traveller and like to experience different things. However, he hates london underground because he feel nervous )
- "... Now for the first-time traveller to London you would expect nerves, other people can’t feel these nerves apart from you but I’m sure when you’re standing staring at a picture like this 10ft by 7ft, they should share your pain. No, they don’t. They just push past you in the hope of getting on their train 4.295 seconds quicker than their daily average so they can gather more time at work to stand around their water machines chatting about how some poor chap was lost on the London Underground and their inability to help out another fellow human being...."
London Underground Statistics
General data:
- Total passenger journeys/day: 2.7 million (Average - some working days record over 3 million.)
- Most passengers on a line: District (180 million passengers over 60 km length)
- Busiest Line: Victoria (174 million over 20 km length)
Line Infrastructure Data: (since the olympic village is on Jubilee line, Stratford, i choose this data first. on this website, there are more data for all the lines.)
- Line: Jubilee
- Route Length: 38 kms
- Tunnel: 19 kms
- Open: 19 kms
- Stations Served: 27
Line Service Data : tph = trains per hour
- Line: Jubilee
- Peak service (tph): 24 (average train comes every 2.5 min)
- Off Peak Service (tph): 15 (average train comes every 4 min)
- Trains req'd*: 46 x 6-cars
- Stabling: Neasden, Stratford, Stanmore
- Control Centre: Neasden
- Everyday, around 2.7 million passengers take tube, if "1 million" passengers play with our interactive wall when waiting for the train, have fun and get relax feeling, our project can be said reach the purpose and aim!
- The train comes very frequently, the interaction design has to attract users in very short time. Besides, keep it easy and fun. If too complicated or the game feedback is very slow or delay, the interaction between users and our project will fail.
