Saturday, September 16, 2006
Transport woes
This afternoon I went out to meet friends and their son in the centre of town for an early dinner, late lunch. Leaving the car at home, we set off for the bus stop. Thirty minutes later and the bus still hadn't arrived we walked to a different stop to take another route (5 minutes waiting at that stop and 2 buses from the first route pass by at the same time). We get to the tube station only to find the line is down and a rail replacement service is operating. Twenty minutes on the packed rail replacement bus and we finally get to a tube station where we can continue the journey. I'm sure I'm not the only one to have these frustrating travel experiences. And this in the same week the Mayor announces further fare rises. This is Ken's London? What a farce.
3 comments:
You should have just gone by car, it is infinately better!
By Anonymous, at 9:40 AM
Yes, I wish I had now. It just strikes me as hilarious that Ken wants people to leave their cars at home and use a public transport system that is regularly terrible.
By LaL, at 9:55 AM
your experience sounds all too familiar, however you have to remember that certain parts of London have pretty dire driving conditions as well....and often this is not because of the number of cars on the road, but due to the way the traffic lights are managed, the number of cycle lanes added to short stretches of road, and the overly long bus lanes (often position near to traffic lights causing traffic to funnel into one lane just before they reach the lights).
I have also noticed at bus stops with a bay for the buses to pull into, allowing traffic to flow past, the bays have been filled in with pavement. I think the single worst occurrence of this is along the Finchley road outside Finchley road tube station. The pavement was is so monstrous you could have about 30 people walking side by side without a problem. The bus bay that cut fractionally into this pedestrian area has now been filled in for no apparent reason (With the bus stop literally 10 meters before a set of lights)
By louis, at 4:57 AM
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