I was very impressed by the subway system in London. I have to say - for anyone coming from NYC, it's very easy to figure out a lot of systems in other cities, and the famous London tube system was no exception. It seems that it almost goes out of its way to create a pleasant and easy experience. I loved especially those electronic signs that tell you when the next train is coming. The NYC MTA is very slowly getting around to implementing them, but it's taking years. We have them on the 4/5/6 line, though they're often not working, and now they're on the 1/2/3 as well, and the L (if I'm missing one let me know). I love those signs, because often they can let me know whether or not I should start reading my book, look for a bench on the platform, or just give up and take a cab. I also very rarely had trouble finding a seat on the London trains. I'm not saying this even should always happen, but invariably some nice man would get up and offer me his seat. That doesn't happen here. In fact, I've actually had men push me out of the way for a seat on the train. We're a city filled with George Costanzas here in NYC. I've also never had to struggle with a heavy suitcase up or down the stairs in a tube station. Someone *always* offers to help. People will occasionally help here, too, but it's not something to be counted on. In fact, I offered to help a woman struggling with a suitcase yesterday, and the thing was so heavy I almost instantly regretted it. I can't always blame people for not helping. It sure is nice when they do, though.
There are things I think NYC does better - such as air conditioning in the train during the summer. It wasn't overly hot in London in mid-July, and I doubt they get as many scorchingly hot days as we do here, but stepping onto the train upon leaving Heathrow, I was a little taken aback by the warm air that hit me. And when the train gets crowded in the summer, that A/C is quite a blessing. Another thing I noticed in London in general, but also in some of the tube stations (I say some because I wasn't in that many of them, and can't say whether this is universal) - the absence of trash cans, or "bins." The stations seemed perfectly clean, but it left me wondering what people do with their trash! I remember holding the same paper bag that I wanted to toss on two different trains on my way to the airport, and then finally asking the woman behind the desk at Virgin Atlantic's check in counter to throw it out for me, because I simply could not find anywhere to do it myself. Not that NYC's stations are any cleaner for having trash cans. There are still rats running around, especially late at night, and there is still tons of litter on the tracks. It's pretty gross. I heard recently that there was a proposal to do away with trash cans in subway stations here, and I don't think it's a good idea. I'm not sure how the London stations stay clean, but I'm pretty sure here people would just start using the tracks as a garbage can even more frequently than they already do.
I loved the aesthetic of the London system, though. I like ours, too, in a lot of the stations, but I loved the clean lines, the iconic signage, the way people move to the right on escalators so those of us who want to walk can pass them .... (OK that's got nothing to do with aesthetics, but it's something people are supposed to do here and don't, and it drives me crazy). So here are some of my favorite photos of the London Underground:
More Charing Cross, because they're just so much fun! Is that a raven in the one on the right? And look at those guys with clubs on the left. What are they doing?
Finally - I will be traveling in Europe in August - France, Switzerland, and Italy. I look forward to doing another edition of Signal Failures Abroad at that point!
The bins were taken out of stations or sealed in trains during the IRA bombing campaigns as they were too convent for explosive devices. The Piccadilly line is definitely the better line, that was renovated for the Heathrow to central london travel. However, when i lived in london, which was some time ago, if you travelled on the Northern line, especially through south-London, that is where the rubbish was, which I thought was strange as travels under the main Financial district in the city of London.
ReplyDeleteThe air conditioning is based on the pressure wave generated by the trains as they push the air forward as they travel through the tubes, which is unfortunate if they break down. I remember one train load of passengers being trapped in a train for something like eight hours with the temperature rose to extreme tempretures. Also rubbish tends to get sucked down the tracks, and they employ people to enter the tunnels and clean it out-it has been considered on of the worst jobs in London, maybe better than entering the sewers beneath Leicester square and dig out the solidified fat from the local restaurants.
The one real advantage that the NYC subway offers is that it runs 24 hours away; there were always those who got on at Camden, rushing to catch the last train, drunk, sleeping and then finding themselves in Morden with no way home other than an expensive taxi ride, a long sleep, or the difficulties of the night bus service, or sleeping on a bench-outside the station.
I spent more time on the Northern line or walking above ground from Kentish Town to central london, but then from from Newington Green, but then its mostly the 73 bus unless you walk to Holloway Road, (Piccadilly line) or at Angel (Northern line with longest escalators in all of the tube); but the point is, it is fun to walk along the Northen Line and find the closed stations; such as Mornington Crescent, which was famous as the name in the segment of a quiz show on Radio 4. They played on the complex nature of the rules, which they developed; the game show was not the issue, but the discussions on differing interpretations of the rules, which were in any case improvised rules. I also remember it for is lift service, which was the only way in and out of the station, and was quite frightening. It was closed for lift replacement and never reopened. or the train as South
kentish Town that can be recognized by its distinct northern line architecture.
The pictures at Charing Cross relate to Edward I, whose wife, after she was dead was moved south, and at each resting spot a cross was built-Waltham Cross, Kings Cross, Charing Cross; the roundheads (civil war) objected to such displays, perhaps too catholic, but the victorians liked a good funeral story, or at least the mythical power of its narrative, restored the Cross.
Steven - you are my first commenter! You get an award, in the form of eternal glory (at least on this blog! :-)) And thank you for all that info! That is so much easier than me actually researching it myself. And I agree with you that the all-night service is a great advantage to the NYC trains. When I lived in Boston, the trains quit at something like 1 AM. Or maybe that was the bars ... but the trains quit early. It made going out on weekends kind of a pain to coordinate. I don't think I realized London quits early, too. Of course my train in Queens, the R, doesn't run after eleven(!). But I can always take the N as a back-up - I just have to walk a little further.
DeleteMornington Crescent is also the name of a Belle & Sebastian song ... I wonder if it relates to the the location or the quiz show.
I do remember reading that about Charing Cross now, and I might even have photographed part of the explanation. I definitely forgot though, so thank you for the refresher!