The London Underground: Love It or Hate It?

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London Underground is a pain in the a*s for me personally. There's a signal failure on the picadilly line quite often or some of it is part closed on weekends, although to be fair that is due to ongoing improvement works, but having lived in Germany, the trains are very clean, new and never stop in the middle of the tunnel because there's another train in front. Sorry for my little rant :dontknow:

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my HTC Desire

Aye, the Tube can be a pain, that much I can believe, but remember that the London Underground is older than Germany's!! Yes, signal failures are frequent, but there were years of neglect with little upgrading, so this is the result!! Just think where London would be without the tube; it wouldnt function!! And a stop in the tunnel is a few seconds generally; OK, it delays everything else, but for you on the train, 99% of the time 30 seconds or a minute is hardly going to make a difference, is it?

Reply 21

Emissionspectra

my dad works on it so Kind of have to like it.

Reply 22

Fishbulb25

I hate rush hour but prefer it so much more than the buses. I am a Londoner... The lines I take are usually reliable.

Reply 23

patrickinator

It is efficient and it works. Nuff said

Reply 24

Arturo Bandini

I don't have any strong feelings about it either way

Reply 25

username839961

Love the tube, hate buses. Buses are slow and have too many delays. Plus all the obnoxious, loudest, most irritating people seem to take the bus whereas the tube is fast, scheduled, more room, always has plenty of seats and most importantly everyone's quiet or talking in their 'at home' voice.

Reply 26

ily_em

I like it

I live in London and commute every day during uni. Most of the time it runs ok, I can't recall being late for anything because of the tube, and I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I have waited for more than 5 minutes. The rush hour is not usually too bad either - if a train is too busy, I walk to the end of the platform, wait for the next one and I can usually get a seat. I don't get the mentality where everyone crams into the train when they know there'll be another train in a minute or two.

If it didn't exist I would have to get the bus every day, which takes at least twice the time and I would have to leave a lot more room to get there because there are more likely to be delays.

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 27

username932763

I'm a Londoner and I LOVE IT. I grew up with it, it's practically a life line for me and I way prefer it to buses. Then I watched The Tube and it only increased my admiration/love for the network and everyone who loves on it.

Wait... except the Central line. I have a deep, deep loathing for that line. It's always so hot and busy.

Oh, and I think this summer I shall hate the tube. Apparently we can expect two hour waits for trains at London Bridge (yay!)

Best bit.. if you're running late you can just say "sorry, tube got stuck in the tunnel".

(edited 11 years ago)

Reply 28

dean01234

I love the idea of it, but when ever I have to use it I hate it.

Reply 29

squiddly

Original post by Pi!

Love it! It has its own typeface, Johnston, which looks like this:

It's better than just using Helvetica, like on the New York Subway. Look at the dots on the i's.

/typeface nerd

I agree and love the font, but aren't they all upper case? London would not work work without the tube, July will be a testing time!

Reply 30

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Listen, I am a world traveller.

I have experienced the Bangkok SkyTrain, the Kuala Lumpur monorail, and the underground metro systems of Seoul, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taipei, and Shanghai - as well as the London Tube.

I can safely say that the Tube ranks lowest of all. It also smells the worst, has the most delays, the dirtiest cabins (you aren't allowed to eat or drink in those other countries), the worst drivers, the least reliable service, and is so outdated you can tell it was built in the Victorian times.

I use it from Liverpool Street to Uxbridge on the Metropolitan Line a couple of times every week, and at least that has a lot of new trains now on that line. But even our Piccadilly Line, which serves all 5 terminals at Heathrow and takes tourists into central London, MAKES NO EFFORT TO BE TIDY nor to make a good first impression to foreigners who are coming over here on a budget for a bit of tourism. :angry:

When I go to a foreign country, the first thing I research is how do I get to my hotel from the airport (usually I cannot speak the language). Most good airports have clearly signposted directions in many languages to a multitude of transport options to take new tourists to their destinations.

Not the Tube.

Poor Japanese solo travellers coming to Heathrow for the first time, lol, good luck to them! They are confronted by old, smelly trains in a decrepit airport underground station, with dirty seats and no CCTV! The announcements are not even billingual.

So next time you see a foreign tourist on the Tube with a guidemap out, looking confused, don't laugh and ignore them. Help them, and tell them that transport systems on the UK do actually improve once they get above ground. :cool:

Reply 31

SnoochToTheBooch

hate it, glad I dont have to deal with that **** every morning

Reply 32

Pi!

Original post by squiddly

I agree and love the font, but aren't they all upper case? London would not work work without the tube, July will be a testing time!

Nope, they use upper case and lower case, which is easier to read, hence the mix of upper case and lower case on motorway signs.

Reply 33

IlexBlue

Bloody hate it. :colonhash:

Hot, crowded (it looks like I may have used it during peak hours, though), absolutely no space, and underground. I hate feeling stifled and like to be near fresh air, plus I used to have panic attacks with agoraphobia... so it's not my best friend.

It was quite fun playing Foreigner Bingo when I was bored, though.

Reply 34

hannahchan

nope. i hate the underground. urgh.

and I can never breathe because of the air pressure and dust :frown:

Reply 35

Vindobona

It's not among the very best ones in Europe, but still in the better half.

Reply 36

alirat

you can say its annoying where there are delays, but if it wasn't there you'd hate it so much more

Reply 37

SacredWolf

You hate it until you go to a city without it. Then you're counting the days before you return to civilisation.

Reply 38

Madmachine

Original post by Pandabär

Feel I should mention- I was on my way to somewhere the other day (think it was maybe Uxbridge) and they have the LOVELIEST new trains on the Metropolitan line.

The old trains were far better. Much more spacious, semi private compartment style seating, comfy seats and luggage racks for long distance, and heating for the rides through the Chilterns. By introducing those new trains they have forgotten that the metropolitan line is mainline in character (non-stop trains, long distances between stations, goes far into the countryside). It's not even nostalgia because while I used to love the rattle and clank and retro look of the old victoria line trains I cant lie that the new trains are a massive improvement.

Reply 39

Isambard Kingdom Brunel

Original post by Madmachine

I agree with what you say about the semi private compartmental seating.

That was nice and relaxing on a 55 min journey to Uxbridge (often longer coming back into central during rush hour). Now it's the typical Tube seating plans which engender thoughts of "omg where do I put my eyes" :colondollar: