London Underground > Reviews > A necessary evil

Author's product rating:   

Frequency of trains	Good
Reliability of trains	Occasionally on time
Comfort of trains	Very uncomfortable
On-board facilities	Very poor

Advantages:	Quicker than walking and bus
Disadvantages:	Too many to mention

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

I was fortunate enough to be brought up in a rural part of England. People would pay money to come and see the sights that I walked past on my way to school and I didn't give it a second thought. I simply thought that the town I lived in was boring and that London was where it was happening. I thought nothing of the fact that my 15 mile drive to work in Dorset took 15 minutes and decided that it would be fun to move to London.

Unless you are an oil tycoon or the owner of Chelsea, the best way to get to a place of work in Central London is to take the Underground. Buses are subject to congestion, walking takes too long unless you live near a British Rail Station and cycling around the Capital is the transport equivalent of signing your own death warrant. I will now set out to describe what the Underground is and my experiences of using it

What is it?
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Quite simply, the Underground is a series of underground train lines that spread accross most of London. There is a dense cluster of stations in Central London for obvious reasons and they go out to the suburbs. If you live in South East London, any further out than Lewisham, then you may as well stop reading now. South East London is not really covered by the Underground apart from the Docklands Light Railway and stations at New Cross, Surrey Quays and Greenwich. All very close to the Thames.

Stations are signed by the infamous red ring with blue horizontal bar running through it. The station name is written through the blue bar. The entire network is divided into zones and these form the basis of how much your journey will cost. For example a journey from Charing Cross (Zone 1) to Edgware (Zone 5) would cost £3.50 (at time of writing) as you will be travelling through 5 zones.

A journey from Swiss Cottage to Kilburn on the Jubilee line will cost £1.10 as they both fall within Zone 2.

I won't go into too much detail on prices as A) I'm getting bored just writing it, B) It's subject to change and finally C) If you use the tube frequently then there are numerous monthly or weekly saver cards you can buy. More details can be found at the London Underground Website.

Once armed with your ticket, you enter it into a barrier and this should open and allow you to go to the trains. There are numerous different lines in the underground system and all are colour coded. Some are just a few meters below the ground (such as St James Park) whereas others seem to be pretty near the centre of the earth. Etiquette on the escalators is to stand on the right if you aren't going to walk up or down in order to allow those in a hurry to pass you on your left. In rush hour this idea goes completely out of the window as a free for all breaks out.

Once you arrive on the platform, pay close attention to the electronic signs. These tell you when the next train is due and also which station it's going to. The Northern Line for example divides into two branches beyond Euston and so it's important you get on the right train as a train to Edgware or a train to Mill Hill East will leave from the same platform although they are a distance apart. In rush hour the platforms are an ugly place where manners become extinct and the less pleasant side of human nature becomes evident. More about that later. Once the train arrives, the automatic door slides open and people get off. You then get on and look for a seat. The coaches vary according to the "Line" you are travelling on but there are strict rules that must be adhered to wherever you are on the Tube:

i) Don't engage anyone in eye contact.
ii) If you do look away immediately.
iii) Read the adverts above passengers heads as though they are the most interesting things you have ever seen.
iv) It's no use looking around, when it's crowded you WILL end up with your nose close to the armpit of someone who isn't terribly well acquainted with soap and water.
v) Don't smile.
vi) Don't frown.
vii) Don't expect to able to read a Broadsheet paper when the carriage is packed. Yes that means you - The Weasel Look-alike on the Northern Line between Waterloo and Leicester Square at about 0840!!!
viii) If you're standing up, hold onto something. However cool it looks to stand unaided, part of your journey will be like a violent fairground ride and you will go flying unless you hold onto a bar or suchlike.
ix) Read something - even if you aren't!!

Once you arrive at your destination, get off and repeat the process of getting on in the first place - only in reverse.

That's the Underground experience as it should be........

However, these scribblings on Ciao are called opinions and here's mine.

London Underground is an absolute disgrace. When compared with foreign services, almost all of which are cheaper and more efficient, it serves to highlight how poorly run it is and how ineffective those who's job it is to improve it have been. For all of the glitzy websites and advertising, the tube is still in vital need of a lot of maintenance work and despite several new locomotives, carriages are uncomfortable and during rush hour, frankly very dangerous. People have simply come to accept that the 20 minute crush in a searingly hot, cramped carriage is a part of their day without really thinking just how poor it really is. Without banging any political drum, it is a fact that it has been allowed to deteriorate and it is only now, as the state of track reaches crisis point, that work is being done.

Ceratinly there are good and bad lines. Jubilee is one of the newest and most comfortable but the system is woefully inept at coping with the morning and evening rush hour which can hardly come as a surprise when they happen. People working in London is not a new thing yet London Underground don't seem to have cottoned on just yet!!

I really don't know what can be done. To mend track will cause delays. To use buses will increase congestion. I don't see a solution to this problem and my decision to stay working in London really does hinge on how much more of a dreadful commute I can stomach for the sake of the extra money that a job in London offers compared to the rest of the Country.

I apologise for sounding a tad over the top but I'm certain any fellow tube users reading this will echo my thoughts and if they don't, I'd be interested to know why as I'm obviously working in the wrong area.

Conclusion
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If you are a sight-seer, using the tube outside of rush hour is a great way to get around London. If you use it as a means of getting to work at the same time as millions of others, it is a dreadful experience that is sadly a by-product of working in London. And to top it all, if you blow your nose after using the tube, it comes out black!!!!!