Friday Cities - The Ten London Transport Commandments
10 04 2007Now, I realize that perhaps if you aren’t a Brit, or more specifically, a Londoner, The Ten London Transport Commandments may not resonate with you in quite the same way they do with me. On the other hand, it was Kathy of A Likely Story who sent me this, and said it reminded her of me, so I could be underestimating my substantial North American Audience appreciation for the humour underlining these great (and long overdue in my opinion) suggestions. If so, forgive me 
.
After all, if you travel by transit/public transport in most parts of the world, many of these will be quite familiar to you. I am both a Brit and a Londoner – with a love/hate relationship with the Tube – and I have to say I hugely appreciated this. And I had such a good laugh.
Thank you Kath – this SO made my day. I’m in total agreement with practically all the Commandments – no surprise there - and the additional suggestions are even funnier. We’ll be in London later this year, and I’ll eagerly hope to see these on my Oyster card so hopefully it’ll get plenty of support.
And I’ve passed on the link to all my friends back home…I got great satisfaction saying that a fellow blogger from Denver Colorado sent me the link. Oh, isn’t blogging just great! Heh!
If you happen to be a Londoner reading this, do pass on the link as well – and check out the very neat Friday Cities blog.
Kathy, cheers mate – you rock!
The Ten London Transport Commandments
Technorati Tags: Londoner, the Tube, London, Friday Cities
Oh yes! I whole heartedly agree with two and four. I would expand on number nine to say that the middle of corridors and the top of escalators are not suitable places for consulting maps, having conversations or sorting out your luggage - move to the side!!
well theres a site that may change your mind about the underground,
how about those lost stations, the ones that have vanished into the darkness
http://underground-history.co.uk/front.php
look through the window as you travel between Tottenham Court Road and Holborn on the Central Line and you’ll see a station - where no passengers have alighted since 1932. This used to be British Museum station. Or perhaps you may notice the tunnel wall change from cast iron tubing to bricks as you travel on the Piccadilly Line between Green Park and Hyde Park Corner. This also used to be a station. Down Street, closed in the same year as British Museum. These stations are often referred to as ghost stations.
There are about 40 abandoned or relocated stations on the Underground network along its entire 255 miles (408Km) of trackway - some subsurface and some above ground. Some have vanished without trace whereas others are almost intact, grimey time capsules of the era when they were closed.
i am a northerner, so only visited london twice and both those times was passing through
Yay..glad you liked it!
I died laughing reading it and it really makes me want to visit London…sad to say I’ve never been but want to go in the worst way! And Toronto, and Quebec and …and….and..!
And yes, isn’t the power of the blog magnificent? Cheers to the blogosphere
Kath - It’s hysterical. I think my thy shalt nots were already included
. Rhea - you WILL go one day. And you will love it! I promise!
Rhea - you mean:
” when thou reachest the topmost area of moving stairway, ye shalt refrain from thy consultation and ruminations and blocking lest thy presence contributeth to the ire of they fellow travellers… thou shalt at all times moveth and keepeth to the right!”
.
Phew, it isn’t easy writing in ye olde English Elizabethan!
Mercurior - yes, I know about the abandoned stations, in fact I have a couple of books on them, one called London under London and if you’re a regular tube traveller on certain line, you can spot them. The history of the Underground is fascinating but the abandoned stations are probably of little concern to Tube travellers who battle Tube travelling daily. The 10 Commandments will be A Good Thing.
I enjoyed this but I do have a question: why must one always walk from Charing Cross to Embankment? I have been to London (many years ago) but I don’t know the city or the tube — I just remember the stations are really deep underground The curiosity is killing me….I can barely type.
Christine - my husband asked me this too! And he’s walked it. The reason is that Charing Cross Underground Station and Embankment Station are less than 1 minute apart on the Tube, and about 5 mins walking. Walking should be a no-brainer, but it’s funny how it can become a debate :).
The question might be asked as to why it’s there in the first place, since they are only one minute apart, however it’s because there are two different lines (Northern and Jubilee) and the former Charing X Underground Station was renamed Embankment Station. A bit confusing.
Here’s a bit of background (I looked this up) - Pretty amazing, given that some areas of the Tube are over 100 years old.
“Originally, Charing Cross underground station was down right by the river - what’s now called Embankment station. This is served by the Northern line (Charing Cross branch) and Circle & District lines. Separately, there was then a Trafalgar Square station, about 5 minutes walk away, at Trafalgar Square.
In 1977 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s 25 years on the throne, the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line (which went from Baker Street to Stanmore) was extended down to Bond Street, Green Park and into Charing Cross, and renamed the Jubilee line. This was built under Charing Cross station and called Charing Cross. The Bakerloo line platforms at Trafalgar Square were brought into this station, with underground foot tunnels put in place between the Jubilee and Bakerloo line platforms.
The former Charing Cross station was renamed Embankment. A Northern line station was also opened at Charing Cross, although in fact it is only about one minute’s walk from Charing Cross to Embankment. There were plans to extend the Jubilee line along The Strand and Fleet Street into the city, but these never happened.
More recently, in preparation for the Millennium Dome, the Jubilee line was rerouted again. The link into Charing Cross was closed off after Green Park, and the line extended to Westminster, Waterloo, London Bridge, Canary Wharf, Greenwich (for the dome) and onto Stratford in the East End. “