London's public transport - commuting to/from work on the tube

lincroft1710

I don't know if it still happens, but on the Tokyo underground, staff are employed to push as many people as possible on to the trains. The commuters were stood on the trains, faces jammed up against the windows.

peachyprice

gettingready wrote: »

I would like one side of the train to have doors for "getting out" and another for "getting on" - so a tran arrives at a platform and both sides of doors open and there is no pushing around just one side to get out and the other side to get on.

Unfortunately they didn't think of that back at the turn of the 20th Century when the tube was first being built.

1DayAAT

I fully sympathise with you OP and I know you didn't come on here to be counter-attacked - you sound like you live in reality and just needed to vent. I used to commute this way but couldn't stand it a minute longer so I took a (lower paid) job in the area of London that I live and can take a short bus or car ride to it. My stress levels must have reduced 10 fold not to mention the spare time at both ends of the day not fighting the awful rat race.

The_ICT_Engineer

lincroft1710 wrote: »

I don't know if it still happens, but on the Tokyo underground, staff are employed to push as many people as possible on to the trains. The commuters were stood on the trains, faces jammed up against the windows.

It still happens, In the winter they employ more pushers as passengers wear thicker coats.

brendon

Azari wrote: »

Not all lines have trains/signalling capable of working with PED's.

It's not a trivial matter to retro-fit them.

We humans are able to travel to the moon, able to create weapons that could annihilate entire countries in a single blast, but retrofitting stations from 1960's signalling technology is somehow beyond us...

paddyrg

brendon wrote: »

We humans are able to travel to the moon, able to create weapons that could annihilate entire countries in a single blast, but retrofitting stations from 1960's signalling technology is somehow beyond us...

It's not at all beyond the wit of man, it's about costing money and disruption. There was a plan once to go to 'moving block' signalling, but it's expensive to retrofit and you only have a few (overtime) hours a night when the network is quiet, and that's needed for essential repairs!

The problem London has is that the original tube system was built for HORSES, it's that old. Everything has to retrofit around that. We were first, places like Singapore got to learn from everyone else's mistakes (and incidentally, we sold a lot of engineering know-how into other global tube systems!)

peachyprice

brendon wrote: »

We humans are able to travel to the moon, able to create weapons that could annihilate entire countries in a single blast, but retrofitting stations from 1960's signalling technology is somehow beyond us...

Oh no, it's not beyond us, but if they closed down a whole line for months you'd still moan.

bell123321

peachyprice wrote: »

Yes, it was both.

I didn't mean you in particular, but there are plenty out there who really do believe that.

I can guarantee one thing, more than one member of staff will have been assaulted on the Central Line today. At least you got to work today safely (albeit late) unlike the LU staff members who will have been sworn at, spat at, verbally assaulted, physically assaulted, all for something that is beyond their control. It's exactly the same when there is a strike, instead of thanking the people who didn't strike all they get is abuse. The last strike about a month ago there were three assaults on staff at Mile End alone.

I can vouch for those comments, I used to work on the underground and when the strikes were on as I didn't agree about that particular strike and the fact I needed to feed my family I went to work. The abuse I got that day for turning up to work was unreal! I know many staff who have been physically assaulted and the above tube station is one of four stations I worked at. The majority of the workers on the underground work hard. Unfortunately the underground isn't as modern as say the New York subway, and was not built for the amount of passengers that they currently have. In rush hour when no problems trains are about every min through central london, there is not much more they can do without major investment to build more tunnels. The comment about people jumping under trains think about the poor staff drivers and station staff who have to deal with the aftermath. I have seen one jumper whilst working but in the couple of years I worked I think there was about 6 at the stations I worked at.

I also agree that ticket prices are to expensive, but the only comment I can give is dont work in London if you dont want to pay the prices or find alternative methods. It can be tough for the underground workers yes when the day is normal the job is fairly easy but when there is disruption of some sort they earn their money.

Ps hope your commute is good tomorrow and the next day to compensate the rubbish week you have had this week.

gettingready

1DayAAT wrote: »

I fully sympathise with you OP and I know you didn't come on here to be counter-attacked - you sound like you live in reality and just needed to vent.

Thank you - the heading for this part of the forums includes "vent" so yes this was my reason for this post...

1DayAAT wrote: »

I used to commute this way but couldn't stand it a minute longer so I took a (lower paid) job in the area of London that I live and can take a short bus or car ride to it. My stress levels must have reduced 10 fold not to mention the spare time at both ends of the day not fighting the awful rat race.

One day will do the same....one day

persa

Most of the problems with the tube aren't deliberate.

What sort of job do you do? Could you flex your hours so you start an hour earlier/later? Sometimes shifting your travel plans by 60 minutes makes a hell of a difference. I don't work normal hours to avoid getting squished.