It's 8pm and I'm exhausted. I've been tramping around London, negotiating its public transport system for the most part of the day and the whole exercise has been such a drain on my mental capacity.
To explain, let's back track a little to give you some context. After flying back to London two days ago from Luxembourg, I moved into what is to be my home for my first month in London - a terrace house in Streatham. (Pronounced Stret - hem in case you're wondering...because I know you were 😉). Streatham is located in London's south.
Google says its about 45min-1h from London's city centre (using Liverpool Street, and Piccadilly Circus as a guide). From my actual place however, in reality you need to allow a good 1h 45min to get anywhere if you want to be on time. The first reason being is that the place I live at is a little distance from the main road with buses (+15min walk). Second reason is that while I'm located between two train stations, they form part of the London National Rail network, and are more like a commuter line. That is, Southern Rail line and Thameslink line which service these train stations are designed to transport people from the outskirts to particular locations in the city centre. Unlike the London Underground, these trains arrive less frequently and I have found often require multiple transport changes to either an alternate train or bus to get me to a specific destination (+15-20 min). The bus network is what fills the void for public transport in this area, in that the frequent bus arrivals (one every 5-10 min for any given bus route number) enable me to go to a more convenient metro stop.
So knowing all of the above, what is the reason for the battle I fought today? Well after successfully negotiating my way from Streatham to Victoria Park in London's north-east to meet up with a dear old friend I haven't seen in 8 years (1.5h journey: bus, train, bus, bus, walk), I then took a bus over Whitechapel in a failed attempt to pick up my stored suitcase of worldly belongings (15min journey: bus). Friend who had my suitcase was unfortunately out, so I thought nevermind, I'll head home for an early night in and a movie. This is when things really started to snowball... Google Maps suggests a fanciful list of bus, train, bus combinations. My brain tells me that the options which involve most of the distance being covered by the metro or train might be the most reliable in terms of time, so I head over to Whitechapel station to try and negotiate my way back across the Thames. Big mistake. Upon arriving at the station, a friendly lone Transport for London Undergound representative tells me that the District and Circle lines have been shut down for the weekend.
Friendly London Underground Customer Information person
He is even momentarily baffled about the best way to get to Streatham (because of the distance needed to travel), but then recommends I take a bus service to Bank, then take the Northern line down to Stockwell, then take the Victoria line to Brixton, followed by a bus home. All this takes me 2.5h to negotiate, leaving me very hungry, and all the while wondering can I eat on public transport here??
In total, I think I've spent over 4h today on public transport and walking confused around this city. I understand that there is a great Twitter service that Transport for London offers for latest updates on each of the transport lines that might have forewarned me of the trackworks, and that maybe me being new to London doesn't help. However, it does highlight to me an experience that is a problem - public transport connections for people on the fringes of the city. I'm finding that in London, if you live within the Tube service network, you'll have a pretty comfortable time getting around the city. If you fall just outside that, then things become a bit more of a complex 'bus, train, bus, bus' nightmare. When weekend track works are added to the mix, it makes it even more difficult to navigate such a distance. This whole experience has made me a little more cautious about planning further meetings in the city centre...
Seriously...who plans track works for this many lines on a single weekend?
The promising news is that Mayor Sadiq Khan's Manifesto for London already flags investment in extending the public transport system at the city's fringes as a priority, including improving links across the Thames, and encouraging cycling and walking in his Healthy Streets London transport strategy. Maybe they could also work with Google Maps to improve their suggestions for multi-modal transport routes. Serious suggestion!
To end this post on a more lighthearted note, here is today's Underground Service Information at Brixton Station...for the enjoyment of all you Richard Ashcroft fans...
The Underground staff must have so much fun doing their job - these poetic service announcements appear at Brixton station every time there's a concert on at the local Brixton Academy
Over and out. Xx
Katrie.