Transport for London.

[Bob Williams]

I receive regular updates about London Transport, as we very occasionally go down to our friends in High Barnet and then visit Central London via the underground. I have been noticing the ongoing problems in the service caused by upgrades to the network and it makes me wonder how Londoners manage to get around on a daily basis. I almost feel sorry for the: not only do they live expensively cheek by jowl in the ultimate urban rabbit warren of a polluted environment, they have to put up with continual changes in travel to work and leisure.

Whenever I feel a bit annoyed at our rural problems, I take a look at the latest TfL reports, pollution records and high prices of everything down there, I breathe in air without lumps and feel better.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[doctoryorkie]

Bob, Don’t tell them about up here. Or down where you are. :yahoo:

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[Bob Williams]

Not likely Doc. ?

Anyway nothing north of Watford exists for most Londoners. The cleaner air up here would make them dizzy.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Jason]

Watford or Watford Gap? Round here the dividing line always used to be stated as Watford Gap (it’s nowhere near Watford).

[Richard]

Jason, that is the wrong Watford apparently there is another Watford and a gap between two hills that makes for an excellent pass-through between north and south. The village is just to the north of the Watford Gap services. See Google maps, I could not directly paste a snipping tool image.

I wondered for years why the gap service were way up there, now I know.

 

[Ed P]

It used to be the Watford Gap because it was the first Service station on the M1 to the north of London. The north-south divide  was then extended to the west in a line that follows the M4 ‘corridor’. If you are a ‘weather watcher’ there is actually a tiny bit of factual rationale behind this saying. The M4 corridor and on to the Watford Gap and south-east down to the ‘anus’ of England often act as a demarcation line on the weather charts between good and bad weather. (a function of local weather flows being heavily influenced by the ground terrain. For us real ‘Southerners’ the North and South Downs have similar influences on local weather patterns.)

[Richard]

From Wikipedia

Watford Gap /ˈwɒtfərd ɡæp/ is a low-lying point between two hills, close to the village of Watford, Northamptonshire, England. Engineers from Roman times onwards have found it to be an ideal route for connecting the Midlands with South East England. In a width of 400 metres (1,300 ft) the A5 road, the West Coast Main Line railway, the M1 motorway and a branch of the Grand Union Canal traverse the gap in parallel. Any population is included in the civil parish of Watford, Northamptonshire.

I have now done the steps to capture a map so cartographically it is the Watford gap, just another, different Watford;

There is a Watford shown on the maps to plug it down as a real location with a real gap, between real hills.

[Jason]

Bob, that was my point. The dividing line is Watford Gap, not Watford (the “normal” Watford), and it’s a good deal further north.

[blacklion1725]

I’m on the edge of London (just inside M25) – getting around is ultra bad at the minute, on my line – the main line in to London Liverpool Street and Stratford (Westfield shopping centre, West Ham Stadium) – no service for 8 consecutive weekends – related to crossrail I think. They are alos half way through 19 months (!!!)  of roadworks on the A127 to replace a bridge over the railway to cater for taller crossrail trains. They also regularly take out the tube (district line) at the same time as the overground). Sometimes they even take out the C2C Fenchurch Street line as well. It is absolute carnage on my side of London.

I hope crossrail is worth the aggro – it in theory should be a big help (already driving house prices up all along the route from Shenfield in Essex through London and on to Reading in Berkshire.

For now though yes it is very very grim. We still have it better than than those poor sods that depend on Southern Rail trains though.

[Richard]

The argument about weekend work has always been that it is the quiet time so affects fewer people. It cannot just be the Cross Rail effect as rail service out from beyond the suburbs to more distant parts is shut most weekends. My daughter needs to get to Cambridge to work at the hospital there so always falls back on her parter to get there there by car each time she has a Sunday and sometimes for her Saturdays duties as well.

A couple of weekends ago the village was cut in half by work on the level crossing over the entire weekend.

You do have to wonder who the railways are run for; the benefit of the staff or for the benefit of customers.

[RSB]

Off topic a little but if you want to have a nosey at what the trains are upto:

http://raildar.co.uk/

http://raildar.co.uk/map/MKC

Americans: Over Sexed, Over Payed and Over here, Wat Wat!

[Drezha]

Plus side I’m moving away completely!

Though I live outside London and work outside Watford (the one close to London), I’m moving north again. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be near the Peak district  :yahoo:

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Bob Williams]

Nice one, Lee, keeping those links. I really have a knack for starting weird & wonderful Topics. :scratch:  :yahoo:

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[Bob Williams]

Drezha wrote:

Plus side I’m moving away completely! Though I live outside London and work outside Watford (the one close to London), I’m moving north again. I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be near the Peak district

You will enjoy that, being an avid MTB guy. I have a great nephew in the North of Scotland, whose leisure time is spent biking over mountains.

When the Thought Police arrive at your door, think -
I'm out.

[JayCeeDee]

blacklion1725 wrote:

I’m on the edge of London (just inside M25) – getting around is ultra bad at the minute, on my line – the main line in to London Liverpool Street and Stratford (Westfield shopping centre, West Ham Stadium) – no service for 8 consecutive weekends – related to crossrail I think. They are alos half way through 19 months (!!!) of roadworks on the A127 to replace a bridge over the railway to cater for taller crossrail trains. They also regularly take out the tube (district line) at the same time as the overground). Sometimes they even take out the C2C Fenchurch Street line as well. It is absolute carnage on my side of London. I hope crossrail is worth the aggro – it in theory should be a big help (already driving house prices up all along the route from Shenfield in Essex through London and on to Reading in Berkshire. For now though yes it is very very grim. We still have it better than than those poor sods that depend on Southern Rail trains though.

 

At the moment it seems road works are a problem too. TfL are running adverts on the radio advising you to “Check the road/route”, if you want to reach your destination in a timely fashion!! It would seem that in order to work 9 – 5 in London, if your going by car, your commute is likely to be 5 – 9!! :negative: :yahoo:

 

I also remember, back in the 90’s there were bridge repairs just off the Harrow Road, that took 3 years, or something ridiculous. Virgin had an office by the side of the bridge, and on their building they put a huge advertising board stating something like “How long does it take to repair a !$!*!%$%!$ bridge”.

[Dave Rice]

Same problems in Bristol, which btw has the same mph average as London. Roads being dug up to put transport “improvements” in.

Except we don’t have any public transport other than buses (the new scheme is another bus). No consecutive service on the weekends and the weekdays since the year dot. You may moan when certain modes of transport are mucked about with, but at least you have them to be mucked about with.

We have just been told that the long promised electrification of the railway through Bath to Bristol isn’t going to happen on cost grounds but ohh what a surprise, it is going to Cardiff. Bristol is one of the few cities that makes a £ contribution to UK PLC, not that it seems to do us any good.

I’ve asked this question before. How come even smaller European cities can get their public transportation right and yet we Brits just can’t outside of London. And yes you rail-moaners it is sorted compared to everywhere else, so think how bad it is elsewhere  :negative:

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