I spent the most recent weekend galavanting around our good country’s capital - London. Driving up on the Friday afternoon, and public-transporting around the centre, gave insight into a few failings of the transport system established in London.

My first observation is not for public transport, but for petrol stations. Why can’t they put “We have toilets” on their big billboards, so that as you approach you can tell if you’re going to be able to pull in and relive yourself? This has become an annoyance for me as I now seem incapable of making it from Portsmouth to the M25 without needing to stop - when you reach a level of absolute urgency you *need* to know that if you stop, you’re going to be able to let it all out. As a result I had to hold out until I reached a suitable station at which I could guarantee the necessary facilities, driving slightly quicker than might be considered legal.

Driving in London is for me, as a non Londener, nothing short of hellish. Apparently the locals don’t see an issue with sitting in a car doing an average of 2 miles every 30 minutes. For the benefit of those who do not frequent London in a car (like myself) I have drawn up a handy table for driving in London - it highlights when it’s likely to be busy:

It’s rather a hurried effort, but you get the idea. Please feel free to print out a copy and stick it in your car somewhere, so you can always check when’s going to be busy.

The Tube

I understand the necessity to perform engineering works on the tube lines and platforms - but why do it in the day? Why not pull in an extra dozen workers and do the “upgrades” overnight, over the course of a few days? Surely the work can’t be that major to knock the tube out of whack for two full days, and the cost of extra labour can’t be too significant compared with the disruption and cost of putting in a replacement bus service. Obviously London’s underground system is dated, but it can’t be that dated given the volume of traffic it sees everyday.

Wheelchair accessible stations? Why even bother making the stations accessible when there’s a 6 inch vertical and horizontal gap between the train doors and the platform? No one in a wheel chair is getting anywhere near.

The busses

£1.50 for a single - it doesn’t matter if you’re going one stop, or if you’re going the whole distance of the route - start to finish - still one pound and fifty pence. Single busses are licenced to carry one push chair - that’s one parent and child per bus. On a route with a bus every 10-12 minutes, as many are, that’s not many parents with children getting pushed through TFL’s bus routes. They certainly wouldn’t feel to at home on the tube, either.

The trains

Had a fairly good experience on the trains - although Southwest Trains could certainly benefit from checking tickets every now and then on the London train journeys. I’d imagine the losses per train which doesn’t get inspected covers the cost of an extra inspector several times over. A lack of inspection leads to a loss of money, which puts the price of everyone else’s ticket rocketing upwards.

I don’t mind doing it for a small fee - not like there’s much else to do on the train, anyway.