Going Down The Tubes, Part Tube

If you’ve visited my favorite city, or read my flowing prose in the first part of “Down the Tubes,” (Of course you have!), you’ll know the Metro System is a great part of any London adventure. 

http://stroudallover.blogspot.de/2014/12/going-down-tubes-london.html

In Part II, I’ll enlighten you about another side of the tube system you may not have (in your inebriated state) considered.  The Tube as art.  I’m talking about line and shadow, and flashes of color.

The London Tube is not just for transportation; it’s also a haven of design, and beauty.  Not that I have come close to capturing even a portion of it.  With (by my count) 381 stations and a scattering of platforms at each station, it’s impossible to capture more than just a glance of the designing whims in the London Underground.  “Banks” alone has ten platforms.

Maybe I find the London Underground forever fascinating because I’ve spent so much time, wading through the crowds, cramming myself into packed carriages, and standing on platforms, idly waiting for the next train. 

It’s not just working hours that bring the crowds.  Londoners like to play and they use the tube to get everywhere.  Prime dinnertime, and cocktail hour, and ‘round midnight, after the theaters let out, you can find yourself mobbed.  Covent Garden.  Leicester Square. Piccadilly Circus.  A quiet riot of people.

In the morning peak, Waterloo is the busiest with about 50,000 people in a three-hour window and overall it’s the busiest with 89.4 million passengers each year.

Over 2.7 million people ride the tubes every day.  When I’m in London, I’m one of ‘em.  Sure, I do a lot of walking and I’ve tried the bus a few times.  Oyster Cards work on buses and subways.  You get to see a lot on a bus, a lot more than down in the tubes.  Problem is, buses plod along in heavy traffic, and you better know your bus routes, or be joyful about serendipity.

(stats from London For Transport:  https://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/what-we-do/london-underground/facts-and-figures)

One evening on the Piccadilly Line, my son and I were crammed so tight we had to take turns breathing.  He found himself pressed against three lovely young women, their faces only inches apart.  “Well,” he said, “As long as we’re stuck here, we might as well introduce ourselves.”  They thought it a good idea as well.  Londoners are like that, polite, even in the face of brash young American males.

But, the London Underground (which is 55% above ground) is not always so crowded.  The vast majority of the time, meandering tourists have no trouble finding a seat and enjoying the ride.

While you’re standing in the station, any station, gaze at the walls.  Yes, there are posters galore, but also fabulous runs of tiles, and in the larger stations, beautiful arrays of lights and shadows.  Even the rush of the train can be abstract amalgams of speed and color.

No wonder the Underground has set the mood in so many movies. The most common locations are Aldwych, a no longer used tube stop on the Piccadilly line, and the unused portion of the Jubilee Line in Charing Cross.

Aldwych was also used as the model for the London Underground in the video game Tomb Raider 3.

In no particular order, I offer some photos taken at various times, in various tube stations.

Look around you and you can find beauty damn near everywhere.  The London Underground is an always exciting art exhibit.

Going Down the Tubes! London

Unless you’ve spent time in a big city…I mean a REALLY big city, chances are you don’t understand the complexities of the transport problem.  Think of Los Angeles.  I had a friend who lived there, a music lover and concertgoer.  I figured he was pretty much in musical heaven.  Not so. From where he worked in L.A., it took him five hours to get to many of the venues.  But, L.A. has no underground metropolitan railway. 

Now check out London.  Huge city.  Bustling with possibilities.  Huge Metro system, known affectionately as The Tube.  In central London, you can get almost anywhere in thirty minutes or less…usually less.  Hey, the average speed of the trains is over 20 mph.  And on the Metropolitan Line, trains can reach 60 mph.  Try doing that in London traffic.

How big is the whole Tube setup?  249 miles.  So how does it rank in size?  Right behind Beijing and Shanghai.  Busiest in Europe?  Right behind Moscow and Paris.

Sometimes the distances are really short.  The trip from Leicester Square (home of discount theater tickets) to Covent Garden (setting for the film, My Fair Lady) only takes 20 seconds.  It may be the most popular 20 seconds in London.

We stayed on the southeast side of London, right near a tube station.  Matter of fact, I pick my hotel based on the proximity of a tube station and how many metro lines pass through it.

But, wait a sec.  I’m getting ahead of myself.  You probably don’t know how extensive the London Metro system is.  Here’s a glance:

The Piccadilly, Circle, Central, and District Lines pretty well cover the town.  Circle Line (London’s Oldest  circa 1863) makes you think it goes in a full circle.  Well, it did, but not anymore.

 The Tube system is dead easy to use.  Buy an Oyster Card and load it up with a few Pounds Sterling.  Any time you need to add more money, it’s also a no-sweat operation to check your balance and add more.  The cards are electronic and so are the card readers found in every tube station.

At peak hours, about 57,000 pass through the busiest station, Waterloo, and last year over a billion folks used the tubes.  With that many passengers, you know the tube system has GOT to be easy to use.

 Tube maps are also posted in every station, as are a list of the stops for each of the lines.

Trust me.  Even if you have never used the London Underground before, you won’t waste more than five minutes figuring it out.

But, what if you want to go to a specific location, Harrods Department Store, for example, and have no idea which tube stop is nearby? Just ask an attendant, or check your city map or guidebook.  All the big attractions list the closest tube stops.  When you finish your journey, the names of the big attractions are also posted, so you’ll know which exit to take.

What if you’re looking for that special pub, or that quaint little boutique?  The Internet will give you the tube stop.  For pubs, I also recommend a wonderful book, fancyapint, which gives reviews of hundreds of pubs, and also lists them (with a map) for each tube station.  For even the most convinced Beer-a-holic, there’s no reason to go without a brew, no matter where you are in London.

 Besides convenience and economical transportation, another reason to use the tube is the sheer history of the Underground system.  After all, it’s been around for more than 150 years.  During the Second World War, the tubes were not only used as air raid shelters, but as an aircraft factory that stretched over two miles.  The War Cabinet met in the Underground until their permanent bombproof quarters were finished.

Part of the Piccadilly Line closed during the war and treasures from the British Museum were stored there.

Here’s another tasty historical tidbit:  Aldgate Station (Circle and Metropolitan Lines) rests on a massive plague pit, containing more than 1,000 bodies.

Want to win a bar bet?  What are the tube station markings for the London Underground … the red circles, with a blue stripe through the middle called?  Roundels.

 What’s the only line to connect with every other line?  The Jubilee Line, built to commemorate Queen Elisabeth II’s twenty-fifth year on the throne, 1977. It wasn’t finished until 1979, which may hint at a universal truth about government workers.

Enough, we could go on and on about the longest, the first, the this and that.  Suffice to say, the London Underground is a marvel of convenience and safety.  I’ve already got my Oyster Cards ready for my next visit to my favorite city.