July 25, 2007

I Heart London Public Transport

YEAH RIGHT!

You'd never believe how arduous a journey it was to get home last night from dragonboat practice. I live in the west of London but practice is in the east in Zone 3 at the London Regatta Centre. I already think it's a trudge in itself without having it to be compounded by this:

First I have to take the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) from Royal Albert to West Ferry. At West Ferry, I alight and get another DLR train to Bank. Then I have to walk a million miles from the DLR platform to the Central line platform at Bank to take to Oxford Circus. At Oxford Circus, I change from the Central to Bakerloo line and walk another million miles to get to the Bakerloo platform. It takes forever to change lines. It's like walking through some labyrinth.

OK, so I get on the train. Then it suddenly terminates at Paddington 'cos apparently some idiot was walking along the tracks between Kilburn Park and Queen's Park station!!! So basically the Bakerloo line was suspended because of some crazy person.

I was like ""£^"*&£###$^&^£"*!!!! So I had to get off at Paddington and find another means of getting back. Thankfully Bus No.6 goes to where I am. BUT this No. 6 that I took didn't go all the way to Queen's Park. So it stopped somewhere and I had to get off again, cross the street and wait for ANOTHER Bus. No. 6 to come along! I got home only at 11.40pm when it could have been about 45min or a whole hour earlier!

And this morning, trains couldn't stop at Oxford Circus (where I usually alight) 'cos of some fire brigade investigation! Great.

Welcome to London.

Posted by DSD at July 25, 2007 10:34 AM
Comments
i am so sorry to hear your transport woes... it does take time to get to places in a city! Yokohama is the 2nd largest city after Tokyo and the former is nearly next to the latter... but it still takes 30-60mins between them. people travel 2hrs or more to get to work and again to go home... it seems like forever to me. everything seems more efficient in the 'country' where you can go for miles and feel like you've covered nearly half a state! when i was visiting London and stayed with Anna and husband; they live in the East -- it takes about 1&1/2 hours to get into the city center... but i only had to change from the rail to tube once per journey... because of the Victoria line connection. maybe you'll find a short-cut somehow... don't give up! Posted by: overacuppa at July 26, 2007 4:00 AM
HAHAHAHA, I used to commute 80min (perfect run) each way from bottom of Fulham to work in Canary Wharf...3 changes. And you know how often it is actually a perfect run...like once a fortnight. I feel your pain. You will laugh about it later...when you leave the city! Posted by: jase at August 2, 2007 2:25 AM
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