Getting Around Sans Tube

It's been quite a few months on the London Underground. Since roughly last September, major hunks of the Northern Line--and several others, of course--have been shut down on weekends because of "capital projects," although the nature of the capital projects has been invisible to the customer. First it was our branch of the Northern Line, which necessitated, for example, taking the bus if we wanted to go to the theater on a Saturday night. Now it's the Charing Cross branch through central London that is affected, which necessitates, for example, taking the bus if we want to go to the theater on a Saturday night.

Also on weekends, because of platform renovations Northern Line riders cannot get off and change trains at King's Cross/St. Pancras, which, with six different Tube lines running through it as well as numerous intercity rail lines, is only the biggest transfer station in the system. That's no inconvience to Northern Line passengers now, is it?

So it's with some gratification that I read a couple of items over at Annie Mole's. First, some art students have gotten together to inform passengers about walking times between stations in central London. This is helpful in part because there are so many delays on the Tube that there were half a million claims for refunds last year by Tube customers.

The Tube is lovely, one of the best mass transit systems in the world when it works. It is unfortunate that quite often it doesn't work.