Film Location Tube Map

Sainsbury's Going Underground

Not that I'm usually in the habit of promoting Sainsbury's - but just received a pretty good email from them about their new monthly DVD package (nice offer - might do it) but they had this nifty tube map showing the DVD's they have on offer with the locations on the tube map that the film was shot at.

Leaked reports and grilled bosses

You can't really, have opened a London paper today without knowing that there's a whole raft of repairs that are way behind schedule on the Tube.

By now 30% of old tracks were supposed to have been replaced, but to date only 4% have been.

Targets have been lowered for the lifts and escalator renewals - "revised down" seems to be the positive Tubespeak for this one.

Only 10 out of 31 station refurishments which should have been completed by the end of this month look likely to happen.

Tube bosses are going to be given a public grilling at a meeting in City Hall tomorrow by the London Assembly's Transport committtee. Chairperson Lynne Featherstone is "shocked" by the report and Tim O'Toole - LU Managing Director and the private firms that look after the Tube - Tube Lines and Metronet will be made to account for the figures.

Apparently we've got to "grin and bear it" and apparently things aren't as bad as the nasty report has made out.

If you want to read the full doom and gloom check out the BBC's site.

Baby on Board

Badges so mums-to-be can get a Tube seat

Personally I think it's a great shame when some people think they need to wear badges in order to be given a seat on the Tube when they're pregnant. But that's where we are from an item in today's Metro and this evening's Standard.

I am genuinely amazed when people don't offer their seat to pregnant women. I know that sometimes you can get carried away with your book or paper or you just end up staring into space and don't notice. But if you're not going to notice someone's large stomach in your face, how are you going to notice a tiny white badge with "Baby on board!" and the tube roundel logo?

According to a recent Tube poll the vast majority of people (92%) think that seated people should offer seats to pregnant women without being asked. However, a similarly large amount of people (85%) said that a woman should ask if she needs a seat. Not sure how those statistics quite tally, specially when you then throw in a confusing 78% of pregnant women who say they never asked when they needed to sit down.

Someone from London Underground said that "although people feel seats should be offered to pregnant women, no one is communicating. Therefore creating a visual prompt could help. Offering a badge gives pregnant women the option to identify themselves to other customers as someone who may require a seat. This eliminates potentially embarrassing situations."

If someone offers me a seat I must admit I never take offence, I just take the seat. If I was fat perhaps I might take offence as they may think I'm pregnant. But that's not a crime, is it?

Sometimes I offer seats to clearly pregnant women and they say no. I then spend about 15 seconds thinking "bollox to you then", but then I get on with my life. It's not the most embarrassing thing in the world.

My mate did a piece for BBC London News last year to flog her Tube book and she stuffed a cushion up her jumper and was filmed trying to get a seat. Just to make it even more obvious that she was "pregnant", she carried a Dr Spock baby book and huffed and puffed a lot, and still sometimes didn't get a seat. If LU think the badge may make a big difference that's great. The byline for the picture of the badge says "Wear the badge in a visible place and you'll get a seat". Don't count on it!

The spokesperson also said "We want to find out if pregnant women will find these badges empowering, encouraging them to ask for the seat they need. We also want to find out how their fellow Tube passengers will react when they see the badges, encouraging them to offer a seat when they know it will be appreciated". A final decision on distribution of the "Baby on Board" badges will be taken once reaction to the trial has been gauged.



Perhaps they should bring out badges for the elderly saying "Oldie on board", or people with crutches "Broken leg on board".

A view of the Tube from New York

New Yorker Cartoon

Continuing with the New York theme this week, still being blown away by Travis's daily photoblog of the subway there, and he asked whether I had seen an article from last year's New Yorker about Bob Kiley and whether "the former CIA agent who saved New York's subway could get the Tube back on track". I had been kindly sent a copy by Richard Carreno of Junto Ezine, but I'd never got round to blogging about it at the time.

I love the cartoon below with the back of Tony Blair's head and a not too brilliant likeness of Gordon Brown.



The thing about this is the wild view of people who use the Tube. I know it's a cartoon and therefore there's some amount of caricature in it, but when was the last time you saw someone in London wearing a bowler hat? How many people in London wear flat caps too, unless they're doing the Guy Richie/Will Young thing?

The general gist of the New Yorker feature is that Kiley has a tough time on his hands and similar themes including Kiley's initial surprise at how everyone quietly puts up with the delays and overcrowding is shown in an article from SFGate. Can't say I've been particularly impressed by Bob Kiley to date. Perhaps I'm missing something.

Security posters

Reporting suspect bags gets you shouted at

I went out to Baker Street last night and going up the escalators noticed the variant of the security posters that will be appearing across the Tube. (They don't seem to have made it to the DLR and Waterloo and City Line yet)

The funny thing (or not at all funny really) is that when a passenger stopped a train because she had seen a suspect bag, she was badly told off for holding up the Tube at Bank station - see the Evening Standard. Not the greatest piece of PR the week the posters were launched.

It's bad enough having the general English - "well I don't want to be the one to make a fuss" attitude, "someone else will report it" without having Tube staff shout at you and telling you to get back into the train when there's a dodgy bag on board. Nightmare.

BTW - general question and I'm sure people will say "of course you can - eejit", but can you get through to 999 on your mobile phone if you are sub surface or in a tunnel?