Book Swaps for London coming to the Tube

Last week I heard about the new "Book Swaps for London" campaign which has the ambitious aim of a London-wide book sharing scheme in London’s Tube and train stations in time for the London Olympics. They said "By providing our network of volunteers with books, shelves, expertise and support, our first aim is to reach as many of the 700 London Underground and rail stations in Greater London as we can".

Morden and Tooting Broadway book swap prototypes

In December 2011, the campaign was the winner of the first #ideas4Mayor competition at the London Policy Conference. Boris said: “I think it’s a very good idea and would say something powerful about the kind of city we are and our commitment to literacy, which obviously we are trying to demonstrate in lots of ways particularly with young people”

It's an interesting yet simple idea. The group are proposing that shelves are set up in Tube & overgrounnd stations, and commuters can use them to pick up books they would like to read and drop off books that they want to give away. This scheme builds on already successful ones like Bookcrossing and local pub and hostel swap schemes.

Morden and Tooting Broadway book swap prototypes

They said "By some estimates, up to 13 million books are sent to the UK’s landfills every year. Given current resource and landfill constraints, this just isn’t sustainable. In order to keep books in circulation, we want to combine people power with something that most people do in London every day – use the Tube and trains. Station swaps will be used by hundreds of people every day to swap their unwanted books, and to discover new ones to read.

We want to establish train and Tube stations as the heart of a capital wide scheme for book swapping, with shelves and permanent and semi-permanent swaps in as many stations as possible. We need local volunteers to run these station swaps!"

So far there are (or have been) prototypes set up at Wimbledon, West Ealing, Tooting Broadway, Raynes Park and Morden Tube stations. The group are running meet up groups around London to see how they can get more volunteers on board to help set up a swap at their local stations. They've also had a meeting with TfL to establish the feasibility & safety aspects of the service.

I wish them the best of luck with the idea. If you'd like to find out more or help follow them on Twitter @londonbookswap, and keep an eye on their blog & Facebook Group. If you're a publisher or some other organisation who can get involved by donating books or shelving they'd love to hear from you too.

You might also like
CoverSpyLondon - Tube Reading
Three Ages of Reading on the Tube
Underground Reads - NYC Subway - Tube Next?
E-Reading on the Tube - The Future of the Book

Is Brompton Road Tube even closer to Re-Opening?

The Mayor and Transport for London have said for a while now that in principle they are in favour of Ajit’s proposals to reopen abandoned & disused Tube Stations, provided he presents suitably detailed and properly funded plans. Well now Ajit has, starting with funded plans for purchasing of the disused Brompton Road London Underground Station.


On the back of countless meetings with private investors, MP's, TfL, the Mayor's office and Boris Johnson himself, Ajit has received private funding to buy Brompton Road for tours and potentially other entertainment.



Boris has pledged many times now his support of the plans to re-open the "ghost" Tube stations and now that Ajit has funding this is obviously a crucial step to seeing the plans finally come to fruition


I wish Ajit the best of luck in the negotiations he's having with all parties. The interest in exploring disused stations is not just amongst Londoners or trainspotters. MP's are keen to visit and Ajit has support from a number of key transport commentators like Christian Wolmar for his proposals too. Look out for a number of features in national & international press coming soon with more on the plans.

Related posts
Parliamentary Early Day Motion Supports Disused Tube Re-openings
50 MP's visiting Ghost Tube Station
Mayor Pledges to Support Disused Tube Station Re-openings
Photos of Ghost Tube Station Brompton Road Tour
Inside Disused Tube Station: Brompton Road - Pictures
Re-opening disused Tube Stations - a step closer
Tour of an abandoned Tube Station
Should Ghost Tube Stations be resurrected
Inside Disused Tube Station: Brompton Road - pictures
Aldwych Tube Station - Blitz Tour

Tardis or Tube? Alex Kingston spotted on the London Underground

There's been quite a lot of press recently about celebrities using the London Underground. Rihanna's been spotted several times now. Most recently when she was papped with blonde tresses, skimpy hotpants and wearing sunglasses underground (that's a big no no Ri-Ri - just makes you look more self conscious than you already do). This prompted The Sun to say that she was Tube obsessed & close to becoming a "greasy haired trainspotting anorak".

A couple of days ago London's own Alexandra Burke ran into trouble on the Tube as she had no permission to film her latest video there. She was pictured on an escalator smiling before officials booted her off & threatened to arrest her if she didn't go.

But I prefer celebs who use the London Underground just like your average commuter. 


Take Doctor Who's time travelling Alex Kingston for example (rumoured to be returning to the show as River Song soon). Here's a lady who would be more at home on the Tardis than on the Tube. Last month I spotted her travelling back from Heathrow on the Piccadilly Line.


Just like the rest of us she looked pretty bored on her journey, but thankfully she didn't have that "look at me, look at me" air about her. She wasn't even wearing shades!

Let us know if you've spotted any celebrities (that aren't Rihanna or Alexandra Burke) on your Tube commute.

Related Posts
THE Doctor Who Tube Map
Rihanna on the Tube
The Sun says Rihanna's becoming "greasy haired trainspotting Anorak" & obsessed with the Tube

Would infusing Cleaning Smells on the Tube lead to Cleaner Carriages?

Could this be the answer to less litter on the London Underground? A team of Dutch social psychologists have proposed a solution to the litter problem on trains - infuse subway carriages with the citrus scent of cleaning products. Martinijn de Lange and colleagues carried out a field experiment where they concealed seven small containers of cleaning product (spiced up with a little Capitaine perfume oil) in the luggage racks of two carriages on a train travelling between Amersfoort-Schothorst and Enkhuizen, a journey of one hour and forty-four minutes.

Based on measures taken over 18 journeys, the average amount of rubbish on the unscented carriages was more than three times the weight of the rubbish collected from the scented carriages (35.6 grams vs. 11.7 grams). In terms of individual rubbish items, there were on average 5.1 in the control carriages per journey but only 2.7 in the scented carriages.  Their findings are published in a paper "Making less of a mess: Scent exposure as a tool for behavioural change"

"It seems to be possible to change the littering behaviour of people in a train environment using a simple and relatively cheap intervention," the researchers said to the British Psychological Society.  "The positive results of our scent manipulation in a field setting provide support for the idea that the cognitive route of scents to behaviour can be used as a tool for behavioural change. Merely dispersing a scent seems to trigger related goals and influence subsequent behaviour."

Thanks to Ianvisits for alerting me to this research

In 2001 TfL trialled exposing commuters to a perfume called "Madeleine" at St James's Park, Euston and Piccadilly Circus stations (presumably they felt those stations were in more need of fragrance than others).

The fragrance was "a fresh, watery floral bouquet of rose and jasmine combined with citrus top notes. Tiny touches of fruit and herbs give way to strong woody accents and a hint of sweetness in the base." and was said to counteract the "interesting collection of odours in stations, reflecting all aspects of London life, some nice, some not so nice." It was withdrawn after a day as it made passengers feel sick.

The experiment that the Dutch researchers carried out could also be subject to the same conclusions.  Maybe people just didn't like being in a carriage that smelt of cleaning products and moved to ones with more "natural" smells.  This could have also been why there was less litter!  Any other theories as to why there might have been less litter?  Do you think an idea like this could help to reduce litter on the Tube?

You might also like
Subway smells map
Smelly Tube, Smelly Tube, What are they feeding you?
New Rubbish Tube Ads

Real Inspector Sands Spotted on the Tube

Finally I think I have spotted the real Inspector Sands on the London Underground. We hear calls for this character quite a lot on the PA system on the Tube.  "Would Inspector Sands please report to the Control Room", "Would Inspector Sands please attend platform 2".  There have been a number of theories as to what this call means.  Is it a subcoded message for a fire?  Has an alarm been triggered somewhere?  No, he's clearly a yellow bloke who looks after the secret stash of sand bags at Tube stations.


Last week I spotted him at Bank Station just before joining the Waterloo and City Line. Sadly I only had my mobile phone to hand so took a quick snap before making it onto the train.

I love how he's proudly guarding the line of sand bags and the look of slight surprise on his face is probably down to him having been finally photographed.

Anyone else seen Inspector Sands on their Tube journey?  Anyone else seen sandbags on the Tube?  I never knew that Bank Station was particularly prone to flooding or perhaps there was just a leaky roof.

You might also like
Origins of Inspector Sands
Inspector Sands in Action
Old Street Tube Flooding Leads to Limerick 
Burnt toast closed King's Cross Tube - twice