On May 7, 8:59 am, "Peter Masson" wrote:
"David of Broadway" wrote in ...

Peter Masson wrote:

The Waterloo & City crosses under the District and Circle just west of
Blackfriars. Bank is if anything closer to Cannon Street than it is to
Monument.

Why, then, was the escalator link built between Bank and Monument rather
than between Bank and Cannon Street?

The location of a tube station can be taken as the location of its street
entrance, and on that basis Bank is slightly nearer to Cannon Street than it
is to Monument. However, the Northern Line platforms of Bank station lie
under King William Street, and at their southern end are quite close to
Monument station. Using the 'escalator connection' from the Waterloo & City
or Central Line to the District and Circle at Monument involved two or three
escalators, plus a walk the length of the Northern line platform.



Yes, if I arrived on the Central or Waterloo and City wanting the
District, I'd walk over the ground to Cannon Street, but if I arrived
on the Northern I'd use the "escalator link" to Monument.

But the signage at Bank is a bit bizarre. If you follow signs from
the Central to the District, I think it's even worse than the long
route along the Northern Line platforms.

It takes you up a flight of steps over the Central platforms, then
down two long escalators to below the Northern to the DLR level, and
then finally up again at Monument through new passageways.

Even if it is important to separate flows so that not everyone heads
for the spiral staircase and the Northern platforms, it would still be
easier to send people via the street.

But the rule seems to be "if it's defined as an interchange, make
people use it regardless of difficulty, and if it's not defined as an
interchange, never tell people about it, however convenient".