Hi all -

It's easy to bitch about the Underground, and to compare it
unfavourably with metros in Singapore, Hong Kong and so on. To redress
the balance, I thought I'd share details of my recent trip on the Rome
Metro.

My girlfriend and I were getting a train from Termini (the major
station; I guess KXSP would be the best comparison) to Circo Maximo
(historical bits, public park - Green Park-ish). The time was about
11:30am on a Sunday, so not quite the peak...

Approximate order of events:
* we discover staircase from station forecourt to Metro station stinks
of ****.
* we discover there are no ticket machines and no ticket office, so
have to seek out a newsagent to buy our travelcards.
* on getting the ticket, we get sent on a gigantic wild goose chase
through dingy, graffiti-ed ****-stinking passages, eventually reaching
the platform.
* the platform is absolutely rammed, reflecting the crap train
frequency.
* when the train eventually arives, it's clearly 30 years old,
unrefurbished and entirely covered in graffiti.
* the on-board temperature is well over 40 degrees C.
* there are no seats to be had; girlfriend almost faints from heat and
humidity
* Circo Maximo station also stinks of ****, although it's less
confusing than Termini
* we abandon all thoughts of getting the Metro anywhere else during our
stay and stick to the buses.

Using the Victoria Line at rush hour this week has been an absolute joy
by comparison.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org

John B wrote:

It's easy to bitch about the Underground, and to compare it
unfavourably with metros in Singapore, Hong Kong and so on. To redress
the balance, I thought I'd share details of my recent trip on the Rome
Metro.

The Tube is a fantastic system... when parts of it aren't broken.
--
Michael Hoffman

John B wrote:
It's easy to bitch about the Underground, and to compare it
unfavourably with metros in Singapore, Hong Kong and so on. To redress
the balance, I thought I'd share details of my recent trip on the Rome
Metro.

A trip on the Rome Metro last year was incredibly bad, but on our very
last day, on the way back to the scAirport, we got a brand new train,
and I kid you not, all the locals together, you could actually hear them
go "Ooooooh" as the train pulled in and they boarded!
--
To reply direct, please swap SEEMYSIG with railwaysonline
http://www.railwaysonline.co.uk

On 16 May 2006 08:43:12 -0700, "John B" wrote:

Hi all -

It's easy to bitch about the Underground, and to compare it
unfavourably with metros in Singapore, Hong Kong and so on. To redress
the balance, I thought I'd share details of my recent trip on the Rome
Metro.

I went to Rome for the first time last year.

Approximate order of events:
* we discover staircase from station forecourt to Metro station stinks
of ****.

The entrances to the Metro were enough to put me off.

* we discover there are no ticket machines and no ticket office, so
have to seek out a newsagent to buy our travelcards.

I bought myself a weekly at a newsstand at Termini when I arrived as I
knew I'd have to use buses and did not want to find a tobacconists every
5 minutes. Although I made a financial loss the convenience was the
main reason for doing this.

* we abandon all thoughts of getting the Metro anywhere else during our
stay and stick to the buses.

I was tempted to use the Metro from Colesso just to see what it was like
- sad aren't I? The general standard of cleanliness and upkeep at what
is a main tourist station was appalling and I decided not to bother.

I got myself a transport map from a news stand and used the buses. While
they were rammed the whole day long on the main routes they did at least
work well despite the traffic! I have to say the level of usage and
overcrowding is quite something even when compared to London.

Using the Victoria Line at rush hour this week has been an absolute joy
by comparison.

Not sure I've ever seen the Vic Line rush hour described as an absolute
joy before.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Thanks for that. I had a similar experience using the Paris metro a
couple of years ago. The queue for tickets at Gard Nord was slow
moving, the single down escalator was out of order and the signs
confusing. The station close to our hotel had stairs that stank and the
ticket office there was closed and those awful plastic bucket seats
were horrid.

In message . com, John
B writes

To redress the balance, I thought I'd share details of my recent trip
on the Rome Metro.

When in Rome ... walk!

Some years ago, and against my better judgement, I accompanied a friend
who had never been to Rome before on a half-day sightseeing tour by
coach. The first hour was spent crawling 500m along the Via del
Trittone, after which we had to get and out walk because of the
pedestrian zones around the Piazza Navona. The coach eventually picked
us up on the Zanardelli, and then took almost other an hour for another
500m to the Vatican - at which point the air-conditioning packed up and
we left to continue on foot. Highly unrecommended!

Last time I was in Rome I took the Metro B Line out to Tiburtino, from
where mainline trains were leaving because Termini was closed. It was
quite early on a Saturday, so no over-crowding, but the graffiti and
smell were both astonishing!

--
Paul Terry

On 16 May 2006 10:50:39 -0700, "
wrote:

Thanks for that. I had a similar experience using the Paris metro a
couple of years ago. The queue for tickets at Gard Nord was slow
moving, the single down escalator was out of order and the signs
confusing.

IMHO Paris Nord needs some sort of really, really, obvious ticket
machines with huge signs in a range of languages which people can't
miss as they get off arriving trains. These would take coins, notes
and non-French credit cards, and issue "travelcards", and it should be
really simple to work out at a glance which machines sell main line,
which suburban and which metro tickets.

I keep a stock of single Metro tickets at home now, so I can avoid the
hell of trying to buy a ticket there, though I'm told there is a
newsagent "downstairs" which sells tickets, and can be used to avoid
the queues.

Having got a ticket, I then get stuck in the atrium by the suburban
platforms which seems to have been designed by Escher.

I've not been to Rome, but everyone I know who has says the metro is
anb example of how not to run a metro. Milan was a bit chaotic when I
went there, with all the metro ticket machines at the (misleadingly
named) Central station dead.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

Before everyone gets a bit too carried away about how rubbish other
systems are compared to the tube you might like to be interested in
my experiences of the metro in Kiev, Ukraine which I had the pleasure
to use for a while this month.

A one month card which covers the whole system costs 25 Gryvna which is roughly
2 pounds 80 pence. This is for a service where the trains run every 2 mins
30 seconds the whole day. The stations are clean, the trains are quick and
have video screens in most of the carraiges. The gates are swipe card/ enter token
on entry, one way turnstile on exit (as in other countries - much more sensible
than the bloody stupid london system where you have to use your ticket on exit too,
causing delays which are totally unnecessary) and there are actually staff on
the platforms who look professional and didn't disappear at the first sign
of someone wanting to ask them a question.

The only downside IMO is that they're pretty bad at station signs and
directions. But at less than 3 quid a month I can live with that. Plus for
the prices of other metros around europe I could live with the smell of
**** on the stairs too if it meant I didn't get ripped off for well over
a grand a year to use a **** poor 3rd rate system that would embarrass
a banana republic in its ineptness.

B2003

wrote:
Before everyone gets a bit too carried away about how rubbish other
systems are compared to the tube you might like to be interested in
my experiences of the metro in Kiev, Ukraine which I had the pleasure
to use for a while this month.

A one month card which covers the whole system costs 25 Gryvna which is roughly
2 pounds 80 pence. This is for a service where the trains run every 2 mins
30 seconds the whole day.

Of course, your average Ukrainian earns a lot less than your average
Londoner. 45 times less, apparently, according to:
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=285
(Average weekly earnings of £556 for Londoners, 2005)
http://manila.djh.dk/Ukraine/stories/storyReader$5
(Average *monthly* earnings of US$100 for Ukrainians, 2000)

That's about £53 per month versus £2409 per month. Based on this, a
£2.80 pass to a Ukrainian is equivalent (ignoring the difference in the
year of measurement) to an £127 ticket for a Londoner.

The Kiev metro is nowhere near as extensive as the London Underground -
it has 59km of route and 45 stations (compared to 408km and 275
stations). Zone 1 would be comparable; a Zones 1&2 monthly travelcard
costs £85.30. Make of that what you will.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

On Wed, 17 May 2006 23:30:37 +0100, Arthur Figgis
] wrote:

IMHO Paris Nord needs some sort of really, really, obvious ticket
machines with huge signs in a range of languages which people can't
miss as they get off arriving trains. These would take coins, notes
and non-French credit cards, and issue "travelcards"

I had no problems in buying a Carnet of 10 metro tickets from an RATP
ticket machine using my Nationwide Visa credit card a few months ago.

---
Phil Richards
London, UK
Home Page: http://www.philrichards1.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk