wrote:

Which leads me to the question in the thread header: why don't tube
staff enforce the one way systems properly?

Probably because it is legally unenforceable. Other than having an LUL
member of staff berating travellers there's not much that they can actually
do about it - and staff can be better utilised doing other things, I
suspect.

It would also help if LUL were consistent in their signage, not only on
one-way systems. Some staircases are labelled 'Keep Left' (ought to be
obvious), some are labelled 'Keep Right' and most are not labelled at all!
The same applies to some passageways. It's very common to walk along a
passageway on the left and encounter some brainless goon coming the other
way, on the right, who resolutely will not move.

"Jack Taylor" wrote in message
...


It would also help if LUL were consistent in their signage, not only on
one-way systems. Some staircases are labelled 'Keep Left' (ought to be
obvious), some are labelled 'Keep Right' and most are not labelled at all!
The same applies to some passageways. It's very common to walk along a
passageway on the left and encounter some brainless goon coming the other
way, on the right, who resolutely will not move.

LU possibly use different markings at either end - keeps everyone amused...

Paul

Jack Taylor wrote:
wrote:
Which leads me to the question in the thread header: why don't tube
staff enforce the one way systems properly?

Probably because it is legally unenforceable.

I disagree.

Other than having an LUL
member of staff berating travellers there's not much that they can actually
do about it

Yes, that's how they would enforce it legally.

and staff can be better utilised doing other things, I
suspect.

But you are probably right about that.

Michael Hoffman wrote:
Jack Taylor wrote:
wrote:
Which leads me to the question in the thread header: why don't tube
staff enforce the one way systems properly?

Probably because it is legally unenforceable.

I disagree.

Other than having an LUL
member of staff berating travellers there's not much that they can actually
do about it

Yes, that's how they would enforce it legally.

and staff can be better utilised doing other things, I
suspect.

But you are probably right about that.


I encountered the smae situation at TCR on a Saturday a few weeks back,
except that the area was a bit less crowded. I think it is down to a
large proportion of people being idiots when moving around in places
such as underground station. Ambling along three abreast, stopping
suddenly to read an advert on the wall, or stopping to hold a
conversation. These are meant to be areas where people move through,
not recreational areas to do what you want.
I got into a discussion about this with someone a while back. Their
opinion was that sixty or seventy years ago the Underground was just as
crowded, but people were politer and new how to conduct themselves.
Then London went through a period when people drove into town, no-one
came as tourists because the place was a craphole and the tube was
emptier. Now you can't drive in London and the tourists are back, the
tube is busy again, but the politeness and intelligence shown by a
previous generation has disappeared.

Neill

Neillw001 wrote:

I encountered the smae situation at TCR on a Saturday a few weeks
back, except that the area was a bit less crowded. I think it is down
to a large proportion of people being idiots when moving around in
places such as underground station.

I think that you could have stopped at 'when moving around'! ;-)

It's the same everywhere. People, most often of the female persuasion, have
a habit of just stopping for no apparent reason, in the middle of a swathe
of flowing pedestrians. For some reason, a quick glance over the shoulder
before doing so seems to be too much like hard work.

A couple of years ago, in the midst of a fairly swiftly moving crowd of
pedestrians, the woman in front of me stopped abruptly and bent down (for
what I have no idea). I tried desperately to stop in time and ended up very
nearly making contact with her voluptuous bottom, leaning over her and very
close to falling on top of her. She was utterly oblivious throughout,
despite some Anglo-Saxon expletives being aimed in her direction.

"Jack Taylor" wrote in message
...
Neillw001 wrote:

I encountered the smae situation at TCR on a Saturday a few weeks
back, except that the area was a bit less crowded. I think it is down
to a large proportion of people being idiots when moving around in
places such as underground station.

I think that you could have stopped at 'when moving around'! ;-)

It's the same everywhere. People, most often of the female persuasion,
have a habit of just stopping for no apparent reason, in the middle of a
swathe of flowing pedestrians. For some reason, a quick glance over the
shoulder before doing so seems to be too much like hard work.

I don't know if it's mainly the ladies who wander around aimlessly - I've
definitely seen guys doing it too. The best is the slow meander across a
crowded tunnel, causing everyone to either trip over the individual in
question, get pushed forward, walking into each other or somehow predict
their movements and perform a bullet-time leap over them.

A couple of years ago, in the midst of a fairly swiftly moving crowd of
pedestrians, the woman in front of me stopped abruptly and bent down (for
what I have no idea). I tried desperately to stop in time and ended up
very nearly making contact with her voluptuous bottom, leaning over her
and very close to falling on top of her. She was utterly oblivious
throughout, despite some Anglo-Saxon expletives being aimed in her
direction.

The amount of insanity on the underground is startling. I swear some people
think it's their living room or something, like they're shuffling around
trying to find the remote with a cup of tea in their hand, not walking
through a crowded station at rush-hour. Barriers and summary executions for
transgressors would speed things along nicely, but then that's just me :-P

dave

Jack Taylor wrote:
wrote:

Which leads me to the question in the thread header: why don't tube
staff enforce the one way systems properly?

Probably because it is legally unenforceable.

I'm not really talking about legally enforceable, slapping people with
fines for walking down a passageway the wrong way. I mean taking
action as outlined in the original post, i.e. putting a barrier up,
which would have completely resolved the situation in this instance.

Patrick

wrote:

I'm not really talking about legally enforceable, slapping people with
fines for walking down a passageway the wrong way. I mean taking
action as outlined in the original post, i.e. putting a barrier up,
which would have completely resolved the situation in this instance.

There are barriers in some stations - Holborn I think - but in general
it's a free for all, with regular users trying to get out quicker by
leaving by the in tunnels and stairs - only sometimes they encounter a
wall of people coming the right way - if I'm one of those i stand my
ground and make them sweat, or say loudly - "You're going the wrong
way..."

E.

Jack Taylor wrote:

It would also help if LUL were consistent in their signage, not only on
one-way systems. Some staircases are labelled 'Keep Left' (ought to be
obvious), some are labelled 'Keep Right' and most are not labelled at all!

The worst ones tend to be when the normal up escalator is taken out of
service and the down is switched to up running. I've seen many a collision
at Bank/Monument because on the escalators is running the wrong way to
everything else, and everyone in the long corridors is sticking to the side
of the esclator they've just come off.

Jack Taylor wrote:
wrote:
Which leads me to the question in the thread header: why don't tube
staff enforce the one way systems properly?

Probably because it is legally unenforceable. Other than having an LUL
member of staff berating travellers there's not much that they can actually
do about it - and staff can be better utilised doing other things, I
suspect.

Actually, it's covered by the LU (and Railway) Byelaws. Specifically,
Byelaw 9(4):

quote

Where there is a notice by an entrance or exit on any part of the
railway indicating that it shall be used for entrance or exit only, no
person shall enter by the exit or leave by the entrance. No person shall
enter or leave by an emergency exit except in an emergency or when
directed to do so by an authorised person.

/quote

Maximum penalty for a breach of any of the Byelaws (except the one
regarding Compulsory Ticket Areas, for some reason) is currently £1000
*per offence*.

And in the case of Byelaw 9, that also applies for an *attempted* breach.

Having said that, *if* anything is done, it's most likely that you'd be
asked to leave the station (and assisted to do so using "reasonable
force" if necessary), rather than being arrested.

Cheers,

Barry