On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 23:18:05 +0000, Chris Johns
wrote:



It was a while before I found that it was quicker to walk from Liverpool
Street to Moorgate than to tube it.

I was amazed at the number of people who had season tickets from Kent
stations to Bank via London Bridge rather that continue to Cannon Street
and walk.

Under the fare structure we had at the time, the former was considerably
more expensive. For those unfamiliar with the area, Bank and Cannon
Street stations are within 200m of each other.
--
Bill Hayles
http://www.rossrail.com

On Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:38:13 GMT, Bill Hayles wrote:

I was amazed at the number of people who had season tickets from Kent
stations to Bank via London Bridge rather that continue to Cannon Street
and walk.

Under the fare structure we had at the time, the former was considerably
more expensive.

Did anyone bother to tell those commuters? My experience is that no ticket
clerk will ever suggest a cheaper alternative route or indeed inform the
traveller of the best route option. Hence when taking the train from Essex
to Manchester the ticket office would always try to route me via London
Euston. I had to point out to them that there was a direct service which
was actually cheaper, and faster.

Things haven't changed, no one working for SWT will point out that it's
cheaper to get to my home from London if one uses the Portsmouth train,
rather than the Southampton train. And they certainly won't advise anyone
of the closest station, preferring to direct people to Winchester.

Bill Hayles wrote:

On Wed, 3 Jan 2007 23:18:05 +0000, Chris Johns
wrote:

It was a while before I found that it was quicker to walk from Liverpool
Street to Moorgate than to tube it.


There are untold examples of similar locations where this is true. I
think that there should at least be some signs or notices in the
station suggesting that it might be quicker to walk, along with signage
at street level.

Lancaster Gate (when it reopens) is a five minute walk away from
Paddington, something I think many people would find most convenient if
they knew - but given it's one of the quieter central London
Underground stations it would seem that they don't.

I was amazed at the number of people who had season tickets from Kent
stations to Bank via London Bridge rather that continue to Cannon Street
and walk.

Under the fare structure we had at the time, the former was considerably
more expensive. For those unfamiliar with the area, Bank and Cannon
Street stations are within 200m of each other.

Under today's fare structure it remains cheaper to go to Cannon Street
rather than faff about getting the tube for one stop. It seems likely
that, when zonal fares are implemented fully on rail in London, cheaper
rail-only season tickets will continue to exist so it will remain the
cheaper option. (And if people are wanting to get on the Central Line
from Bank it's still much less of a hassle to stay on to Cannon Street
and walk up to Bank.)

It's not like it's actually much of a hardship to get off at London
Bridge station and walk over the Thames into the City anyway!

Steve Firth wrote:

On Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:38:13 GMT, Bill Hayles wrote:

I was amazed at the number of people who had season tickets from Kent
stations to Bank via London Bridge rather that continue to Cannon Street
and walk.

Under the fare structure we had at the time, the former was considerably
more expensive.

Did anyone bother to tell those commuters? My experience is that no ticket
clerk will ever suggest a cheaper alternative route or indeed inform the
traveller of the best route option. (snip)


I note your overall point. However in the example Bill gave, at the
time commuters would have had to buy a British Rail season ticket from
a BR ticket office, and buy a totally seperate Underground season
ticket from an Underground ticket office, there is thus a bit of a
disconnect.

How often people would have asked at a BR ticket office for a through
season ticket to Bank Underground station I don't know, but I guess it
may not have been that many, as intermodal ticketing simply wasn't on
the agenda at the time and commuters would, by and large, have been
aware of that.

In message . com,
Mizter T writes
Ian Jelf wrote:
No, I meant Brits. Non-Londoners with a little knowledge can be
strangely aggressive about such things. I've had similar "complaints"
about Harrod's not being in Oxford Street and that the then Stakis Saint
Ermin's, behind new Scotland yard wasn't "central enough".

How stupid! To which I guess you can only say something like "yes, I'll
have a word with the designer of London tomorrow and remonstrate with
him for his lack of thoughfulness".

Well, although this is a largely jocular thread, I would say that things
not being near to one another, or else laid out in the way that people
expect, are the biggest single cause of sometimes quite nasty
complaints. They easily outnumber the negative feedback I get about
the weather, tubes, buses, litter and traffic, all things that Londoners
might expect to top such a list.

Now to be fair, this is sometimes because tour operators sell "London"
hotels that can be in places like Heathrow, Watford, St Albans or
Hornchurch (!) with all the attendant to-ing and fro-ing, albeit by
coach.

But I learned long ago that people still want everything right outside
their hotel door, something which is plainly not possible in a
metropolis like London. And when their hotels ate in Westminster,
Tower Hill, next to Saint Pancras station or what ever, they still
complain that they can't walk outside to Selfridge's/the Eye/Covent
Garden/Buckingham Palace, etc.

--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Ian Jelf wrote:
In message . com,
Mizter T writes
Ian Jelf wrote:
No, I meant Brits. Non-Londoners with a little knowledge can be
strangely aggressive about such things. I've had similar
"complaints" about Harrod's not being in Oxford Street and that the
then Stakis Saint Ermin's, behind new Scotland yard wasn't "central
enough".

How stupid! To which I guess you can only say something like "yes,
I'll have a word with the designer of London tomorrow and
remonstrate with him for his lack of thoughfulness".

Well, although this is a largely jocular thread, I would say that
things not being near to one another, or else laid out in the way
that people expect, are the biggest single cause of sometimes quite
nasty complaints. They easily outnumber the negative feedback I get
about the weather, tubes, buses, litter and traffic, all things that
Londoners might expect to top such a list.

Now to be fair, this is sometimes because tour operators sell "London"
hotels that can be in places like Heathrow, Watford, St Albans or
Hornchurch (!) with all the attendant to-ing and fro-ing, albeit by
coach.

But I learned long ago that people still want everything right outside
their hotel door, something which is plainly not possible in a
metropolis like London. And when their hotels ate in Westminster,
Tower Hill, next to Saint Pancras station or what ever, they still
complain that they can't walk outside to Selfridge's/the Eye/Covent
Garden/Buckingham Palace, etc.

Which in a small way, is reassuring. It's nice to know that it's not only
the British that whinge. :-)

Chris Johns wrote:

I wonder how many times the tourist information centre in Leeds gets asked
"how do I get to the castle?"


Happened to me when I was wandering down the Headrow once. Elderly
American couple asked me the way to the castle.... I checked that they
didn't mean Castle Howard, Temple Newsam House, or anything else of that
nature, and sent them back to the station!

pete
--
"he just stuck to buying beer and pointing at other stuff"

allan tracy wrote:

Yeah, I lose count of hopeless tourists getting off the London train at
International and asking which way to the Marriot Five Ways.


Well, one has to feel sorry for *any* tourist in Brum

pete
--
"he just stuck to buying beer and pointing at other stuff"

In message , Brimstone
writes

Which in a small way, is reassuring. It's nice to know that it's not
only the British that whinge. :-)

No, if you look back to the top of the thread, I was largely (not
exclusively but largely) talking about British people doing this. :-(
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

In message , Pete Fenelon
writes
allan tracy wrote:

Yeah, I lose count of hopeless tourists getting off the London train at
International and asking which way to the Marriot Five Ways.


Well, one has to feel sorry for *any* tourist in Brum

Well there are a *lot* of them these days.

Then I shall ask for feedback from my group doing a tour there with me
tomorrow. For the record, my walking tor job on Saturday is in Tipton!
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk