Screw The Tube
Today there is another tube strike, over pay or uniforms or working conditions, or something. Note to non-Londoners: the transport union call strikes fairly frequently for various reasons, so it does get difficult to remember what exactly they are protesting about this time. I get the tube from Liverpool Street (well, Moorgate) to London Bridge, and when there is a strike I normally just walk it: it's only a 20 minute walk. Today though I thought I'd see what the buses were like. Several things then shocked and amazed me.
One: Transport For London's web site has a good journey planner. I mean really good. I told it "Liverpool Street to London Bridge" and it offered me two tube routes, the quickest bus route, and how long it would take to walk. Armed with the knowledge that the quickest bus is the number 47 from bus stop K, off I went to work. At the bus stop a quick look at the very clear route maps told me that most buses here took the route I wanted (which is basically "along the big road"), and more importantly, that the bus already here was one of them. On I jumped, and stood upstairs. The joy of the new buses is that upstairs you get a fantastic view of the bicycles weaving their way down the bus lanes, and the hordes of City workers marching over London Bridge. Surprise number Two was that getting the bus (even when there is a strike so it would be busier) is quicker and easier than the tube.
Screw the tube, and kudos to Ken Livingstone for pushing the role of buses in London -- they really do kick arse.
OTOH, the bus route I would normally take, (Campanar<->Uni) is hell. There's a bus every 20 or more minutes, and as I'm at one of the last bus stops, at high demand times, I might just see it go by because it's full. This can happen repeatedly. When you go in, you probably need to squeeze in. Bus drivers must have been hired in a rally... many times they brake aggressively and so...
Nothing like my bicycle. Valencia is a big city, but small enough that I can travel with my bike everywhere. This wouldn't be possible in Madrid or Barcelona, for example.
Regarding strikes, they are quite common here too, both in the tube and bus services. They normally mean a reduction of the service by 50%.
