I’ve come to the conclusion that London needs to take a serious look at their public transportation system and reconsider the way it operates at night. Being a temporary resident of this grand city for a total of 39 days now, I feel as though I am fully justified to make such a statement, and I believe the following little anecdotes will further my credibility on the subject.
London, England is the capital of the United Kingdom, the biggest city in Europe, and the world’s leading tourism destination. That being said, there are clearly a lot of people that go in and out and through the city. Over the past month and a half, I’ve found the world-famous underground to be reliable, punctual, and clean during the day, but at night, it closes down early and leaves the millions of people who inhabit the city to rely on sporadic buses that could leave even the most intelligent people lost and utterly confused. Not only does the tube close at midnight every night, but apparently it can’t handle a little winter weather.
Last weekend it snowed in London. Back home, my home state of Pennsylvania is no stranger to snow; over the past few years, we’ve been hit with some pretty heavy blizzards and have somehow managed to survive. In London, it snowed about five inches over the span of 12 hours and it seemed like the entire city erupted into a chaotic frenzy with hundreds of people left out on the streets in the cold. I left a friend’s apartment at 10:30, thinking I had plenty of time to get home before the tube closed at 12. Little did I know, I soon became stranded on unfamiliar streets with strangers for FIVE. HOURS. in the wet snow. After multiple tube lines closed down due to the weather, I waited and waited and waited and waited for a bus to come to take me as close to my apartment as possible, but every bus that passed the stop was too full, full with passengers who, too, had been stranded in strange parts of the city. I couldn’t believe it! Taxis wouldn’t go out to drive, the tubes closed down, the buses were coming infrequently, and there were elderly couples and babies in strollers outside at 2:30 a.m., just wanting to go home.
This weekend, my friend from high school, Mollie, came to visit, and the two tubes lines that run from my apartment into central London were (SURPRISE!) closed. Not only that, but when we tried to go home after meeting some of Mollie’s friends at a bar, we were seconds too late to make the last tube home to Wembley and ended up lost in another random part of the city. Really, tube station worker guy? It’s 12:01 and you won’t let us onto the platform? It was beyond frustrating, and we ended up having to take a taxi all the way back to my apartment, which was not only an incredibly long drive, but an incredibly expensive one.
Even in Philadelphia, a city 8 million-people-smaller than London, has trains that run later than midnight, and that’s during the week! It just doesn’t seem reasonable to close a major form of public transportation at such early times in such a vibrant, massive, civilized city… and with that, I present my argument.
Location: London, England
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I am curious what the locals think of the public transportation system. Do they think it should be open later into the night, or are they accustomed to using alternative modes of transportation after midnight? It is always beneficial to ask locals for their thoughts when confronted with a frustrating situation such as this. And adding commentary from locals in your blog always makes it more interesting to read! You don’t have to include names, but simply referencing what some of the locals think would be helpful. In terms of the weather, keep in mind that London experiences far less snowfall, on average, than does State College. The city may not be well-equipped to deal with snow-storms because they do not happen with regularity. These are just thoughts; remember to always examine a situation from every angle you can think of. Keep writing, and enjoy the remainder of your time in London!
I’m in London as well and I totally agree with you. I don’t think a lot of Europe is accustomed to snow. I visited Ireland this past weekend and my family asked me how the big “storm” was in London. I was like, “Storm?! You should see State College in the winter!” That’s very frustrating about the tube lines shutting down. I just went somewhere local that night to avoid all the overreacting, haha. But at least now it’s warmer!