Something New Every Day

Pic and Vic (60/365) Tuesday March 1, 2011

Non-London readers may want to look away now as they’ll think this trivial…

I think everyone who lives in SE England obsesses over their commuting arrangements; which tube line to get, where to change etc. I think for the most part it’s because most options are painful with everywhere being so busy, so any knowledge you can get to make it slightly more bearable is very useful.

Now I’m staying in South Tottenham during the week I’m mostly limited to getting the tube but I still have many choices on my journey back home, and it isn’t clear what is best. For example I can try:

• Piccadilly Line from Piccadilly Circus to Finsbury Park, change to Victoria Line to Seven Sisters, walk to flat
• Piccadilly Line from Piccadilly Circus direct to Manor House, longer walk to flat
• Victoria Line from Oxford Circus direct to Seven Sisters, walk to flat
• Piccadilly Line to Kings Cross, change to Victoria Line to Seven Sisters, walk to flat …

Then there are lots of other factors to include, like Oxford Circus is a nightmare at rush hour but Victoria line is quicker than the Piccadilly line, can you get a seat, what if Arsenal are playing at home,…

It’s a complicated and dynamic problem :-)

My new thing was to try changing at Kings Cross (the 4th option above). It was about 9:30pm as I’d been to the pub so wasn’t a typical commute, but the upside was it optimised time on the Victoria line while avoiding Oxford Circus. However the interchange involves a much longer walk than the very easy Finsbury Park interchange.Was it better? Probably not, but hard to say definitively…

Thanks for listening.