I love that you talk about wayfinding. Personally, I'm obsessed with the Johnston font that TfL uses literally everywhere in their system, and not even just on the Tube. They use it for wayfinding obviously, but also for marketing, walking directions, and any other TfL signage, and it creates a uniquely London feel that's great, somewhat like with Helvetica in NYC.
One thing as a passenger that I’d like to see adopted in Vancouver is TfL’s capping system. When I am in office, I will sometimes travel enough to make a monthly pass worthwhile, but if I take just a few days out of that then it isn’t. I would much prefer the TfL system where I don’t have to think about the most cost effective option, and I can just tap in.
Good points Reece, and a nice read! Picking the "wrong" car and being effectively stuck in it until you reach your destination is a distinctly North American experience. By this I mean the one with people selling drugs, people camped out sleeping, people smoking, people yelling at each other and others without masks during the height of COVID, etc. All actual circumstances I've found myself in recently. Like you I am a big advocate of fully walk-through trains, when you are visible to dozens to hundreds of people and can't "take-over" a portion of the car, it makes it much safer and comfortable for everyone. This is something you have to experience to properly understand.
The LCD screens indicating level of service could not be implemented in North America with transit in its current state. Transit here functions like independent systems, by this I mean transfers are cumbersome and time consuming. If there were LCD screens in our trains and transit hubs, they would either be reading out constant delays (effectively advertising how bad the service is - which would be politically infeasible) or they would be so inaccurate that they would be useless. We do not have the cohesive networks where the functionality of another line matters, people are only interested in the single route they are taking. Just my take, do you agree?
As someone who uses London's transport network on at least a weekly basis I can't disagree with most of that! Worth pointing out though that some of the 'long way around' connections are deliberate - particularly during rush hour (which, even post-pandemic, is starting to be a thing again) it's designed to avoid any pinch points on the system e.g. at the bottom of escalators, by spreading the flow of people around a larger station as much as possible.
And yeah, the Tube stock with door open buttons are a bit pointless and the deep-level stock had these buttons decommissioned in the 1990s, though on the 'S' stock for the subsurface lines, they do serve a purpose - of auto closing doors during long dwell times and at terminus stations. You might not have noticed as you were here in a week that wasn't **that** hot but they're the only stock on the Tube fitted with aircon, and the doors auto-close to help with this.
Also agree with the comment about Vancouver taking inspiration (particularly on the newer Canada Line), I'm not surprised - when I visited a few years back the transit system made me feel almost as if I was at home!
I love that you talk about wayfinding. Personally, I'm obsessed with the Johnston font that TfL uses literally everywhere in their system, and not even just on the Tube. They use it for wayfinding obviously, but also for marketing, walking directions, and any other TfL signage, and it creates a uniquely London feel that's great, somewhat like with Helvetica in NYC.
One thing as a passenger that I’d like to see adopted in Vancouver is TfL’s capping system. When I am in office, I will sometimes travel enough to make a monthly pass worthwhile, but if I take just a few days out of that then it isn’t. I would much prefer the TfL system where I don’t have to think about the most cost effective option, and I can just tap in.
Good points Reece, and a nice read! Picking the "wrong" car and being effectively stuck in it until you reach your destination is a distinctly North American experience. By this I mean the one with people selling drugs, people camped out sleeping, people smoking, people yelling at each other and others without masks during the height of COVID, etc. All actual circumstances I've found myself in recently. Like you I am a big advocate of fully walk-through trains, when you are visible to dozens to hundreds of people and can't "take-over" a portion of the car, it makes it much safer and comfortable for everyone. This is something you have to experience to properly understand.
The LCD screens indicating level of service could not be implemented in North America with transit in its current state. Transit here functions like independent systems, by this I mean transfers are cumbersome and time consuming. If there were LCD screens in our trains and transit hubs, they would either be reading out constant delays (effectively advertising how bad the service is - which would be politically infeasible) or they would be so inaccurate that they would be useless. We do not have the cohesive networks where the functionality of another line matters, people are only interested in the single route they are taking. Just my take, do you agree?
As someone who uses London's transport network on at least a weekly basis I can't disagree with most of that! Worth pointing out though that some of the 'long way around' connections are deliberate - particularly during rush hour (which, even post-pandemic, is starting to be a thing again) it's designed to avoid any pinch points on the system e.g. at the bottom of escalators, by spreading the flow of people around a larger station as much as possible.
And yeah, the Tube stock with door open buttons are a bit pointless and the deep-level stock had these buttons decommissioned in the 1990s, though on the 'S' stock for the subsurface lines, they do serve a purpose - of auto closing doors during long dwell times and at terminus stations. You might not have noticed as you were here in a week that wasn't **that** hot but they're the only stock on the Tube fitted with aircon, and the doors auto-close to help with this.
Also agree with the comment about Vancouver taking inspiration (particularly on the newer Canada Line), I'm not surprised - when I visited a few years back the transit system made me feel almost as if I was at home!