TfL’s curious travel suggestions
I start a new job on Monday, and need to start commuting again. Woohoo!
So, time to power up the TfL travel advisor and see what it says are the suitable routes to take.
I have two possible start locations, Loughborough Junction is the closest option, with Brixton as the emergency back up if/when FCC have problems.
One end location, at Stanmore tube station.
TfL dutifully suggests a whole range of options such as:
Journey time 1:18
- Bus to Brixton Station
- Victoria line to Green Park
- Jubilee line to Stanmore
Journey time 1:17
- Loughborough Junction to Elephant & Castle
- Walk to Elephant & Castle tube
- Bakerloo line to Baker Street
- Jubilee line to Stanmore
Journey time 1:16
- Bus to Brixton Station
- Victoria line to Green Park
- Jubilee line to Finchley Road
- Metropolitan line to Wembley Park
- Jubilee line to Stanmore
Journey time 1:18
- Bus to Brixton Station
- Victoria line to Oxford Circus
- Bakerloo line to Baker Street
- Metropolitan line to Wembley Park
- Jubilee line to Stanmore
Curiously, none of them suggest what is likely to be the route I will probably take.
Journey time: 1:05
- Loughborough Junction to Farringdon
- Metropolitan line to Wembley Park
- Jubilee line to Stanmore
Which is a much more convenient trip with far fewer changes, and also faster. Yes, I included at least 5 minutes at each interchange.
As an emergency back up for the regular occurrences of the FCC not working…
Journey time: 1:10
- Walk from Loughborough Junction to Brixton tube
- Victoria line to Green Park
- Jubilee line to Baker Street
- Metropolitan line to Wembley Park
- Jubilee line to Stanmore
This is not to criticize TfL explicitly, as anyone who looks as the vast array of transport options that exist in London would be probably impressed that it is able to suggest anything at all.
I am just lucky that I know the network well enough to ditch the computer generated advice, and go by human intuition instead.
My preferred route also has better options for buying a morning coffee once I get the first wage packet in the bank 🙂
The excellent citymapper.com app/site gives a 56 minute option for Loughborough Jn to Stanmore, when set to arrive 08:30 Monday morning. They suggest Rail from LJ to E&C, Bakerloo from E&C to Waterloo, Jub from WL to Stanmore. It may be that their two minute changes are somewhat ambitious?!
Yes, they are! But they do give some good ideas.
How about Victoria Line to King’s Cross St Pancras, then Metropolitan to Wembley Park, etc?
So delighted to hear you have a new job at last!
Does it really save that much time changing away from and back to the Jubilee line again?
Perhaps the simplest option is Loughborough Junction – West Hampstead – Stanmore.
yes, I wanted to suggest the same!
Hope the job is nice 🙂
Congrats! I used the Brixton-Oxford Circus-Baker Street then Jubilee to Finchley Road to get out that way to my parents as all the connections are cross platform. Time savings felt huge when long ealks were taken out of the equation
Maybe you checked at a time when the FCC train had a longer wait so the system at that point thought that via the tube would be faster? Or else there’s a conspiracy by tfl to gain more revenue by suggesting everyone goes via tube that rail!
I had sort of noticed that the system has a rule-of-thumb that says “do as much of it by tube as possible”. So it always tells me to change from train to tube at Brixton, even though the train would be at Victoria before I’ve made it down the stairs.
I hadn’t assumed it to be connected to revenue, though, but you may be onto something.
Congrats to Ian on the new job!
So glad to hear you have a new job. I was worrying about your cash flow. I hope you find the job congenial. good luck!
Fascinating!
Agree with greatkingrat.
Alternatively catch the train to Blackfriars, District to Westminster and Jubilee to Stanmore.
Great to hear you have s new job. Rather selfishly hope it doesn’t mean we see less posts.
Keep up the good work.
Congratulations on landing a job – hope things will look up now.
Congratulations on your new job Ian. That’s wonderful news. Good luck.
As for the TfL travel advisor, I generally avoid it and instead use Citymapper. It solves two of the problems I used to find with the TfL travel advisor: (1) By the time you enter the relevant details into the TfL travel advisor, you may well have missed the next transport option (Citymapper can automatically set your starting location for you, so you only need to search for your destination) and (2) it doesn’t tell you about a journey you could have made five minutes ago – why the TfL travel advisor tells you about a mode of transport that left before you started your search I have no idea (it must know the actual time, so why bother telling you about transport options that it should know have already departed?).
Citymapper. Just, Citymapper. Free app, Android and that other thing both available. Brilliant. Like the TFL JourneyPlanner, but FAR easier to use, on the go and otherwise, and recognises street addresses and building names. Also gives you a walking option every time – I’m aways amazed how quickly you can walk to pretty much anywhere. That said, I wouldn’t recommend it for a daily commute! Have a look. And I promise I don’t work for them!
As others have said – good to hear you have a new job. Enjoy (?) your commute.
Where and what is your new job?
Good luck.
Congratulations on the new job Ian
So pleased to hear you have paid work.
I hope you enjoy it!
They are lucky to have you.