please empty your brain below
I'm part of the Southbound Piccadilly crew at Holborn & was wondering what all the fuss was about getting the right carriage (we have the massive double staircase up to the first set of escalators). Then I remember how crap the central line (+ Northbound Piccadilly) exits are - about two people wide... or something like that! No way of widening them I suppose...

MarcB | 20.02.09 - 8:01 a.m. | #

Excellent....so the King is gone, long live the King!

I remember being King of Brixton to Kings Cross many years ago and have met many other Kings and Queens of various underground routes through the years but never whilst actually on a route. A route crown challenge would have been interesting.

Strange that so many can travel the same route every day and not be aware of the competition.

NiC | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 8:16 a.m. | #

You don’t say but I assume that you walk up the ascending escalator at Holborn.
Think of the fun you will have next week with a new journey.

John | 20.02.09 - 8:18 a.m. | #

So now we know why you'll not be using that news-stand again. Bit of an anticlimax really.

Rick | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 8:40 a.m. | #

Might be worth taking a look at Twitter today.

Great Aunt Annie | 20.02.09 - 8:56 a.m. | #

Hope you make the fifth this week. I've tried something similar between Guildford and Waterloo, but South West Trains have got fly to this and like to up the excitement by changing platforms for trains from time to time...

Chaz | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 9:13 a.m. | #

Great post! I was King of Becontree to Notting Hill Gate for 4 years so am very familiar with your Mile End interchange tactics!
Intriguing about your job relocating; I assumed your local kiosk meant at Bow Road (not being able to remember if there is one there), but I assume you mean the Holborn kiosk then?
I must say I was slightly worried you were moving out of London so am pleased that isn't the case. The city would lose something special without your blog!

SELondoner | 20.02.09 - 9:17 a.m. | #

Is it the kiosk pictured in next week's Radio Times, by curious coincidence (p.11, feature on 'Law and Order', 'guerilla filming' outside Holborn tube)? If so, how very self-reflexive - on two levels...

Gordon | 20.02.09 - 9:26 a.m. | #

You're not moving to a converted brewery, are you?

Gordon | 20.02.09 - 9:47 a.m. | #

Excellent post .. I was Queen of Shenfield to Sloane Square for 3 years.. mind you not many others are mad enough to do taht journey every day! Where are you off to now?

Annabel | 20.02.09 - 10:28 a.m. | #

Is this going to be in the Olympics?

Amused | 20.02.09 - 10:45 a.m. | #

I'm so happy I don't have to commute anymore. (Not that I ever did the tube thing much preferring my trusty bike)

Cal | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 10:52 a.m. | #

And I thought it was just me. I used to win at Waterloo.

Debster | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 11:02 a.m. | #

Interesting perspective. I never fought that battle - my USP was always being able to get a seat on the most crowded carriages.

This means giving up on being next to the door, and instead standing in front of a seated person who looks like they're 'the sort' to get off at the next busy stop. When they stand up I slip behind-them-and-down in a ninja move. Good times (but not commuting at all is even better).

Each to their own King/Queendom, hope you make it a fifth!

londonducky | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 11:22 a.m. | #

I do almost the exact same thing every day, Bow Road to Bank where I then take the Norther Line to Elephant & Castle. I like to be lined up for all the correct exits & changes, but I usually go by whatever poster is on the wall. I usually stand opposite the Gran Canarias one it Mile End but it got very grubby very suddenly over the last week so I assume its going to be changed soon and once again I'll spend a few days looking confused while trying to judge where to stand.

Caspar | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 11:40 a.m. | #

Queen of the DLR to Bank, most days I'm first on the escalator up to the Northern Line, and usually first up the stairs to the escalators at London Bridge. People who run in front of me don't count.

Congrats on the 5 in a row...

As a Bow-related aside, did you catch the programme on BBC4 last night that visited your local church in the middle of the flyover? Michael Smith's Drivetime - escape from London.

s | 20.02.09 - 11:41 a.m. | #

Sage advice, there

World's easiest interchange?
What about Northbound Piccadilly to Victoria line at Finsbury Park, then?

dg writes: Much easier than that.

Steve | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 12:07 p.m. | #

District to Hammersmith & City at Aldgate East? That's a good 3 metres' less walking...

john b | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 12:49 p.m. | #

Classic,

why do I love these posts so much more than the ones about obscure places in London?

I just started a new job and told them I wanted my job title to be King of Marketing.

In terms of travel I have a motorbike and used to time my commute to see if I can achieve a 'world record'. The record was set (east barnet to feltham) back in 2004, when I was young and reckless, at 39 minutes 20 seconds.

Tim | 20.02.09 - 1:22 p.m. | #

& so, on to new challenges! we don't have trains here, just buses. so nothing to keep a person awake in the a.m.

petoskystone | 20.02.09 - 1:24 p.m. | #

I think we have the makings here of a "demonstration sport" for the 2012 Olympics.

Come to think of it, it reminds me of Augustus Carp on how to get off a moving bus (see http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/
...arp06.html#visi and search for "Nor shall I forget the thrill")...

Autolycus | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 1:45 p.m. | #

If I'm coming from my girlfriend's flat, I get on the second doors of the third carriage at Bethnal Green -- not because it's beside the platform entrance, but because it's next to the exit at White City. But then because I'm going all the way to White City, I usually try to get myself a seat rather than hanging out by the doors.

If I'm coming from my place, I change from the Piccadilly Line at Holborn, and growl at people exiting the Westbound Central Line platforms by the wrong stairs.

martin | 20.02.09 - 1:49 p.m. | #

'World's easiest interchange' territory is clearly Jubilee Metropolitan (either direction) at Finchley Road. And not in a tunnel, making it easy to see the screens.

This makes it all the more awful that I screwed up the Metropolitan line yesterday and ended up doing a loop on myself - essentially spending ten minutes to get from Finchley Road to, ur, Finchley Road. Epic fail... equivalent to the violent overthrow of a transport king, I suppose.

Dominic Self | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 4:01 p.m. | #

Easiest interchange, Circle line to Hammersmith & City at Baker Street.

mclm | 20.02.09 - 4:24 p.m. | #

Does my memory deceive me, or did someone (not necessarily TfL - sounds a bit too helpful for them to have done it) publish a version of the tube map with a small number printed next to each station, which corresponded to the number of the carriage you got in at your starting station in order to be right next to the exit at your destination?

Or was it just one of those dreams you have after eating too much cheese?

dg writes: That'd be the Way Out Tube Map. Please, try to have as good a memory as the next commenter...

Exit, pursued by a bear | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 4:51 p.m. | #

DG - I love you, you know that. And continue to think you are the best writer on London anywhere.

But (the inevitable but, following that introduction), didn't you write a very similar post about three years ago. I've not been able to find it. But this seems very familiar...

dg writes: similar, yes, but more than three years ago, and this is much better, and it's less inaccurate, and please stop setting me impossibly high standards, thankyou.

The Collective | 20.02.09 - 5:14 p.m. | #

There was a book, I think, about where to stand for each exit or interchange for each tube journey. Sounds like a job for a wiki though: wikitubia

I once won the Vauxhall SouthWest trains exit handicap dash but most times I was seriously outclassed and/or obstructed by people with wheely suitcases

disgruntled | Homepage | 20.02.09 - 5:16 p.m. | #

A bit of advice for those taking the Victoria Line northbound from Finsbury Park to Tottenham Hale. Always stand about ten feet to the left of the departure board, and then enter into the double doors that stop closest to you - this is easy, particularly if you're making Steve's rather brief interchage from the northbound Piccadilly Line. If possible, stand rather than sit, and walk across to the opposite set of doors as the platform is on the opposite side of the train at Tottenham Hale.

You'll now be standing for about ten or so minutes (it's a long way between Finsbury Park and Seven Sisters, isn't it?), but you'll disembark from the train right by the platform exit, and you will be one of the very first people on the escalator up to the National Rail platforms.

This can be especially useful during the evening rush hour. I am King of Tottenham Hale, and I'm also pretty good at Waterloo, Liverpool Street and Covent Garden .

Good luck learning your new tube route, DG. I'm sure it won't take you too long to figure it all out.

Andrewh | 20.02.09 - 9:58 p.m. | #

This is madness. But it is impressive madness. I had no idea so many people did this sort of stuff. I incidentally don't - i'm pretty good with certain stations but others get me every time - I mean I actively avoid interchanging on the underground at Euston because its just not right down there.

garax | 22.02.09 - 8:48 p.m. | #

I think it was from you that I learned about the Way Out Tube Map -- many thanks for pointing me to that invaluable guide to where to get on to a tube train for the fastest exit.

E | 22.02.09 - 11:05 p.m. | #

Surely the position of the trapezoid of daylight on the platform would vary according to the time at which one commutes?

I used to be King of Chichester to Barnham, but then I didn't have many competitors. The main problem there was travelling on three-car units halting at platforms designed for twelve and driven by drivers who seemed to make a sport of totally ignoring the "3 car stop" notices.

graybo | Homepage | 23.02.09 - 3:18 p.m. | #

Trip down memory lane for me - it was a search for Bow Road to Green Park tube routes back in 2006 that I first started reading.

I'm king of Old Street/Barbican to Green Park. I get my TFL text at 8.25 and decide the exact route on the day.

jamesu | 23.02.09 - 3:33 p.m. | #

I am usually first up the stairs from the westbound picadilly line train arriving at Holborn. I am so glad others work out where the doors will be, not just me! My partner thinks I'm mad.

Rachel | Homepage | 24.02.09 - 5:22 p.m. | #











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