Think Happy Thoughts
Transport Blog makes me feel just a teensy bit uneasy about relying completely on TFL and Thames Trains during my upcoming trip to London (with a day trip to Oxford). I was thinking of renting a Vespa to see more of the town and countryside at ground level, but then I remembered that I'm not used to driving on the left side of the road and I've never rode (and certainly not driven) any form of two-wheeled motorized transport.
Of course, it's probably not as bad as the impression one would get from a blog run by libertarian train buffs. One can easily find tales of woe from the New York City subway -- severed limbs, pants on fire, overcrowding the likes of which are hard to comprehend (try taking the first 4 train downtown back from a Yankees game) and the overwhelming stench of urine at some stations. American intercity rail is even worse. Heck, the only time you even hear of Amtrak in the news is when someone throws themselves in front of a train or when the agency runs out of money. But despite all this, I still manage to get from point A to point B using these supposedly problem-plagued systems with a minimum of fuss, distrubance or conflagrating articles of clothing.
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rj3 | 10:10 AM |
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Don't let Patrick put you off too much... ;-)
The London Underground is on a par with the NYC subway (well, the Tube has no AC so can be nastier in rush-hour, but is slightly less scary at night); the buses are great (when they're not on fire); and the train service to Oxford is pretty reliable - although you could get the bus instead, which is a lot cheaper and not much slower.
