Trifter

Most of us (err..Especially WOMEN and perhaps a handful of the super sensitive MEN who are attempting to understand a bit more of their other halves) would most probably have read the book by Allan Pease and Barbara Pease “Why Men Don”t Listen and Women Can’t Read Maps’. Applying this statement in the general sense, I would have been nodding my head with agreement until such time when I am given the task to getting around in London by Tube and Docklands Light Rail. I regain my faith that -’Men do listen’ and bringing glory to the “M” gender are the male staff of the London Tube station while I can also proudly conclude that Women (including Tai-Tai / 太太’) do know how to read the London Tube Maps’! If yours truly here, the well known map reading idiot; can put in a little effort to figure this out, why can’t you?

Having gotten so used to the relatively simple train network transportation system in Singapore as compared to that Tube transportation system in London, I bet most of my Singaporean friends have never in their lives access the SMRT website to download the train network map. Even when you have never been to one of your chosen destination along the SMRT track, you are quite confident to figuring that out by simply referring to the signboard or at the map provided at the station itself.

My natural talent obviously doesn’t including reading maps – including the London Tube Map! If you fall into the same category as me, fear not because help is on your way!

Tip # 1

Do check out the tube map at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/1108.aspx and be mentally prepared for that first reaction! (At least this is how I felt!)

Oh my God! That tube map actually has 14 lines with so many color tones that even the colors of the rainbow cannot handle? This is simply incredulous! How am I going to figure all that out?

Before you start turning that piece of map into a snake and ladder game to me or another version of the game “Monopoly” (Btw, I almost threw a dice and started walking my piece across that map!), take a deep breath and turn to the second page of the tube map. Yup yup! Ignore that colorful maize in front of you first! Otherwise, it may make your head quite dizzy as some familiar names of the Monopoly game starts to pop up in your brain and further cloud your thinking process.

Be good and turn to Page 2 of the map now. A “Index to stations” in alphabetical order will appear in front of you. Find out the name of the tube station of your chosen destination and locate it on the index. Each tube station name is represented by a map grid (for your easy reference) and a zone number (which tells you roughly how near or far is the location from Central London). The standard tube map covers the 6 zones of London namely, zone 1 to 6. The smaller the number gets, the more centralized is the location. E.g.: Most offices, banks and financial institutions are situated in zone 1.

Once you have identified grid to the start and end destination on the index. Locate them on the tube map and identify which line you should be taking by the different color codes. Refer to the key to the different tube lines.

Tip # 2

Do not try to print out the Tube Map (unless you wish to cut down more trees and are blessed with a high tech color printer at home).

Warnings! Please do not ignore!

• Black and white printout of the tube map – All the tube lines might turn out all looking like the Northern Line or Jubilee Line which are represented by black and grey respectively!
• A4 size cumbersome 2 pages of tube map – You wouldn’t want to look so unglamorous and be caught digging out that huge printout of the map and trying to refer to it.
• Intrinsically and handy pocket sized tube map – These are readily available in most tube stations, especially at stations like Liverpool, Paddington etc. Please look out for them and pick up one. These are absolutely free of charge and are periodically revised with new updates or changes.

Tip # 3

Don’t even attempt to memorize all the names of the tube stations! The least you should do is to familiarize with the different tube line and their respective color code. E.g.: Central Line = Red, Circle Line = Yellow, Northern Line = Black, Piccadilly Line = Convent Blue (as in the CHIJ blue), Victoria Line = Sky Blue and so on… I personally find this extremely helpful when I am rushing to my destination. A quick glance at the direction signboard (color coded of course!) in the tube station does point me to the right direction!

Tip # 4

Become a fan to the “journey planner” at http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XSLT_TRIP_REQUEST2?language=en

Put in your start and end journey and the journey planner will be able to produce different travelling options, estimated time of the journey and an extraction of maps in pdf files.

Tip # 5

Don’t ever think that above tips are to it to travelling around London by Tube! More tips and warning messages to come in my subsequent blog!

And lastly, for the benefits of my foreign friends, SMRT stands for Singapore Mass Rapid Transit. Do please feel free to also checkout the SMRT at http://www.smrt.com.sg/trains/trains.asp when are trying to get around Singapore!