When I think about the ONE reason I wouldnt want to live in London forever - then it is the London Transport System.
When you are unfortunate enough - like millions of Londoners - and you have to commute in the mornings and evenings to go to work - then Halleluja - what a bloody shit you have to go through every day!
I feel like we are being treated like kettle on the way to the slaughter house! A totally overcrowded and often unreliably transport system obvious not able to cope with the huge demand of a metropole in the third millenium.
Tube lines are being closed stupidly early (around midnight in the week and 00.30 on the weekends!) which forces you to use an expensive taxi or worse: the overcrowded smelly night buses (mix of pig farm and men's toilet - nice!).
With no air condition - the undeground becomes a sauna in the summer - imagine what's it like to be crammed into a wagon full of sweaty armpits! It's so funny (no actually - it's not!) when you see what they did to improve on that - a few oversized ventilators standing in some of the tunnels!!!
I am aware that TfL are currently undergoing a massive improvement scheme - you would be blind if you wouldnt notice, because every weekend half of the tube lines are closed because of that. And that's also the reason why they can't keep the tube open all night.
London has the troubles of having one of the oldest underground train systems in the world - and at the same time have missed to keep re-newing the tube. They started by far too late with trying to bring it onto a standard that is suitable for one of the busiest cities in the world. The government basically fucked it up and we pay for it! (nothing new then)
Talking about paying - this is one of the key points of my hate for TfL:
Despite their unreliable service, overcrowded trains and constant signal failures (commuters will shiver just hearing that word - reasons for many bad, baaaad delays) - what just really makes me angry is the fact that we are charged more and more every year! In fact according to The Guardian London has the most expensive fares in the world - double the price of cities like New York, Paris or Rome!
I find it disgraceful and inhumane how people are treated! When you see the anger and grief in the people's faces in the morning or late at night - then you understand I am not alone with my anger. And I believe this can't be healthy for a city or any society!
A public transport system is a necessity for people - like the air you breathe. It is also the right step to get people off the car, but only if you don't feel like an imprisoner of a Rat Race Society most times you use it!
itchy i