Abusive LUL bod

andy

This has blown up today and whilst the majority of underground staff are fine, in my recent experience there do seem to be more and more little bullies like this guy on the tube.

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The interesting thing is how no-one confronts him about it; even videoing him is a little passive in its own way. People shrug and tut, but there's no check on his behaviour from the community.

<a href="http://www.jonathanmacdonald.com/?p=4024">full story</a>

ADGS

He's been suspended now, so surely this was an efficient check on his behaviour from the community?

andy

yeah - but it's taken an exceptional amount of media coverage to get that done.

How effective do you think a civil, quiet word in his ear from one of the people on the platform would have gone down?

ADGS

That was what the old guy tried first, with the results shown.

steve

Has anybody else noticed just how horrific things have got at Kings Cross recently? I change between the Victoria and northern lines there in the mornings and evenings, and in the last few months it seems to have gone from plain terrible to unreasonable beyond belief. I dread it now. I mention it because I feel that it has become a space that is literally dehumanising to all of those who enter it, far beyond simply an annoying or chaotic environment. I find it no surprise that people are going crazy trying to organize other people inside a system that removes their humanity. It's a horrible consequence, but it seems that the whole experience of travelling at rush hour is oppressive and frightening. For me, that's what the video highlights. Not that this one man went rogue, but that rage and fear are built into the system itself.

JoeV

I try to avoid KingsX in general. It's much easier to change for the Northern line at Euston or Warren Street.

poxy

It all depends which branch and which direction of the Northern Line is required, of course. Coming home from Bank to get to FP was made much more bearable when I realised that switching at Euston meant walking between two parallel platforms rather than fighting the masses in KX.

andy

Injecting 750 slightly bewildered French people tumbling off every Eurostar hasn't helped matters.

They haven't got Oyster cards or understand Tube Maps. They do often have heavy luggage. So they wander about in small dazed groups whilst tens of thousands of Londoners try to push them over and kick them in the shins.

tosscat

@ poxy - overland to Moorgate then walk, no?

poxy

No, because that would have meant leaving and re-entering the system. I continued on from Bank to Canary Wharf on the DLR.

Also, because I cycled as often as possible it wasn't worth getting a season ticket which meant I would have been able to leave and enter the system at will.

But, once I'd sussed out that if I didn't swipe my Oyster card at Bank (at the interchange between tube and DLR) I was charged only a quid to go from Finsbury Park to Canary Wharf or even Lewisham each way it actually became cheaper to travel every day and pay per journey than get a season ticket.

The new pink Oyster readers would put paid to that trick if I was still commuting to SE16 or SE13.

bennyfromtheblok

Often having to go to Canary Wharf first thing in the morning I find the least busy and quickest way from FP is overground to Moorgate, Northern to London Bridge and then the Jubilee Line.

underscore_cue

what are the new pink oyster cards?

jandb

Looks like the ranty bloke <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/london/8325406.stm">has resigned</a>

andy

He didn't seem very happy in that job anyway.

poxy

Pink Oyster Card READERS allow you to prove that you didn't enter Zone 1 for your journey. If you see one and you're travelling on PAYG swipe the reader.

My weekly trip from Crouch Hill to Clapham Junction each Monday costs £1.10 e/w if I swipe in at Gospel Oak and £4.40 if I don't.

underscore_cue

thanks I didn't realise they had introduced this!! I've been away for a few weeks but it sounds like this has been here for a while. I used to use the gospel oak to clapham route to get to croydon avoiding the vic line last year when I was working there... at the time it was £1 you just had to touch in and touch out in the normal way. the fuckers kept this quiet! If I hadn't found out on here the next time they would have stung me for 4.40