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The London Tube vs DC Metro

The London Underground, the World's Oldest Underground Transit System

"The Tube" is the oldest below ground transit system in the world. In 1863 they made the first line and when I entered Baker Street Station, one of the oldest stations, everything worked. Unlike the Washington DC Metro with its 30 year old "walk up the frozen metal stair" un-escalators, dead elevators, dirt covered lighting and broken ticket machines the London Tube after 150 years has a vigorous maintenance program that keeps the trains running and all the amenities, (ticket machines, elevators, escalators, lights), seem to be available.

Maintenance and Transit Usability

The maintenance activities for the London Underground that I experienced in March - April 2010 were well advertised and had good maps of the affected lines widely distributed. The dense service grid and frequent service of other lines that were not affected by maintenance helped lessen the impact of shutting down parts of the service. Buses were used in some cases to replace underground service. Most maintenance was scheduled for the weekends.

Maintenance is a key to good service

Starving maintenance budgets destroys transit, the Washington DC Metro seems to be a poster child for death by starvation, it is a newer transit system that has seen a rash of accidents, deaths and lots of evident non-working parts as well as public "debate" of maintenance costs which seems to consist of conservative corporate mainstream media calling for cuts to the public transit budget. When the oldest underground transit system in the world is compared to the far newer Washington DC Metro I prefer to ride the London Tube.

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