Getting to work on the Tube (The London Underground)
can be quite an interesting journey. I’ve owned at least one car since
I was 18, and at one point owned three cars and a motorcycle. Taking
public transport to and from work every day was quite a culture shock.
One interesting little bit, and what I’d like to talk about today,
is Tube Platform Strategy. For those who don’t ride trains (or subways)
every day, the Platform is the area where travelers wait to
embark/disembark from the train. Given that we are talking about underground trains
here, each platform typically has 1 or 2 entrances or exits. These
exits lead to long hallways which take you to a stairway which takes
you to another long hallway which leads to a lift which stops at
another long hallway to an escalator which leads to another hallway
which takes you out of the tube station.

Now, given that the aforementioned long hallways are underground,
they are very narrow. If you also consider that this is Central London,
these cramped hallways are filled with approximately 8 million people
between the hours of 6am and 1am. Walking these lonely hallways can
take a very long time, and become very frustrating (Damned tourists!
Nobody wants to see your photos of you on an escalator!). You could
lose valuable time!
This is where Tube Platform Strategy comes in. You see, the goal here is to board a train in the approximate location where the exit will be at your destination station. For example, the exit at
Covent Garden station (Piccadilly Line, Eastbound) is approximately 2
cars up from the end of the train. Thus, when I board the Piccadilly
line at Earl’s Court, I make sure to board the train about 2 cars up
from the caboose (Do subways have Cabooses? Do the English have
Cabooses? This needs investigation!). Doing so will allow for a speedy
disembarkment from the train, granting me those precious seconds needed
to get in front of the crowd on my way out of the station.

Sounds easy so far, right? Well, it gets more complex when you have
to changer for different lines, have multiple lines stopping at one
platform, or know of the few secret exit/entrances at tube stations.
When changing lines, you have multple ‘exits’ to consider. You’ll
want to position yourself on your first train in a spot well suited for
the exit leading towards your next train. Then, the second train must be boarded in a manner advantageous to one’s exit at the next leg of their journey.
When you have multiple lines sharing the same platform – such as at
Embankment station Westbound, where the Circle line, District Line
(Richmond), District Line (Wimbledon), and District Line (Ealing
Broadway) all stop – you want to be very careful which train you board.
You could just get on the first Circle Line train that arrives, which
will at least get you headed in the right direction. However, you’ll
have to get off that train again in order to change for the proper
train. Is this what you really want? The next train could be more
crowded, could have a class of school-children, football hooligans,
vomiting drunks, or anything aboard! You will also have to re-think your platform strategy.
What’s better is to balance out how long you estimate waiting for your proper train with how long you
estimate it will take for you to arrive at your destination. If your
ultimate destination is Parson’s Green (on the Wimbledon branch of the
District Line), you want to either way at Embankment for a Wimbledon
train, or take the first avaialable District Line train towards your
destination. If the platform is especially crowded, it may be
worthwhile to see if there’s a train immediately behind the one you are
considering boarding (say, 1-2m behind).
Finally, my favorite part of the London Underground is the ‘hidden
entrances’. See, they have the tube stations set up in a manner that
supports crowd control. A popular platform will often have an exit
tunnel that leads directly to the escalator, rather than through a long
series of tunnels. This is to prevent too many people from crowding the
platform.
Since it’s preferable to have people crowd on the streets instead
of on the platform, you’ll often find hallways marked ‘Exit Only – Do
Not Enter’ Therein lies the secret! These tunnels will often lead
directly to the platform you seek, rather than the round-about path
they wish you to take.
One such path is at Liecester Square tube station, heading westbound
on the Piccadilly line. If you were to follow the signs, you would find
yourself walking through tunnels for 10 minutes as they direct you around the
platform and onto it from the back end. If you’re wise to their game,
you’ll duck into the ‘Do Not Enter’ hallway, and find yourself on the
desired platform a mere 15 paces later.
Go forth with this knowledge, my children. Only use it for good.