While Sharon Hamza loved the many signs, maps and audio announcements to help keep passengers moving, her first commuting experience left her appreciating the relative calm of her hometown in comparison
Born and bred in Milton Keynes, I have grown very accustomed to a fairly busy environment but my first ever experience of using the Tube during a weekday rush hour put things into perspective. The London Underground has made a name for itself from the relentless and fast-paced nature of both the Tube and passengers alike.
While travelling within the Underground, I was in for quite the culture shock, but despite the major differences between London and Milton Keynes, I noticed some smaller details that made the journey better and, in many cases, worse. Milton Keynes has one of the fastest routes to London Euston in the UK, with travel time being between 30 minutes and an hour.
As I came to the end of my brisk train ride and onto the London Euston platform, I came face-to-face with the first barrier of my journey – literally. Barriers. Don’t get me wrong, I fully understand the need for them, security-wise, and to make sure that every penny is squeezed out of the average London commuter for a simple 20 minute journey.
But if I’m going to pay, I’d expect the barriers to open and close a little bit faster. It doesn’t help that I have no real idea of what I’m doing or where I’m going, however, when coupled with the deep sighing and the very palpable annoyance of the person waiting behind me, I would want nothing more than for those barriers to have the same kind of urgency.
However, one of the great things about the London Underground is how many signs, maps and audio announcements are everywhere to help direct you to where you need to be. In Milton Keynes, the main mode of public transport is the bus network, and you would think that, with this, all buses would have similar guides, especially audio directions.
Well, unless you’ve lived in the city for years, you are pretty much left to figure it out or ask a not-so-happy bus driver. As a London visitor, I sometimes find all the signs and sounds to be overwhelming, but very appreciated.
But as a commuter, I don’t get the chance to so much as glance at them. Why? Because I feel as though there is a very silent consensus among London commuters to never look or be confused. Ever.
This may be me projecting my fear of getting lost in the Underground, but on my first day of travelling during rush hour, I was like a deer in headlights. Completely dazed by everyone and everything around me.
In that daze, I was secretly hoping that I was not the only one feeling like this. Instead, I saw faces that can only be described as being riddled with a bit of determination, slight agitation and a lot of tiredness. Yet, they looked like they knew not to disrupt the flow of movement by walking back because they accidentally went to platform 4 on the Northern line, instead of platform 2.
In hindsight, this is most definitely due to the fact that many of those people have done this commute on more than one occasion and I hope were probably like me when they first tried to navigate the Underground.
There were other little things I noticed about using the London Underground, like when it gets really warm in the Tube, no one seems to be affected, as in I don’t see a single exasperated hand flap. Also, why isn’t there proper Wi-Fi on the London Underground? I’m sure I’m not the only one whose dependence on constantly being online is being violated here!
Safe to say that Milton Keynes still has ways to go to ever reach the chaotic frenzy of London as a city, let alone the Underground. Yet, I am totally okay with it never getting to that point.
As I sat on the train heading back to my hometown, I thought to myself, “I’m so glad that’s over”. Until I realised I’m going to have to do that all over again next week, hopefully I’ll get on the right platform this time.
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