Toluu

Going Underground's Blog

Annie Mole's, webmaster of Going Underground, daily web log (blog).
If you like this you'll LURVE One Stop Short of Barking, THE fun and informative BOOK about travelling
on the London Underground.

Father Christmas on the TubeYesterday

Spotted this rather rotund Santa on the London Underground yesterday, who appeared to have dragged several Xmas trees and a whole sack of Christmas Crackers into the carrriage with him.

OK, it wasn't really on the Tube, but it's one of Selfridges fantastic window displays on Oxford Street.

However in a few weeks you'll be able to see some real Santas on the Tube, as it's time for the annual Santacon. On December 13th hundreds of Santas or Santae will descend upon London freaking out children everywhere.

I think they've actually been banned from entering the toy shop Hamley's as it's too traumatic for the kids and they tend to be a bit err... over jolly!!

Subway Santas from last year, including a bondaged Tube Santa were blogged

Oyster card brand passes to TfLNovember 20

Transport for London announced yesterday that they will be looking after the future management and development of the Oyster card system. In August, TfL terminated their £100m annual contract with TransSys, the consortium who had the contract to maintain and develop Oyster cards. This was followed by a flurry on interest in what would happen to the brand and the system in general and whether Oyster payments could be made by mobile phone or smart cards.

Now there is a new arrangement with Cubic Transportation Systems Limited and EDS. Shashi Verma, TfL's Director of Fares and Ticketing said:

'This new deal will see Oyster in the pockets of Londoners for years to come and will save significant money that TfL will invest in improving transport in the capital. Transport for London is delighted that its successful partnership with Cubic and EDS will now continue for the next five years.

'The new contracts will deliver better value for money and improvements to Oyster for passengers across London.'

It could hardly deliver worse value for money and I certainly look forward to hearing what the improvements will be. Thanks to

Station master Dog in JapanNovember 20

Remember Tama the station master cat on the Japanese railway who boosted their income by 1.1 billion yen? Well looks like the canny Japanese have thought that dogs should get on the act and they now have Maron, a Yorkshire terrier, who's the stationmaster of Okunakayama-Kougen Station on the Iwate Ginga Railway Line. As Japanprobe said: "he does seem to have the advantage of being able to wear a cooler uniform."

Thanks to Jon Justice for giving me the heads up to this. If you want to see Maron on duty, which basically seems to involve him being petted & wandering up and down the station looking for places to wee, check out the video below

Paris Metro Style Book Launch & QuizNovember 19

Mark Ovenden author of the fab Metro Maps of the World has just published "Paris Métro Style - on maps and stations", the first detailed study of the look & feel of Paris's subway.

A couple of years ago, me and a number of bloggers went to see Mark & Maxwell Roberts talk about underground maps, logos, design & station architecture around the world. Mark's remained in contact with me over the years and has contributed some great maps and pictures to the blog - including the popular World Metro Map below:

London Bus and Railway Interiors AwardsNovember 18

Today the UK Bus Awards will honour the commitment to quality and innovation in the bus industry. You'll be pleased to hear there's a special category for London promoted by TfL which "focus especially on the challenging task of running reliable and high-quality services in the capital." So there will be awards for Best London Bus Garage, London Bus Service Quality Award and Top London Bus Driver.

The last category will be a major challenge as I rarely meet a cheerful bus driver (one of my brothers is a London bus driver so I speak from experience) and they seem to take pleasure in charging past stops when you're running for a bus. Another skill is looking as though they're about wait for you as you're running & then pulling off sharply. It'll also be interesting to see if a bendy bus driver wins this category.

Earlier in November, I missed blogging about the Railway Interiors Innovation and Excellence Awards. These worldwide gongs were handed out to "recognise and reward the rapidly increasing sophistication of railcar